[Spam:0005 SpamScore] RE: Tomahittan?

[Rankin, Robert L]

>  Note that the Biloxi name also suffixes -yaN, which I'm thinking may somehow be related to -gdhaN?  
 
I apologize for the cold water, but -yaN isn't demonstrably cognate with *kraN either.  The BI match for *k(i)r- is /kid-/, possibly reduced contextually to /kd/.  The *k stays in the cluster.  
 
The BI /taN/ 'town' is probably related to the Dakotan /thuNwaN/, Dhegiha ttaNwaN, KS ttaNmaN, etc.  Very similar forms are found in Western Muskogean (not in the East), so the term seems to have been borrowed around a bit, but it probably originates in Siouan.  By the way, it is NOT related to English "town" since it is attested in Lakota before close contact with English speakers and it is attested in virtually all MVS languages except maybe WI.  
 
Bob