The root of the Catawba verb to eat is -raN-, which appears in Woccon with the regular replacement of /aN/ by /a:/ as -ra:-. The -te in Eraute is a modal suffix. -raN- itself is a mutating verb. More often than not, it cooccurs with the mutating instrumental ru:# by hand, in such forms as du:raNre: one eats. Blair