How! (was Re: Catawba 'go' & 'come')

[Koontz John E]

On Sat, 10 Apr 1999 BARudes at aol.com wrote:
> The fact that the word <a^o> = hau is recorded for Huron by French Jesuits
> (it appears, for example, in the Rev. Pierre Potier's manuscripts which are,
> for the most part, copies of the manuscripts of Chaumanot, who recorded the
> Huron language in the mid-seventeenth century) long before the Huron had
> substantial contact with English speakers makes it unlikely that the word is
> borrowed from English <how>.

This is the sort of attribution I was hoping for, actually:  evidence from
French or Spanish speakers dealing with groups that hadn't had English
contact (or, at least, not extensive English contact).  Unfortunately,
it may be difficult to extend this evidence to other groups, but it
definitely helps to have it.

> Also, the range of meaning in Iroquoian
> languages (o.k., all-right, sure, welcome, come on in) would be hard to
> derive from the meaning/usage of <how> in English.

Actually, this is comparable to the use of Ahau ~ hau in Omaha-Ponca.  I'd
say something like 'hello (male to male); right, agreement, approval,
appreciation; listen'.  In a few examples in Dorsey it seems to mark a
heading in a presentation.  Dorsey translates it as a paragraph marker.
Things have been somewhat complicated by the replacement of the former
male declarative ha and vocative ha particles with hau during a period
(mostly) subsequent to Dorsey.