ASB puza

[David Costa]

As this list's resident lurking Algonquianist I don't have too much to add,
except that indeed, the Proto-Algonquian word for 'bobcat' was */pe$iwa/ ($
= s-hacek). It has an impeccable Algonquian pedigree (no pun intended), but
it's even closer to English 'pussy' in certain daughter languages, such as
Penobscot /p at so/ (@ = schwa). In the language that would have given it to
Dakota, namely Ojibwe, it's /bizhiw/.

best,

Dave Costa


----------
>From: ROOD DAVID S <rood at spot.Colorado.EDU>
>To: Koontz John E <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
>Cc: Wablenica <wablenica at mail.ru>
>Subject: Re: ASB puza
>Date: Fri, Aug 8, 2003, 7:49 am
>

>
> I am pretty sure that this word for 'cat', which recurs in many North
> American languages with minor variations, is English 'puss' or 'pussy'.
> Why the /s/ is voiced in ASB I don't know -- Linda?  Certainly
> "pusila/pusida" is from that source.  So ASB is "cognate" in a strange
> sort of way, in that both words derive from the same lending language.
>
> David S. Rood
> Dept. of Linguistics
> Univ. of Colorado
> 295 UCB
> Boulder, CO 80309-0295
> USA
> rood at colorado.edu
>
> On Fri, 8 Aug 2003, Michael Mccafferty wrote:
>
>> I imagine Dave Costa might be jumping in here as soon as the West Coast
>> wakes up. I always defer to him in these matter. However, "puza/buza"
>> looks like it could be a borrowing of a reflex in some Algonquian language
>> of Proto-Algonquian */peSiwa/  'lynx, wildcat' (S = sh)
>>
>> Michael McCafferty
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, 8 Aug 2003, Wablenica wrote:
>>
>> > I wonder what can be the origin of ASB puza/buza "cat"
>> >
>> > http://fpcctalkindian.nativeweb.org/n_audio/n_alphabet/buza.wma
>> >
>> > Is 'pusida' in some D-dialects a cognate of buza or a borrowing of
> English "pussy" + dim.
>> > -da(n) ?
>> >
>> > Thank you.
>> > Constantine
>> >
>> >
>> >