Companion Terms for 7 and 8 (Re: 'eight' some more)

[lcumberl at indiana.edu]

I'll add to John's list below that the Assiniboine word for 'seven' is iyu's^na.
 Here's Deloria's comment (1936:6): 'Iyu's^na indicates 'one odd one'. There is
an Assiniboine stickgame, called Iyu^na, in which seven sticks are used as
counters; and the odd one is the determinant of the game's outcome."

I've never had that confirmed by any of my consultants, and I'm not sure whether
Deloria intends this as an explanation of the origin of their word for 'seven',
or as an example of its application. The word does not seem to be related to
Lak. iyu's^la/Dak. iyu's^da 'scissors'. The Asb word for 'scissors' is iNca's^na
or mas?iN'yukse.

The numbers 1-10 are otherwise as in Lakhota.

Linda

Quoting Koontz John E <John.Koontz at colorado.edu>:


> The forms from my earlier posting, perhaps open to some corrections, are
> repeated below:
>
>            Tu           Bi           Of
> 'two'      noNoN'paa    noN'pa       nuN'pha
> 'three'    laa'ni(N)    da'ni(N)     ta'ni(N)
> 'seven'    saakoo'miNiN noN'pahudi   fa'kumi(N)
> 'eight'    palaa'ni(N)  dan'hudi'    pa'tani(N)
>
>            Te            OP            IO            Wi
> 'two'      nuN'pa        naNba'        nuN(uN)'we    nuNuN'p
> 'three'    ya'mni(N)     dha'bdhiN     da(a)'<ny>i   daani'
> 'seven'    s^ako'wiN     ppe'dhaNba    sa(a)'hmaN    s^aagoo'wiN
> 'eight'    s^aglo'gha    ppe'dhabdhiN  greeraa'briN  harumaN'k
>
> Things in Mandan and Crow-Hidatsa, as I recall it, are quite different.
>
> The reconstructions supported by these forms are:
>
> 'two'      *nuNuN'pa
> 'three'    *raa'priN
> 'seven'    *s^aako'wiN
> 'eight'    ???
>