Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/nekwetwi

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.

Proto-Algonquian

**Proto-Algonquian cardinal numbers**
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Cardinal : *nekwetwi

Etymology

From Proto-Algic *nekwet- (“one”), whence also Yurok kohta'r (“one (straight thing)”), kohtoh (“one (round thing)”) and Wiyot go't (“one (person)”), which (like Unami) lost the prefix ne-.^[1] The Proto-Algic root may have been borrowed from or into Proto-Salish; see *nekwet- for more.

It has been observed that "the numbers from ‘one’ to ‘five’ all contain a semantically empty initial (root) *ny-, realized as *ne- before a consonant".^[2]

Numeral

*nekwetwi

one (1)

Synonyms

*pe·šekwi (“one”)

Derived terms

*nekwetwa·šika (“six”)

Descendants

Abenaki: negwed- (“one in a series”)
Algonquin ningo (“one (used with measures)”)
Cheyenne: no'k- (“one, alone”), naest- (“all in one place”)
Fox: nekoti (“one”)
Malecite-Passamaquoddy: neqt (“one”)
Massachusett: nequt (“one”)
Menominee: nekot (“one”)
Miami: ninkoti (“one”)
Mohegan-Pequot: nuqut (“one”)
Ojibwe ningo-, ningodw- (“one”)
Penobscot: nəkʷt-,nəkʷət- (“one, lone”)
Potawatomi: ngot (“one”)
Powhatan: nekut (“one”)
Quiripi: nukqútte (“either”) (Quiripi), naqúut (“one”) (Unquachog)
Shawnee: nekoti (“one”)
Unami: kwëti (“one”)
Munsee: ngwúti (“one”)

References

Bloomfield (1946)
Siebert (1975)
Richard Rhodes and David Costa, The History of Algonquian Number Words

^ Proulx (1984)
^ Essays in Algonquian, Catawban, And Siouan Linguistics →ISBN, 2003), page 98: "the numbers from ‘one’ to ‘five’ all contain a semantically empty initial (root) *ny-, realized as *ne- before a consonant (PA *nye- and *ni- do not occur), and *-w-i is descriptively segmentable."

[1] Proulx (1984)

[2] Essays in Algonquian, Catawban, And Siouan Linguistics →ISBN, 2003), page 98: "the numbers from ‘one’ to ‘five’ all contain a semantically empty initial (root) *ny-, realized as *ne- before a consonant (PA *nye- and *ni- do not occur), and *-w-i is descriptively segmentable."

[1]

[2]