‘throw at; throw in’
[< kuss + shíichi]
‘he threw it’
‘I threw it’
kkǘǰe ~ kkǘ•ǰe
kte, kĭtĕ´, kitĕ´, ktedí, kĭtédi
‘hit, shoot at’
kitē, ktē, kitēse
This root has interesting irregularities, Mandan nasalization, Hoocąk voicing
and the possible partial conflation with ‘kill’ in OVS, q.v. Either it was
used with the meaning ‘throw’ with atlatl darts, as in Mandan, or it represents
a lexical innovation, as the bow and arrow diffused to the Mississippi
Valley and adjacent areas long after the breakup of Proto-Siouan. Diffusion would
have affected different subgroups at different times. V. ‘bow’ for some
evidence of diffusion. The verb may have been borrowed, then diffused and
mixed with ‘kill’. In fact, there may have been two roots that were
confused by the early linguists. In Biloxi, the root occurs with and without
final -di, as we have come to expect. However, if the -di is
there, the gloss is always ‘hit’; if the gloss is ‘shoot’ it is never there.
(This may, of course, be purely accidental.) In Tutelo, we see variable
recording of vowel length.
Cf. Shoshoni look-alike kwtti ‘shoot’ (general Numic?) (from John McLaughlin).