O/P term for one thousand

[David Costa]

In regards to the concept of a word for 'box' meaning 'thousand', I can 
report that in Miami-Illinois, an old way to say 'a thousand' is
mihtekolaakani, which was apparently a word for 'wooden box' or 'wooden
trunk'.

So I would say this metaphor must be something that dates to the early
contact period, presumably through trade, and that it spread among groups
speaking unrelated languages. I don't happen to know what exact wooden boxes
are being referenced here, though. Some standard thing the whites gave to
the tribes in trade? Someone must know that.

However, I wouldn't say that 'thousand' was a new concept, since there is
also a more common native construction for that, mataathswaahkwe 'one
thousand', literally 'ten hundreds' (mataathsw- = 'ten', -aahkwe =
'hundred'). (The exact same construction is also seen in Fox and Ojibwe.)

David


Rory - what do you think about the use of kku'ge 'box' for 'thousand'?
Does this imply that 1000 is a new concept, or is it a new word for an old
concept? How widespread is 'box' in this sense? I just noticed in the
texts that kku'ge often appears glossed 'box' when a numerical
interpretation is clearly meant.
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