Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/wa·kwehsa

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.

The term resembles Yurok wɹgɹs (“fox”), but Goddard rejects the idea that the two terms go back to one Algic root, and describes the Yurok word as a regular derivative of the verb stem wrsry- (“be thin”)^[1] (compare wrsryehl (“they (pieces of cloth) are thin”).

The term seems to be (*w- + ) *-a·kw- + *-ehsa.

*wa·kwehsa

1. fox

• *a·kw (“bushy-tailed animal (fox)”)

• Plains Algonquian:
  • Cheyenne: vóhkéso (“kit fox”)
• Central Algonquian:
  • Menominee: wa·koh (“fox”)
  • Ojibwe: waagosh / ᐙᑯᔥ (“fox”)
  • Atikamekw: wakoc
  • Algonquin: wonkis (“fox”)
  • Potawatomi: wekshi (“fox”)
  • Fox: wâkoshêha (“fox”)
• Eastern Algonquian:
  • Mi'kmaq: wokwis (“fox”)
  • Abenaki: ôkwses, wôkwses (“fox”)
  • Penobscot: kwɑ'ŋk'ʷsəs (“fox”)
  • Powhatan: ouxe (“fox”)
  • probably Malecite-Passamaquoddy: qaqsoss (“fox”)
  • Massachusett: wonksis, wonkqŭssis (“fox”)
  • Mohegan-Pequot: wôks (“fox”)
  • Mahican: waugoosus (“fox”)
  • Unami: òkwës (“fox”)

• *šeka·kwa (“skunk”)
• *ka·kwa (“porcupine”)

• Contributions to Anthropology: Linguistics (1967)
• William Cowan, Papers of the sixth Algonquian Conference, 1974, page 134