Siouan and Iroquoian "buffalo"

[Anthony Grant]

Allan Taylor had an artcle on this very word in IJAL in 1976 and adduced similar forms in Natchez and Tunica, with parallels in Navajo (!) and Caddo.  It's a widespread Southeastern Wanderwort.

Anthony

>>> dvklinguist2003 at yahoo.com 25/10/2004 01:11:13 >>>
Thanks Pam and Alan.  This seems to confirm my suspicions that Tsalagi yanssi and Biloxi yinisa are Muskogean in origin, cognate with Creek yanasa and Choctaw/Chickasaw yanash.  In the case of Tsalagi, I'll be even more convinced if the other Iroquoian words (of Tsalagi's cousins in the north)  turn out to be quite different!

Dave

Pamela Munro <munro at ucla.edu> wrote:
Creek yanasa, Choctaw yanash.

Pam

David Kaufman wrote:
Hi,

I was intrigued to find that the Biloxi word for "buffalo" is yinisa (or nsa abbreviated).  The Cherokee word for buffalo is yanssi.  Am I totally off the mark in thinking these are somehow related, perhaps through borrowing?  Especially since the Biloxi word is so far afield from the northern Siouan (e.g., Hidatsa and Dakota) words for buffalo: mité and pte.  I don't know what the word for buffalo is in other Iroquoian languages (e.g., Seneca or Mohawk) and I don't know what the Muskogean words are.  I'm wondering if both the Biloxi and Cherokee words may be borrowed from Muskogean, since both the Biloxi and Cherokee tribes originally bordered on opposite sides of Muskogean territory?  Does anyone know the Muskogean (e.g., Creek or Choctaw) words for "buffalo"?   (BTW--the Ofo dictionary does not show a word for buffalo.)

One other thing: has anyone done comparative wordlists for both the Siouan and Iroquoian families, and/or comparative grammars, that are available and accessible?

Thanks,

Dave

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-- ----Pamela MunroProfessor, Department of Linguistics, UCLAUCLA Box 951543Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543 USAhttp://www.humnet.uucla.edu/humnet/linguistics/people/munro/munro.htm

		
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