| 释义 |
Tunica2|ˈtjuːnɪkə|
Also † Tonica, Tonika.
[ad. F. Tonika, Tounika, perh. ad. Tunica tóniku the man.]
(A member of) an American Indian people of the lower Mississippi valley; their language, now extinct. Hence ˈTunican, † ˈTonikan, a postulated linguistic family of which Tunica was the chief member.
1806J. Sibley in Message from President of U.S., communicating Discoveries made in exploring Missouri by Capts. Lewis & Clark 83 Tunicas. These people lived formerly on the Bayan Tunica..on the Mississippi, east side... Their native language is peculiar to themselves. 1891D. G. Brinton Amer. Race i. v. 91 The Tonicas are frequently mentioned in early French accounts of the colony of Louisiana. 1891J. W. Powell Indian Linguistic Families 125 The distinctness of the Tonika language, has long been suspected, and was indeed distinctly stated by Dr. Sibley in 1806. Ibid., The Tonika are known to have occupied three localities. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXV. 374/1 [Linguistic families of North America] Tonikan, Miss. 1911J. R. Swanton Indian Tribes Lower Miss. Valley 19 The method of distinguishing masculine and feminine pronominal forms is also decidedly unlike, Taënsa employing a suffix while Tunica uses entirely distinct forms. 1947Romance Philol. I. 145 (title) Some French loan-words in Tunica. 1965Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics Spring 100 Tunican (comprising Tunica, Atakapa, and Chitimacha). |