Biloxi aNksi "bow"

[Koontz John E]

On Mon, 14 Nov 2005, David Costa wrote:
> > JEK:
> > I realize that David Costa recommend a longer etymon for bow, but the
> > Siouan forms don't seem to presuppose anything more than *me?tekwa, which
> > I think I got from Aubin's PA Dictionary.
>
> Proto-Algonquian */me?tekwa/ (or some early daughter-language form) *could*
> have meant 'bow', but the evidence is much better that it would have meant
> 'tree'.

I'm falling back on

Shawnee (Costa):
> /mtekwaapali/ is from the old 'bowstring' word (so yes it contains
> *-aapy-); /mtekwa/ is the old 'tree/bow' word <====. For some reason
> they merged as a single lexeme in Shawnee, with the meaning 'gun'.

Menominee (Knutson):
> Bloomfield's Menomini Lexicon Has:
> mEqtekuap (-yak, -yan) An and inam 'bowstring, bow'
> nemE:qtekwap  'my bowstring'
> nemE:qtEk   'my bow'    <=====
> omE:qtekwan  'his bow'

Maybe Cheyenne ma'ts^e^s^ke fits here, too?  (I seem to recall something
shorter in one source or another - this is from an on-line list.

All I'm suggesting is that perhaps shorter forms based on animates of
'wood' had some separate existence in the sense 'bow', perhaps for
possessed forms?

Incidentally, again quoting David:
> This is not regular, but Shawnee 'house' works the same way: sing.
> /wiikiwa/, plural /wiikiwaapali/.

I'm guessing that the plural of 'house' isn't wikiup+string, and so there
must be some other basis for the -aapili in this plural?  (Sorry - my
ignorance of Algonquian knows few bounds!)