DDeden Wrote:
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> I asked about ak- aht- ax- in relation to
> hammering or chopping, as I think it was conjoined
> with watr to make akwa (dugout canoe, later other
> related words). I think 'umiak', 'kayak' (names
> for ribbed skin boats), 'Ottawa' derived partly
> from the Altaic (Ket) word for watercraft, and I
> think similar derived words would be found in
> numerous languages not closely related. A couple
> of AE words for watercraft include these sounds,
> and I'm wondering if akwa referred only to boats
> derived from dugouts or if the name for reed raft
> boats was also derived from it, since they were
> constructed entirely differently.

Akwa doesn't appear in AE in conjunction with boats, axes, chopping, or water. As far as I know it's not a word in AE (since there was not "w" sound). "Aqua/akwa" is from a language that is much younger (by thousands of years) than AE... and from a different language family.

Umiak and Kayak actually mean "woman's boat" and "man's boat" in Inuit.