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[David Kaufman]

> dici for 'dance' in Biloxi.

Any idea what the di- is about? >
   
  Isn't di- cognate with other Siouan languages' ri- or li- (at least I think this last is Tutelo; I believe 'dance' is 'lichi' in Tutelo; can't remember Ofo off hand).  I forget what this ri- or di- prefix actually means, though.  
   
  > Perhaps: tcaN, 'privates', was incorporated into tcaN-te, 'privates
container'/'breechcloth', which in turn became the euphemism for 'male
genitalia' ? >
   
  Interesting!  I wonder if caNditi 'breechcloth' in Biloxi is actually caN 'genitalia' + -di, which is a type of topicalizer or definite article possibly (the jury's still out) + thi, house: i.e., the-genitalia-house?
   
  Dave


Rory M Larson <rlarson at unlnotes.unl.edu> wrote:
  > dici for 'dance' in Biloxi.

Any idea what the di- is about?

> This reminds me of a question I wanted to ask on the Biloxi word for
"penis." (Hope this isn't offensive to anyone, but in the context of
comparative Siouan studies I feel I need to ask.) Dorsey had a few ways of
writing this, one I think is tcoN and the others are tcaN and tcoNditi
(don't know what the 'diti' is here). tcaN also seems to be a component
of the word for breechcloth, tcaNte, which I guess makes sense. I'm
wondering what other Siouan languages have for this body part and if the
Biloxi form is cognate.

In OP, caNde' is the word for the male genitalia, glossed by Dorsey as
'scrotum'. In Lakhota, the word for 'vagina' is caN. (c = s^ here) I've
always surmised that these two terms must go back to an earlier *caN word
that could refer to the privates of either sex, rather like certain archaic
uses of the word "shame" in English, as in "cover one's shame". Dave's
Biloxi data seems to go along with this, and it provides an interesting
option for where that trailing -de in the OP form might have come from.
Perhaps: tcaN, 'privates', was incorporated into tcaN-te, 'privates
container'/'breechcloth', which in turn became the euphemism for 'male
genitalia' ?

There is another word explicitly for 'penis' in MVS: z^e in OP and I
believe c^He in Dakotan, which should go back to MVS *ye. In Omaha, the
word for 'breechcloth' is z^e-atigraN (not sure if that t is aspirated or
not).

Rory



 		
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