Indian perfume set.

[Koontz John E]

On Tue, 7 Oct 2003, Rory M Larson wrote:
> If OP nubdhaN is original, the '(wild) potato' analysis could work
> assuming that nu < *Ro < *pro originally had a wider semantic
> salience than the modern word, such as 'vegetable', 'herb',
> 'plant sought for consumption'.

This is all certainly possible.  The parallels in IO, Ks, Da, etc., terms
all suggest that something like 'good-smelling plant' is the best bet, but
it doesn't necessarily follow that this is a *py cluster form parallel
with the IO one.

However, it occurs to me that there are a couple more necessary
observations here.  One is that while Gilmore is generally pretty
reliable, it would be worthwhile asking if anyone else knows this term in
this form.  More generally, it might be useful revisiting the issue of
names of plants and animals, though I'm afraid we might be a little too
late on this.  In the case of mint and/or bergamot we might luck out
because of the ceremonial connections that Jimm Good Tracks points out.

Another point, which the Dhegihanists are aware of, but maybe not others,
is that OP *ppi 'good' is completely obsolete.  In fact, I think *ppi is
obsolete throughout Dhegiha.  It exists in a few fossil forms, e.g.,
ppi'=az^i ~ ppez^i' 'bad < good + not'.  The usual OP term for 'good' is
u(u)daN.  The Osage cognate of this - o(o)taN - means essentially 'be a
coup'.  Bob cited the Kaw form for 'good' as yaali and I seem to recall
that the Osage form is dha(a)li, cognate with that.  Anyway, if nubdhaN <
*p(p)y=obdhaN then it isn't likely to be a recent form.  This is also
evident in the necessity that any such form has undergone the *py > *pr >
*R changes, with *R subsequently becoming n in OP by regular sound
changes.  Corresponding Osage, Kaw, and Quapaw forms would be *tobraN,
*doblaN, and, I think, *topdaN or *dobdaN - I forget how the *R and *pr
sounds come out in Quapaw at the moment!  I don't believe there are any
cases of n ~ bdh alternations in OP at present.  That is, there is no
perceptible contemporary connection between the two.