tree tree

[Koontz John E]

On Sun, 4 Jan 2004, David Costa wrote:
> However, what I think you're describing does happen in a few places: the
> Proto-Algonquian word for what was probably the yellow poplar,
> */asa:twiya/, shifts its meaning to plain 'tree' in the plains languages
> Cheyenne, Arapaho, Gros Ventre, & Nawathinehena. This probably happened
> by shifting this term to mean 'cottonwoods' in the high plains, with
> cottonwoods then becoming the 'unmarked kind of tree'.

Oaks are certainly very common in Eastern hardwood forests, though I think
North America's variety of tree species is much larger than than in, say,
Europe.  Cottonwoods are pretty unmarked on the Plains, though in some
places the balance seems to be shifting in favor of the Russian Olive, sad
to say.