"bow"

[David Costa]

Um, no. Menominee has /mE?tekuap/ 'bowstring, bow'. No Algonquian language
has a /tk/ cluster in this word, not even Potawatomi.

>> It is, of course, the me?tekw- stem that I was suggesting might be from a
>> hypothetical PS *maNaNt(e)=ko 'his bow', thus explaining the
>> Proto-Mississippi Valley Siouan alternation of forms like *maNaNte and
>> *maNaNt(-)ku- for 'bow'.  Alternatively, perhaps some of the MV Siouan
>> dialects simply deleted Algonquian -ku on the false assumption that it was
>> =ko.  However, some of the dialects where this happens (Dhegiha) lack
>> synchronic traces of =ko 'his/hers'.  Dakotan does have it.

> Bows date from A.D. 400-600 in the archaeological record so aren't PS or PMVS
> either.  I assume Ioway-Otoe-Missouri-Winnebago *maNtku in its various modern
> forms (mahdu, maNcgu, etc.) are from Menomini or some similar Algonquian
> dialect.  I am writing without benefit of a dictionary, but my recollection is
> that Menomini has something like matkuap or metkuap (David or Michael can
> correct my vowels here).  With the usual Siouan "chop off everything past the
> second syllable" rule applied, it comes out right and the geography is also
> correct.

> The difference between 'bow' in Menomini and in Illinois is that Menomini has
> the -tk- cluster that preserves the -ku- as part of the second syllable of the
> word.  In Illinois the -ko is the third syllable which is where Siouan
> speakers tended to lose patience.

> Bob