tree tree

[Koontz John E]

On Sun, 4 Jan 2004, David Costa wrote:
> 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.

Apart, perhaps, from the widespread cognacy of 'acorn' in the form 'tree
berry' couldn't you argue that 'oak' had become the unmarked kind of
'tree'?