Biloxi Words and Tutelo-Saponi

[Rankin, Robert L.]

There's a proto-Siouan 'cedar' word.  I'll get it for you.

"Yellow wood" in the Dhegiha languages is reserved for the wood of the Osage orange.  It was also called "the bow wood tree" because of the resilience of the branches.  This is why it's called "bois d'arc" in French.  Cedar was considered holy among the Siouan tribes of the plains, but I don't know how far back East this goes.

The udi term in Biloxi is from proto-Siouan *hu:de which refers to the base or trunk of any object.  It occurs in lots of tree names.

>From the Comparative Siouan Dictionary:

GLOSS[ juniper, red cedar

PSI[ *xąte

MAndan[ óxtąre ~ óxtą ‘cedar’ H-134

MA[ oxtą́ ‘pine tree?’ C

MA[ oxtą́• ‘sage?’ C



PMV[ *xą́te

LAkota[ xąté ‘cedar’ C

DAkota[ †xąté “ḣaŋté” ‘cedar’ R-162a

Omaha-Ponca[ †xąde “áxoⁿdepa” ‘wrist guard’ FLF-225

Kanza[ xą́ǰe ‘cedar’ RR

OSage[ †xą́ce “xoⁿ´dse” ‘red cedar’ LF-219a

QUapaw[ xtté ‘cedar’ RR

QU[ xǫttéhi ‘cedar’ JOD



OTHLGS[ JEK: Iroquoian, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga ohnéhtaʔ, Huron “xahⁿdéhtaʔ”,

Wyandot “andeta”, Tuscarora uhtéhneh, Mithun (1984, 270).



COMmentary[ The OP term refers to a packet strapped to the sacred (cedar) pole:

|a-| ‘on, upon’, |xąde| ‘cedar’, |-pa| ‘locative (?)’. (Analysis from JEK).

The BI term for ‘cedar’ is borrowed from Western Muskogean. QU stress has

shifted; it must have been initial earlier in order for the |*t| to geminate.

The MA root appears to exhibit an irregular syncope.  Cedar has sacred

properties among all or most of the Siouan-speaking peoples.


Note the look-alikes in Iroquoian languages.  Numeroąus tree names are widespread terms.


>From these comparative data I would project the Tutelo word to be very similar, probably something very close to /xąte/ or /xǫte/, where /x/ is a gutteral sound like the "ch" of German Ach!  Or Achtung!, words everybody knows from the movies.


The wasti word in Tutelo corresponds to the general Siouan term for 'pine', but could possibly mean 'cedar' also.


Bob