Tutelo-Saponi Adoption String

[Rankin, Robert L]

> I always wondered whether the Lakota word for 'orphan' wablenica had a 'without' component in the -nica part, nica being a stem meaning 'not to exist'.   Does anyone have a derivation for it?

I think there is no doubt about it.  Dakota nica matches 'be none; not to be' in the other languages.  For me the mysterious part is Dakota wable.  I don't have cognates for it in any of the other languages.

The whole cognate set for 'to be none; not to be'  is:

GLOSS[ none, be/have; lack

ProtoSIouan[ *-į́ke

MAndan[ -įk- in wįk-óʔš ¦ none, have none ¦ rtc

ProtoMissipValley[ *rįkE

ProtoDAkotan[ *nįkA
LA[ waníčA ¦ there are none ¦ rtc; ej
LA[ níčA ¦ to be destitute of, have none of ¦ EB:36a???
DA[ níća ¦ be destitute of, have none of ¦ R-340b
ST[ nį́ǰa ¦  ¦ pas

ProtoWinnChiwere[ *nį́ke
CH[ ñį́ŋe ~ ñį́ge ¦ none, be without ¦ rlr
MO[ †nį́ge ¦ ning ga, niing g’, nega, neeg’ ¦ blind ¦ L&C
WI[ -nįk  in ¦ blind ¦ KM:1090

ProtoDHegiha[ *rįke
OP[ -ðįgé ¦ be none ¦ jek
KS[ -yįge ¦ be nothing ¦ rlr
OS[ †ðį́ke ¦ thíⁿge ¦ have none, nothing ¦ FL32:148a
QU[ niké ¦ have none ¦ JOD

PfotoBiloxiOfo[ *níki
BI[ †níki ¦ níḳi, níki ¦ be without, have none ¦ DS:236b
OF[ †-nį́ki ¦ aⁿtoníki ¦ blind ¦ DS:323a
OF[  ¦ abáthe tĭnĭñki ¦ I have no dress ¦ DS:324b

COMmentary[ The DHegiha forms show varying consonant nasalization and accent that are 
not regular. BI and OF in turn lack any indication of vowel nasalization 
that should have been reinforced by a preceding {n} (we might have 
expected BI *niñḳi). So there are some interesting irregularities here that 
may have something indirectly to do with the MA initial. We suspect that the 
{*r} here is one of those inserted to break up clusters of vowels, in 
this case, a late pronominal prefix vowel and a root-initial {*i} What we
are suggesting is that {*wį•, *rį•} {1sg, 2sg patient} were separate 
clitics, not prefixes, in PSI (and there is much independent evidence to
support this analysis). We suppose the MA {w} could come from {wa} 
{absolutive} with collapse of V1V1.

Bob