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*mahtāw

initial

wondrous, marvelous

compare

*manitow

Evidence

PC mamāhtāwan, to be amazing or wondrous; to be spiritually powerful; MC mamāhtāwelihtākwan, to be considered marvelous or wondrous; mamāhtāwasinātew, to be decorated with fancy motifs, to be fancily marked; SEC māmāhtāwātisīw, to have supernatural powers; NEC mimāhtāusīu, to be amazing, to do amazing things; mimāhtāunākun, to be decorated, to look fancy; WI (Pessamit) matauapeu [mātāwāpēw], to weave designs into the snowshoe netting; Watkins (1865) "Mútaminuk, n.an. pl. Indian corn, maize;" Laure (ca. 1726) "tchi-mamatauassinaten, tu chamarres, tu couvres de différentes couleurs, ton habit, ton bonnet;" "matamin -ets, blé d'inde;" Silvy (ca. 1680) "ni mamataȣeriten, je m'étonne, je crains"

ANISH mamaandaawizi, to perform wonders; mandaamin, a kernel of corn (Livesay & Nichols, 2021)

Discussion

Other than the Old Cree name for "maize," *mahtāmina, corroborative evidence in the contemporary and history record overwhelmingly supports the reconstruction of the reduplicated form *mamāhtāw. See Pentland (1981) for a discussion on the relation between this root and the PA word *manetōwa.


ABBREVIATIONS

Cree Dialects
PC
Plains Cree
WC
Woods Cree
WSC
Western Swampy Cree
ESC
Eastern Swampy Cree
MC
Moose Cree
AT
Atikamekw
SEC
Southern East Cree
NEC
Northern East Cree
WI
Western Innu
EI
Eastern Innu
NSK
Naskapi
Algonquian Languages
ABEN
Abenaki
ANISH
Anishinabe
MESK
Meskwaki
MIAMI
Miami
MENO
Menomini
PA
Proto-Algonquian