Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/maθkwa

• *maɬkwa (alternative orthography)

From Proto-Algic [Term?]; probably cognate to Wiyot makʷ, bókw (“black bear (Ursus americanus)”).

Guillaume Jacques speculates that Proto-Siouan *wątxó is a borrowing of this word, either from Proto-Algonquian per se or from a predecessor of it (Proto-Algic). (Note that "Proto-Siouan did not have a contrast between oral and nasal consonants: *wą was realised [as] *[mã]."[1]) Compare Mandan wątóʔ (“bear”), Lakota matȟó, mątȟó (“bear”), Chiwere mąthó (“grizzly bear”), Winnebago mąčó (“grizzly bear”), Omaha-Ponca mąčhó (“grizzly bear”), Kansa mičhó (“polar bear”), Osage mįchó (“grizzly bear”), Quapaw mąthó/mąčhó (“grizzly bear”).[1] The apparent oddity of Siouan (which is now concentrated in the west) borrowing a term for a western animal from Algonquian (now concentrated in the east) is explained by the location of the languages at the time of the borrowing; the Proto-Siouan Urheimat was in the east, while the Proto-Algic Urheimat was in the west.[1]

*maθkwa

1. bear

• *wa·paθkwa (“white bear, polar bear”)
• *na·pe·θkwa (“male bear”)

• Algonquin: makwa (“bear”)
• Arapaho: woxᵘ (“bear”)
• Cree: maskwa / ᒪᐢᑲᐧ (maskay, “bear”)
• Fox: mahkwa (“bear”)
• Gros Ventre: was (“bear”)
• Massachusett: moshq / moskq / masq (“bear”)
• Miami: mahkwa (“bear”)
• Ojibwe: makwa (“bear, black bear (Ursus americanus)”)
• Ottawa: mko (“bear, black bear (Ursus americanus)”)
• Shawnee: m'kwa
• Unami: màxkw (“bear”)

• Siebert (1967)
• Guillaume Jacques, A Siouan-Algonquian Wanderwort: the name of the bear (2012; Amerindia, 36)
• Berman, Howard (1992), “A Restriction on the Shape of Proto-Algonquian Nouns”, in International Journal of American Linguistics, volume 58, issue 3, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, JSTOR 3519790
• Rhodes, Richard A. Eastern Ojibwa-Chippewa-Ottawa Dictionary (1985)