Borrowings.

[David Costa]

As I mentioned before, this "shankka" number for "nine" is also around in Algonquian. The word can be reconstructed as Proto-Algonquian *ša·nka, but there are lots of problems: the etymon is completely missing from all of Eastern Algonquian, Miami-Illinois and Blackfoot; the Cree and Menominee forms don't have the proper reflexes for those languages and look like they're all borrowed from Ojibwe; and the Shawnee and Cheyenne forms inexplicably look like they derive from Proto-Algonquian *ča·nka, not *ša·nka. If it's a loan into Algonquian, it was borrowed early on, but after Algonquian had already started to separate out into dialects.

Dave


> > I recall John Koontz mentioning some other forms to me – items for ‘cucumber’ from French concombre, and also ttapuska ‘student, teacher’ which is shared by Dhegiha and Pawnee.  I don’t know about ‘hau’ but Comanche ‘aho’ (hello) is supposed to come from Kiowa.
> 
> Allan Taylor did a comprehensive "how" count at one point.  I don't think he ever published results though.  'Cucumber' begins with kko the PSI root for 'gourd', so it may be a borrowing or it may be a coincidence again.  'Pig' is definitely from French.
>  
> > Shankka also has reflexes in Western Muskogean (Choctaw and Chickasaw)
> 
> Maybe.  The word is čákkáàli and -ali is an ending all right.  It is borrowed into Biloxi as čkane I think.  
> 
> Note the Tutelo and Ofo terms. Tutelo has ḳasą́hka, so it is definitely in the shankka zone.  
> 
> Ofo kíštatǝška Sw kĭ´ctatạcga — nine; p. 325.  Some words where š is expected turn up with št instead.  So this may contain some variant of shankkasomehow.  The prefix with k mirrors Tutelo to an extent but the sound correspondences aren't quite right.
> 
> So this peculiar term for '9' turns up in Chiwere, Dhegiha, Tutelo and maybe Ofo.  There are partial look-alikes in Western Muskogean and Biloxi.  So it's not just around the Great Lakes region in Siouan, but there's no trace in the Northwest of Siouan.
> 
> Bob
> 
> 

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