Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/no·nle·wa

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.

*no·nle·wa (plural *no·nle·waki (“they breastfeed them”))

1. she breastfeeds him/her

• *-no·na·kan- (“breast”)
• *no·nwa

taking this form as representative of the whole paradigm and (for now, at least) also of the related term "to breastfeed, suck a breast":

• Plains Algonquian:
  • Cheyenne: -néh (“breastfeed someone, nurse someone”), -néne (“suck on a breast”)
• Central Algonquian:
  • Menominee: no·new (“s/he is breastfeeding, s/he sucks at the breast”)
  • Cree: nôhew / ᓅᐦᐁᐤ (noohew, “she breastfeeds her/him”), nôniw / ᓅᓂᐤ (nooniw, “s/he is breastfeeding, s/he sucks at the breast”)
  • Ojibwe: noonaawaso (“she breastfeeds a baby”)
  • Miami: noonteewa (“she breastfeeds her/him, she nurses her/him”), noonši (“nurse him!”)
• Eastern Algonquian:
  • Abenaki: noni, noz- (“suckle, breastfeed (a baby)”)
  • Unami: nune (“she/he sucks (a breast)”)

• *-θeni (“breast”)

• Cheyenne Dictionary of Fisher, Leman, Pine, and Sanchez
• Costa, David J. (2003) The Miami-Illinois Language (Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas), Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN
• Bloomfield (1946)
• Towhid Bin Muzaffar (1997/1998)