Wapiti, elk and moose

[Wilson Gray]

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language is a good
source for matters like the etymology of "wapiti," since Calvin
Watkins (probably the foremost authority on historical linguistics in
the US) edited the etymologies and Ives Goddard (the leading expert on
Algonquian linguistics) was in charge of the Algonquian etymologies.
First, the dictionary gives the following as a definition for
"wapiti": 'A large North American deer, Cervus canadensis. Also called
"elk," "American elk."' It derives the word from Shawnee wapiti "white
rump," which in turn comes from Proto-Algonquian *wap- "white" and
*-itwiy- "rump." So neither Cree nor Inuit is involved in the origin
of this word, and it does not contain any root that refers to "deer"
or "moose," although it does contain a root meaning "white."

The above
Courtesy of Philip S. LeSourd, PhD
Anthropology
Indiana University


On Sun, Sep 28, 2008 at 9:00 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Wapiti, elk and moose
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Would anyone know the root here for "white" and the root for =
> "elk/moose"?
> =20
> Gerald Cohen
>
> ________________________________
>
> Message from Mark Mandel, Sun 9/28/2008 5:19 PM:
>
>
> OED says it's Cree, not Inuit:
>
> adopted from Cree wapitik (Shawnee wahpetee) lit. 'white deer'.
>
> m a m
>
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