< Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian

Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/nye·wi

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

Etymology

Compare Wiyot ram- (“four”), riyáʔw- (diyáʔw-) (“?”) and Yurok cho'one'- (“four”), to'on- (“four”) (chr'rnr'ryhl (“four (animals or birds)”), chr'rnr'r'y (“four (animals of birds)”), tr'rnrpi' (“four (tools, etc.)”)).

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".[1]

Numeral
Proto-Algonquian cardinal numbers
 <  3 4 5  > 
    Cardinal : *nye·wi

*nye·wi

  1. four (4)

Descendants
  • Abenaki: iaw (“four”)
  • Arapaho: yein (“four”)
  • Cheyenne: neve (“four”)
  • Cree: nêwo / ᓀᐓ (newo, “four”)
  • Fox: nyêwi (“four”)
  • Gros Ventre: yāni (“four”)
  • Malecite-Passamaquoddy: new (“four”)
  • Menominee: ni·w (“four”)
  • Miami: niiwi (“four”), niiyanwi (“four times”)
  • Mohegan-Pequot: yáw (“four”)
  • Ojibwe: niiwin (“four”)/niiyin (“four”)
  • Powhatan: yowgh, yeough (“four”)
  • Unami: newa (“four”)

References
  • Hewson (1993)
  • Costa, David J. (2003) The Miami-Illinois Language (Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas), Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN
  1. 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."
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