Resemblent Southeastern Bow Terms

[David Costa]

Actually, Chitimacha does not have an /x/. The word in question is really
/akt/, and it's given in Swadesh's unpublished Chitimacha dictionary as:

(1) 'bow'

(2) 'a kind of musical horn about 1 1/2 to 2 feet long, consisting of a
hollow reed bent in a hook and three parallel reeds with fingering holes
connecting the longer and shorter arms of the hook'

According to Swadesh, Swanton gave the word as 'bow, arrow for bow, blowgun
arrow, barrel of gun'.

Given the semantic differences here, I'm inclined to think that the 'musical
horn' meaning is original and that the others are later extensions from when
the weapons in question were first encountered.

I think I already mentioned this, but this is reminiscent of how the 'gun'
words in Arapaho-Atsina and Miami are both descended from the Proto-
Algonquian 'flute' word. In the oldest sources (Kroeber), the Arapaho word
still retains an alternate meaning of 'flute'.

Dave Costa


----------
>From: Koontz John E <John.Koontz at colorado.edu>
>To: <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
>Subject: Resemblent Southeastern Bow Terms
>Date: Mon, Jul 30, 2001, 1:43 pm
>

>>>From a summary sent Bob Rankin in 1996 by Karen Booker.
>
> Chitimacha axt 'bow, arrow'.
>
>