tree tree

[David Costa]

Since we're still on Algonquian digressions...

My favorite oddball tree name in Miami-Illinois would have to be
/mihtekami$i/, which is the generic word for 'oak'. Those of you who've been
reading these emails closely might have already noticed that this word
literally means 'tree tree': /mihtek(w)-/ is the M-I reflex of the PA word
for 'tree', and /-(e)mi$i/ is that 'tree' final again. (Only Fox/Kickapoo
has a cognate: Fox /mehtekomi$i/ 'white oak'.)

However, the reason for this is pretty clear, if you look around: the
Miami-Illinois word for 'acorn' is /mihtekamini/, which is literally 'tree
berry'. (This term is MUCH more widely attested across Algonquian.) There
seems to be a morphological process whereby any term with /-mini/ 'berry,
nut' can form its corresponding tree name by replacing /-mini/ with /-mi$i/
'tree'. Thus, the 'oak' word seems to be backformed from the 'acorn' word,
only incidentally producing a word that makes no sense synchronically. So in
some abstract sense /mihtekami$i/ really means 'acorn tree', even tho the
'acorn' word isn't in it.

David


> I might add that as a curiosity, there are some names of trees in Miami-
> Illinois that contain two morphemes for "tree," such as /ahsenami$aahkwi/, one
> of three terms in the language for "maple tree," which is literally
> "stone-tree-tree".