Companion Terms for 7 and 8 (Re: 'eight' some more)

[Randolph Graczyk]

In a message dated 5/4/2004 10:49:58 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
John.Koontz at colorado.edu writes:

> Things in Mandan and Crow-Hidatsa, as I recall it, are quite different.
>
> The reconstructions supported by these forms are:
>
> 'two'    *nuNuN'pa
> 'three'   *raa'priN
> 'seven'   *s^aako'wiN
> 'eight'   ???
>
>
The Crow forms are:

sa'hpua 'seven'
du'upahpi 'eight' (du'upa 'two')
hawa'tahpi 'nine' (hawa'ta 'one'

I would suggest that the 'seven' form may be (at least partially) cognate.
Crow does not allow kp clusters morpheme-internally, so kp > hp.  Then, long
vowels are shortened before h (sa'ah > sa'h).

The forms for 'eight' and 'nine' are transparent: 'two less than (ten)', one
less than (ten)'.   Related form: alaxpi' 'leftovers, remainder'

Randy
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