O/P term for one thousand

[David Costa]

> It would be interesting to know when, and what the areal/ethnic distribution
> of this calque may have been.  David, what can you tell us about the movement
> history of the Miami in the 19th century?

It's fairly complicated, but the bottom line is that by 1832 all the
Illinois-speaking groups had been forced out of that state, eventually
ending up in Oklahoma via Kansas. In 1846 half the Miami were forcibly
removed from Indiana, also eventually ending up in Oklahoma via Kansas by
1867. Being much closer to the front end of Anglo colonization, the
Miami-Illinois-speaking groups were forced to move much earlier than the
Siouan-speaking groups to their west.

> Did they ever get close to the eastern Nebraska-western Iowa region?

No. The Illinois spent some time in eastern Iowa in the very early contact
period (the late 17th century), but that's about it.

We don't have to posit a scenario whereby these terms passed directly from
M-I-speaking groups to adjacent Siouan groups. They could just as well have
passed through some other intermediary languages on their way to Chiwere,
Dhegiha and Lakhota. Or perhaps this vocabulary started getting passed
around in the reservation period, when the Miami and Ponka were already in
Oklahoma? This would require someone whose specialty is history, which mine
isn't.

I wish I had better Algonquian data on this, but this usage of 'beaver' for
'dollar' and 'raccoon' for 'quarter' is around in other Algonquian
languages; the 'dollar' = 'beaver' equivalence is also seen in Potawatomi,
and BOTH 'dollar' = 'beaver' and 'quarter' = 'raccoon' are also found in
Kickapoo, the language that seems to share the most post-contact vocabulary
innovations with Miami-Illinois.

> Also, what about other monetary terms, like 'dollar', 'half-dollar', 'dime',
> 'half-dime', and 'penny'?  I wonder if these would also resemble the Omaha and
> Ponka forms?

Well, like I said, 'dollar' comes from the word for 'beaver', so Miami nkoti
amehkwa = 'one dollar' (compare Kickapoo nekotoomehkwe 'one dollar or
peso'). 'Half dollar' is napale shooli, literally 'half money' (shooli =
'money').

The other terms are less helpful; 'nickel' is from a verb meaning 'shiny
metal', and 'dime' is mataathswi cents, with borrowing of English 'cents'.

Dave