Word for 'prairie' in Hochunk.

[David Costa]

> If moo'ska is a loan from a model like

>> a word based on a root (*mas^kw- ?) meaning 'grass', e.g., Fox mas^kote:wi,
>> Ojibway mas^kode.

> (I assume these are the underpinnings of Mascoutin?)

Yes, according to HNAI 15: 672, it means 'people of the small prairies'.
It's related to */e$kwete:wi/ 'fire'.

> then we also have to explain what happened to the -te(:wi).  For example, can
> this initial occur without that additional material or might the initial be
> borrowed as an independent form?

No on the first, and I doubt the second. The shortest form of the word you'd
find would be Ojibwe /mashkode/. But it wouldn't really bother *me* to say
that when the Hochunks borrowed this word they only borrowed the first two
syllables.

Dave