Teaser

Chicago, skunk

Full Text

• Algonquian *-a·kw- animal, bushy-tailed animal, fox

  • Algonquian *wa·kwa fox

    • Algonquian *wa·kwehsa fox kit, fox with diminutive *-ehsa

      • Central Algonquian

        • Ojibwe ᐙᑯᔥ waagosh fox
      • Cheyenne vóhkéso fox kit ^[1]
      • Eastern Algonquian

        • Abenaki (w)ôkwses fox ^[1]
        • Mohegan wôks fox ^[1]
        • Unami òkwës fox ^[1]
  • Algonquian *šeka·kwa skunk, piss-fox

    • Arapahoan

      • Arapaho xou skunk
    • Central Algonquian

      • Miami šikaakwa skunk, wild onion

        • Miami šikaakonki at the onions, Chicago locative
        • French Chécagou

          • English Chicago
      • Ojibwe ᔑᑳᒃ zhigaag skunk

        • Ojibwe ᔑᑳᑲᐧᐊᓐᔒᣖ zhigaagawanzhiig onion lit. "skunk-plant"
    • Cheyenne xāō'o skunk
    • Cree ᓯᑳᐠ sikaak skunk
    • Eastern Algonquian *šəkākʷ

      • Abenaki segôgw skunk
      • Southern New England Algonquian *segonku skunk

        • English skunk

          • French skunks skunk

            • Romanian sconcs skunk
          • Icelandic skunkur skunk
          • Japanese スカンク sukanku skunk
      • Unami shkakw skunk
  • Algonquian *ka·kwa porcupine

    • Arapahoan

      • Arapaho hoo porcupine
    • Central Algonquian

      • Miami aakaawita porcupine
      • Ojibwe ᑳᒃ gaag porcupine
    • Cree ᑳᑲᐧ kâkwa porcupine

      • English cawquaw
    • Eastern Algonquian

      • Abenaki kôgw porcupine
      • Mohegan kôq porcupine
• Algonquian *šek- to urinate

  • Blackfoot ssksi urinate
  • Central Algonquian

    • Ojibwe ᔒᔒᑭ zhiishiigi urinates
  • Cheyenne -xaa'e urinate
  • Eastern Algonquian

    • Abenaki segi- urinate
    • Unami shki urinate
  • Algonquian *šeka·kwa skunk, piss-fox

    • Arapahoan

      • Arapaho xou skunk
    • Central Algonquian

      • Miami šikaakwa skunk, wild onion

        • Miami šikaakonki at the onions, Chicago locative
        • French Chécagou

          • English Chicago
      • Ojibwe ᔑᑳᒃ zhigaag skunk

        • Ojibwe ᔑᑳᑲᐧᐊᓐᔒᣖ zhigaagawanzhiig onion lit. "skunk-plant"
    • Cheyenne xāō'o skunk
    • Cree ᓯᑳᐠ sikaak skunk
    • Eastern Algonquian *šəkākʷ

      • Abenaki segôgw skunk
      • Southern New England Algonquian *segonku skunk

        • English skunk

          • French skunks skunk

            • Romanian sconcs skunk
          • Icelandic skunkur skunk
          • Japanese スカンク sukanku skunk
      • Unami shkakw skunk

Visual

Collected English words

Chicago, skunk, cawquaw

Footnotes

1. ^

   Algonquian *wa·kwehsa: "fox kit, fox" was originally a diminutive but expanded to all ages of fox in almost all descendants.

   Amusingly, it is a plausible source of an English borrowing of "fox", you could see it following the pattern of "skunk" coming from the related Algonquian *šeka·kwa—though of course it is not the true source of English "fox", which actually comes from Germanic *fuxsaz: "fox".

   If you look at Eastern Algonquian Abenaki (w)ôkwses and Mohegan wôks, you could easily imagine borrowing "fox" and/or "foxes" from an Eastern Algonquian language, just have to get a *w to *v to *f sound change, which is typologically very common (compare Cheyenne vóhkéso).