bow discussion-- Curious form in Uto-Aztecan

[Michael Mccafferty]

This is from Karen Dakin:

"Campbell and Langacker in their 1978 IJAL article reconstruct *awta for
'atlatl' based on the Hopi form. My feeling is that it comes probably from
*pata-, related to Nahuatl patla:ni 'to fly', since *paC often went to
*haC and then to *ahC, so that *pata > *hata- and by metathesis to ahta.
For 'bow' I'm really not sure without looking at sources. tlahuitolli
would come from the pUA prefix *wi- 'long', and *to-l 'bent, twisted' I
imagine.  I'll check it more carefully later."
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Michael McCafferty


Michael McCafferty
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Indiana University
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