i- in Dhegiha i-POSITIONAL=...CAUSE (RE: Word for 'prairie'?)

[Koontz John E]

On Wed, 4 Feb 2004, Rankin, Robert L wrote:
> It never occurred to me to try to decompose k?u or ku?, whichever it was
> (it pops up both ways in different subgroups).

It may well be overanalysis, of course, but I had noticed that it was one
of the few cases - the only one I know of, actually - of a Mississippi
Valley Siouan root verb that is essentially trivalent, and that it agrees
with the beneficiary as patient, just like derived trivalent verbs of the
dative persuasion.  Then I realized it began with *k, too.  In a sense we
have a smoking gun, but no body.  I haven't noticed any cases of
hypothetically underlying *(?)u, which might have meant something like 'to
donate, to give away' or 'to present'.