Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/-piti

This Proto-Algonquian entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

From the same Proto-Algic root as Yurok 'na-rpehl/ʔnerpel (“my tooth”) and Wiyot bápt (“tooth”).

*-piti, -piči, *-i·piti, *-i·piči

1. tooth

• This term was (and in child languages remains) inalienable; it had to be preceded by a personal prefix such as *ni·- (“my”), *ki·- (“your (singular)”), or *wi·- (“his or her”), as in *ni·piči (“my tooth”), *ki·piči (“your tooth”), *wi·piči (“his or her tooth”). For this reason, it is not clear if -i·- was part of the root.
• č was an allophone of t before i, for which reason some sources give the reconstruction as -(i·)piči.

• Plains Algonquian
  • Arapaho: néíčiθ (“my tooth”)
• Central Algonquian
  • Cree: -ipit / -îpit, as in nîpit / ᓃᐱᐟ (niipit, “my tooth”),
  • Fox: -îpichi (“tooth”)
  • Ojibwe: -iibid (“tooth”), as in niibid (“my tooth”)
  • Miami: niipiti, niipita (“my tooth”)
• Eastern Algonquian
  • Abenaki: wibid, wipit (“her or his tooth”)
  • Malecite-Passamaquoddy: -ipit (“tooth”), as in nipit (“my tooth”)
  • Mi'kmaq: -ipit (“tooth”), as in nipit (“my tooth”)
  • Massachusett: -pit (“tooth”), as in neepit (“my tooth”)
  • Mohegan-Pequot: -iput (“tooth”), as in niput (“my tooth”)
  • Quiripi: képut (“teeth”)
  • Unami: -ipit (“tooth”), as in nipit (“my tooth”)
  • Munsee: -iipit (“tooth”), as in níipiit (“my tooth”)

• Siebert (1975)
• Anthropological Linguistics (the journal of Indiana University's Department of Anthropology), volume 39, issue 1 (1997)
• Nicholas Evans, Dying Words: Endangered Languages and What They Have to Tell Us