Reconstruction:Proto-Algonquian/mo·swa

This Proto-Algonquian entry contains reconstructed words 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

Literally "it strips", referring to the way the animal eats (by stripping bark off trees).

Noun

*mo·swa

moose

Descendants

Plains Algonquian:
- possibly Cheyenne mō'e (“elk”); compare mehe (“cow, doe (female buffalo or deer)”)
Central Algonquian:
- Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi:
  - Cree:
    - Plains Cree: ᒨᓴᐧ (mōswa)
    - Woods Cree: ᒨᔁ (mōswa)
    - East Swampy Cree: ᒨᐢ (mōs)
    - West Swampy Cree: ᒨᔁ (mōswa)
    - Atikamekw ᒧᔅ (mos)
  - Montagnais-Naskapi:
    - East Cree:
      - Northern East Cree: ᒨᔅ (muus)
      - Southern East Cree: ᒨᔅ (muus)
    - Montagnais: ᒧᔥ (mush)
    - Naskapi: ᒧᔅ (muus)
- Menominee: mo·s
- Eastern Great Lakes:
  - Ojibwe-Potawatomi:
    - Ojibwe: moozo, mooz, moonz
      - Algonquin: mòz
      - Ottawa: mooz
      - Western Ojibwe: moozo
    - Potawatomi: mozo
  - Fox-Sauk-Kickapoo:
    - Fox/Sauk: môthwa, possibly also meshêwêwa
  - Miami: moohswa (“deer”)
Eastern Algonquian:
- Abenaki: moz
- Penobscot: mos
- Malecite-Passamaquoddy: mus
- Massachusett: moos, mws
- Narragansett: moos
- Mohegan-Pequot: mos
- Mahican: mo-ose
- Lenape/Delaware:
  - Unami: mus
  - Munsee: móos

→ English: moose (from one of the Eastern Algonquian languages)

References

Siebert (1967)
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
Hewson (1993)
Costa, David J. (2003) The Miami-Illinois Language (Studies in the Native Languages of the Americas), Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN
Online Etymology Dictionary

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