Autonym of Mosopeleas-Ouesperies-Ofos

Rory M Larson rlarson at unlnotes.unl.edu
Mon Feb 26 21:42:16 UTC 2007


> The association of Mosopelea with the Ofo would be entirely speculative
if it weren't for two factors:  (1) Swanton's discovery of the several
variant forms of the attestation stretching from the upper reaches of the
Ohio, downstream to the Mississippi and south to Louisiana, with phonetic
changes evident at each stage of migration, and (2) the term refers to the
Ofo in two distinct forms, Tunica "Ushpe" and Ofo [ofo], both from the same
Swanton ethnonym.

If this associationa is valid, and /moso/ => /ofo/, doesn't that seem to
confirm that the shift from Siouan /s/ to Ofo /f/ took place fairly
recently, i.e. roughly 17th to 19th century?

Do we have any definite Ofo vocabulary recorded prior to Swanton?

Rory
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