Night

The Southern-Uto-Aztecan words for "night" are part of a family of etyma referring to "darkness", "blackness", and "charcoal", most of them based on the Uto-Aztecan roots *tu-, *tuka (Stubbs 2011#240), and *yuppa (Stubbs 2011#241).

Proto-Corachol-Nahuan

For Proto-Corachol-Nahuan we can reconstruct:

• tɨri "charcoal"

Nahuatl: tli:lli "charcoal", tli:ltik "black", tekol/tikol "charcoal" < Pre-Nahua *tɨkwari "charcoal".

Náayeri: tɨ'ɨskwá"brasa, carbón" (McMahon & McMahon 1959) < *tɨɨri-kwa

• tɨka "darkness"

Nahuatl: tikatlan "midnight"

Wixárika: tɨkáari "night"

Náayeri: tɨ́ka'a. 1. En la noche; 2. Obscuridad. (Muñiz 2024:97)

• yɨwɨ/*yɨwa' < PSUA *yuwa "dark, become dark"

Nahuatl: yo:wa-l, yo:wa-k < PCN *yɨwe "black"

Wixárika: yɨwikɨta /yɨwɨ-kɨ-ta/ /dark-instr-loc/ "at night, in the dark"

PSUA *tuka

For proto-Tepiman (Bascom 1965#231) reconstructs *tuʔkaga-i "darkness, night", based on Northern Tepehuán tukagi and Southern Tepehuán tuʔkaaʔ.

For his "Sonoran" group (Lionnet 1985#320) reconstructs *tuku "apagarse" and *tuka "noche, obscuridad"; based on Тepehuán tuká-gai; Ópata tuk-, Еudeve túku-; Yaqui tuká-гiа, Мayo tukáа-ri; Warihío túka-wári, Guarijío tugá-o, Raramuri ruká-wari; Tubar tukú-r, "араgаdо ".

Stubbs (2011) reconstruct: 240a. *tuka / *tuku / *tuki 'fire go out, dark, black, night'; 240c. *tuhu / *tuu (< *tuku); 242. *yu’pa > *yuppa ‘go out (of fire), (get) dark, black’.

Sapir; VVH23 *tuu(ku) 'black'; VVH144 *tuski /

• tuska 'night'; BH.Cup *tuk ‘pass the night’; B.Tep231 *tukaga-i 'darkness, night'; B.Tep232 *tuku ‘black’;

M67-45 *tu, *tuhu ‘black’, *tuk ‘night’, *cuk ‘night’; I.Num228 *tuka 'night'; I.Num224 *tu(h)u(h) 'black'; I.Num230 *tuki ‘fire goes out’; L.Son320 *tuku, 320b *cuku 'obscurecerse'; Dakin 1982; let’s combine much of M88-tu2 ‘night’, M88-tu3 'black’, M88-tu12 ‘put fire out’, and M88-cu4 ‘black’; KH/M06-tu2 *tuku ‘black, dark, night’ and tu12 ‘fire, to go out’ and KH/M06-tu25 *tuka ‘night’: Mn toqawano 'night-time'; NP tuka ‘extinguish fire’; NP tokano 'night'; NP toka cïpïa 'dark'; TSh tukwanni / tukwawani / tukwanippïh 'night'; Sh tukani ‘night, be dark’; Sh tuki” ‘put out the fire’; Cm tukani ‘evening, night’; Kw tuku 'be dark, be night'; Kw tukwa 'be dark, be night'; Kw tukwa-nu/no 'night'; SP tukwi- ‘fire go out’; SP tukwa- ‘put out the fire, be dark, night’; SP tukwanu ‘night’; CU tugwa-na-ti 'night-time'; CU tugwami ‘extinguish’; CU túukwari (<*tuukkwati) ‘black, dark’; Tb tuugït~’uduuk 'be dark/black'; Tb tuugit 'night, the dark'; Cp túkmu-t ‘night’; Cp túke 'pass the night'; Cp túku 'yesterday'; Ca túk 'go to bed, stay overnight'; Ca túkmiyat 'night'; Ls túúk 'camp for the night, v’; Ls túúku-mi-t, tuk-va 'night'; Sr tuuk 'night'; Hp tooki ‘last night, to go out (fire)’; Hp tookila 'night-time'; Hp tookiwma ‘for fire to be going out’; Tbr tu-/tukúr/tokúr ‘negro, apagado’. Ken Hill adds WSh tuu” ‘black’; Ch tuga ‘night’; Ch tugarasi’avi ‘big black ant sp’. Relevant to B.Tep232 ‘black’ are TO čuuk 'stop burning or giving out light'; LP tuku; PYp tuk; NT túku ‘black’; ST tyuk (Bascom); ST čuk ‘black’; relevant to B.Tep231 ‘night’ are TO čuhug ‘night’; LP tuahag; NT tukági; ST tukaa’; TrC forms include Eu čuki 'noche'; Wr tugaó 'noche'; Wr togapá-ni 'become dusk'; Tr ŕuká-wa-ri 'noche'; Tr ŕu-/ŕo- ‘be black/dark’; My tukáária 'noche'; Tbr tokú-r; and in CrC (where

• u > ï) is Cr wa-tïka’a 'it's night-time’.

Note the semantics of AYq tuuka ‘yesterday’, Cp túku 'yesterday’, Hp tooki ‘last night, to go out (fire)’, and Ktn tuka / ’atuka ‘at night, last night’ and Ktn tuk ‘yesterday’.

Mn tuhutïpi ‘black rock’; NP tu / tuhu ‘black’; Cm tu /tuh / tuhupi 'black'; Kw tuhu- 'black'; SP tuu" 'black'; Sh tuu"/tuun 'black'; Sh(M) tuki" 'put out a fire'; Sh(Cr) tukwi"/tui" 'go out (fire)'; Sh(SV) tukwih/tuih 'put out a fire'; Sh(SV) tuu" 'black'; Cm tu/tuh/ tuhupi 'black'; Kw tuhu- 'black'; Ch tuupï ‘black paint’; SP tuu" 'black'; WMU tuu-kwa; CU túu-kwa-rï 'black, dark'; Hp toho 'blackish pigment' may be an early loan from Num *tuhu (< *tuku), in light of Hp tooki existing as well. Sh’s variant forms—tukwi and tui—above show how easily/quickly an intervocalic -k- can be lost, likely passing through an -h- phase, which is likely for the *tuhu forms: *tuku > *tuhu > tuu (in some cases). In fact, Shaul (1994, 289) shows in PYp tuhu and redupl PYp tutuk that -h- is intervocalic and that k is found in the same stem, and *-k- > -h- is common in ‘deer’ and elsewhere. Ken Hill lists, but queries whether CN tekol-li 'charcoal' and Pl tekunal ‘live coal’ are cognate; it’s a good question. Could CN tekol-li be a recycled loan from Cah *tukuri > *tVkol-li? [*-k- > -h-, *tu > cu] [NUA: Num, Hp, Tb, Tak; SUA: Tep, Trn, Cah, Opn, Tbr, CrC, Azt] 241a. *tuL 'charcoal, soot, black': BH.Cup *túla 'charcoal' {Cp tul; Cp tulnək-ic 'black'; Ca tul; Ca túlek-iš 'black'; Ls túúlaa, túú-la}; Munro.Cup21 *túú-la ‘charcoal’ {Ls túú-la; Cp tú-l; Ca tú-ly}; KH.NUA{Sr too-ţ ‘charcoal, coal(s), ember(s)’; Gb tur; Tb tuul; Ls; Cp; Ca}; M67-45 *tunu; CL.Azt *tiil- 'soot'; M88-tu23 and some of tu3; KH/M06-tu3 *tul and tu23: Cp túla 'get black, get a tan'; Cp túlnine 'make black'; Cp tultúlaxwe 'it is soiled'; Sr tïnäänä’n 'be black'; Sr tïnää’q ‘bec, turn black'; Ca túl-nek 'black'; CN tliil-li 'black ink, soot'; Pl tiil 'soot'; Pl tiil-tik 'black’. AMR (1996d) and Hill add TO čuuD ‘charcoal’; TO čuuDt ‘make embers of wood, etc.’; TO čuuDagi ‘embers, charcoal’, which works since TO D often aligns with liquids or *L. Not only that, but Ls *tu-la rather than *tu-l, may suggest *tul-ta > *tul-la which helped preserve the final -a of -la (*-ta). Munro justifiably separates *-la as an absolutive suffix, but the keeping of the vowel in -la suggests a cluster or an underlying doubled *-LL-; thus, like CN tliil-li, an L existed that was absorbed by the absolutive suffix (*tul-la > tu-la) to become rather invisible in Tak, but helped preserve final -a. While it may be a fossilized absolutive suffix, the l as second consonant seems at least intermediately justifiable in many Tak compounds, such as *tul-nïk 'black' (Sr, Ca, Cp), Cp tultúlaxwe 'it is soiled’, and in CN tliil-li and Pl. On the other hand, whether the *-la/li was originally absolutive or not, Tr čorí 'cosa negra' and Cah *cukuli open the possibility that *tul derives from reductions that lost the medial syllable -ku-: *tuku(-la/li) > *tu’li > *tulV. Sr tïnää’k 'turn black' probably shows a reduction of the cluster apparent in Ca túl-nek and Cp tulnək-ic. Perhaps Ktn tu-č ‘charcoal’. 241b. *tïLu / *taLu ‘eye, black round thing’: Stubbs2000b; Stubbs2003-41: the only UA language not showing

• pusi for eye is Tbr telu- / tilu-r 'eye’, which likely ties to Wr telúla ‘smooth black stone for polishing pottery’. And

they tie to CN tliilloo-tl 'blackness’ and CN(S) tlilloa ‘cubrirse de negro, ponerse color negro’, and the lot of them tie to *tuL 'charcoal, soot, black' above, this being the longer original form. Note also UA *talu 'egg': Tbr ne-telu-r ‘huevo’; Cr ta’u ‘blanquillo, huevo.’ (intervocalic liquids > ’ in Cr). The Tbr form may tie to Tbr telu-t / tilu-t ‘eye.’ Note also the Tbr-Azt-CrC tie. [SUA: Tbr] [NUA: Tb, Tak; SUA: Tep, Tbr, Trn, CrC, Azt]

M88-yu27 and yu26 ‘fire go out’; KH.NUA; KH/M06-

yu27 and yu26 ‘fire go out’: Cp yúpi-š ‘(paint) brush’; Ca yúpi ‘be overcast (of sky), cloudy, color term base + yúpi = to turn into a colored appearance’; Ls yúúva 'be dark'; Ls yuvá/i ‘bec. black’; Ls yuvá-ta/ti ‘bec. black, vi, blacken, vt’; Ls yúúpa ‘go out (fire), not burn’; Sr yupq ‘go out (fire)’, yupu; Gb yuvívkomok ‘be getting dark’; Gb yupíxa’ ‘black’.

Hill adds Wc yïvi / yïïvi 'black' which corresponds perfectly (Wc ï < *ü) and Ls yupáqa/i ‘go out (fire), vi; put out (fire), vt’.

Also related are forms under M88-yu26; KH/M-yu26: Ls yúupa 'go out (fire), not burn'; Sr yupk 'go out (of fire)'; Gb yupí 'ahogarse'; Gb yupíxa’ 'black’. Hill adds Ktn yupk ‘extinguish fire or lamp’. Note also Ktn yovo’k ‘dark, dirty, black’; Ktn yo’vok / yo’vïk ‘be dark/black’; Ktn yuvitïk ‘get dark’; and with p- prefix, Ktn p-yïvïk ‘dark colored, brown-gray’. Ls yúúpa ‘go out (fire), not burn’ vs. Ls yúúva ‘be dark’. At ‘night’, the forms of Azt *yo’wa ‘night’ may be cognate with these. [NUA: Tak; SUA: CrC]