Bows (IO tradition)/Yankton sociology

[Koontz John E]

On Wed, 11 Jul 2001, Rankin, Robert L wrote:
> I was just talking with Kay Fowler and Jane Hill about this set and they
> mentioned that the Uto-Aztecan term is *wata. This is not too different from
> the Siouan terms, differing only by the feature [nasal] and the
> stem-formative vowel.

Is the UA *wata a regular set, or, as sometimes happened in early attempts
at Proto-Siouan, a sort of formula covering some generally resemblant
forms?  I've noticed that Americanists have a slight tendency to disregard
the possibility of loans.  If forms like this are widely enough spread,
we'd have to wonder if the Algonquian form was really 'wood', or just
accidentally homophonous with it.  It occurs to me to wonder how regular
the Algonquian sets are.

Notice that the stem-formative vowel may vary from e in Siouan.  If the
-a- in ita in itazipA is part of the stem, then it's a hypothetical
*miNta.  In that case, however, the t > n shift in Santee is a bit hard to
understand.  In regard to that n, I wonder about the behavior of the term
in the less well attested dialects - Yankton-Yanktonais, Assinibone, and
Stoney.

Clearly it would be worth looking further for North American bow terms.

JEK