Thousand

[Koontz John E]

I'm sorry - I'm afraid it's more etymology.

It's generally reported that Omaha-Ponca kkuge 'box, thousand', derives
from the practice of delivering treaty payments in boxes of a thousand
dollars coins.  I don't actually know what the source is on that anymore,
but I know I've see in several places, probably secondary sources.  I see
that Ioway-Otoe has a similar usage involving a term khoge.

On the other hand, I notice that Dakota has khokta' and khokto'pawiNghe
'thousand', where opawiNghe is 'hundred'.  Also, Dakota has kho'kta
(different stress) 'also, besides'. This appears to be a derivative of
kho' 'and, too, also'.  I think that the pattern must involve the -k-ta
variants of the -ta postposition, as in e-k-ta.  (Incidentally, I think
that this -k-ta accounts for Dhegiha, e.g., OP -tta 'to(ward)' < *-k-ta.)

The box term is khoka' 'keg, barrel', which is a regular match for kkuge,
etc.

I got to wondering if perhaps the actual basis of the thousand term might
be some sort of reanalysis of the 'more, besides' term or something like
it.  I suppose that there might be some historical attestation of the
development of the 'thousand' term.