Otoe-Missouria term for "gun"

[Campbell, Sky]

I’m trying to figure out the breakdown of the Otoe-Missouria term for “gun” (iyujį).  My first instinct was to go with this:

i- (instrumental prefix and/or “with”) + ujį (hit/strike)

And in there, the “y” would occur for the sake of euphony thus making “iyujį” (strike/hit with).

Then I saw Dorsey’s entry with his term “i-yu-́ciⁿ” where he says:

“Were it not for the W. eq., we would be inclined to derive this word from uciⁿ, to hit, with the instrumental prefix, i-, changed making the compound i-uciⁿ, changed for euphony to iyu-ci; but the W. izhu- shows that the “y” in iyu- is radical.”

Dorsey covered what my exact thoughts were but said no because of the Hocąnk cognate and that it is “radical.”  I haven’t been able to find the Hocąk term anywhere and have no idea what he meant by “radical.”  Anyone have any ideas?  I haven’t had any luck with any related cognates that I could find.

Here are some spellings of this term I’ve come across that may help.

jútschä (Maximilian)
His forms don’t have the initial “i-“ but just jump right into the “y” sound.  He also ends with “ä” (eh/ay sound) but clearly goes with “į” with his term “strike” (uh-tschin).

E-yock-a (Major Albert Green)
Linguistic precision definitely isn’t Green’s strong point but his “ck” has me curious.

i-yo-ćeˊ (Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden (1862)

uyóci (Wistrand-Robinson, 1972)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sky Campbell, B. A.
Language Director
Otoe-Missouria Tribe
580-723-4466 ext. 111
sky at omtribe.org

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