Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/meʔtekwa·pyi

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.

A compound of *meʔtekwi (“stick”) or *meʔtekwa (“tree”) + *-a·py (“string”).

Bows probably postdate the breakup of Proto-Algonquian proper; this compound seems to have been formed at a later date (as is also suggested by its absence from Eastern Algonquian).^[1]

*meʔtekwa·pyi (plural *meʔtekwa·pye·ri)

1. bow (bowstring) (weapon)

• *aʔta·pya

• Plains Algonquian:
  • Arapaho: beeté yook (“bowstring”)
  • Cheyenne: ma'tāno (“bowstring”) (from the plural)
• Central Algonquian:
  • Ojibwe: mitigwaab (“bow (weapon)”)
  • Menominee: maeqtekuap (“bowstring, bow”)
  • Miami: mihtekoop (“bow”)

• Ives Goddard (1974)
• Northeast Anthropology, issues 46-50 (1993), page 6:

  The existence of cognate terms for bow and arrow has been noted previously. Siebert (1975:319) cited only one instance of the Proto-Algonquian "bow" word, *aʔta·pya (literally, 'string set in place'), in Central Algonquian languages, namely Cree ahča·piy (or ašča·piy in the Montagnais dialect). The more common term in Central Algonquian languages is derived from 'wood' or 'stick' (e.g., Menominee meqteks Ojibwa mettikwap, and Fox mehtekwapi); Goddard (1974) reconstructs Proto- Algonquian *meʔtekwa·pyi "bowstring".

• Costa, David J. (2003) The Miami-Illinois Language (Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas), Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN
• Ives Goddard, Pre-Cheyenne *y, in In Honor of Mary Haas: From the Haas Festival Conference, page 349
• Marc Picard, Principles and Methods in Historical Phonology: From Proto-Algonkian to Arapaho