A Mysterious Morpheme *hi(N)

[Koontz John E]

> In Lakxota we say, hingnaku, hingnatxun,
> Violet

My source was Buechel, but I reproduced it from memory.  Buechel has
higna' 'a husband' (identified as n. obs in the English side - which may
mean that he found it in Riggs, but couldn't get anyone he knew to accept
it), with the possessed forms given as mihigna, nihigna, hignaka (a
misprint for hugnaku, think).  Higna'ku 'her husband' is also listed as a
headword.  Higna't[h]uN (actually listed with oN in the usual way for
Buechel) (Violet's hingnatxun in her orthography) is given as 'to have a
husband'.  Riggs has hihna 'a husband', hihnaku 'her husband', and also
hihnat[h]uN 'to have a husband, be married' (I suspect Violet was thinking
of a definition in this form).  He also lists higna (including hignaku) as
Teton forms.  Williams just givesn hihnaku.  I'd swear I've seen the
nasalized variant Violet cites somewhere, too, but I can't relocate it at
the moment, which puzzles me, because I don't have that many possible
references!

However, since I've got Lesser out, I checked it, too, and he gives it,
though I hadn't checked the form there the other night.  In fact, he gives
hiNgnaku (Teton), hiNknaku (Yankton), hiNknaNgu (Assiniboine), all
nasalized, and only hihnaku (Santee), unnasalized.

JEK