Word for 'prairie' in Hochunk.

Rankin, Robert L rankin at ku.edu
Thu Jan 29 20:58:18 UTC 2004


Following up on what John said, I'd hazard that Hocangara /mooska/ is
pretty clearly a borrowing from a neighboring Algonquian language.

The term /maaNx/ is interesting because the related term in the majority
of the more westerly Siouan languages is the term for 'sky' or 'upper
world'.  It's still a clear expanse, but up there rather than down to
earth.  So if the two terms are as related as they look, they're nice
examples of semantic change.

And, sorry, the comment I thought I had on the Hidatsa form isn't.  I
had misread it.

Bob



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