Reconstruction:Proto-Algic/nekwet-

Etymology
Jan P. van Ejik noted the similarity of not just Proto-Algic and Proto-Salish, but also 🇨🇬 (variant: *pe·yakw) and 🇨🇬. Ejik speculated that one of the roots may have originally been Salish and borrowed by some varieties of Proto-Algic, while the other may have been originally Algic and borrowed by some varieties of Proto-Salish. (Peter Bakker argues against this.)

In Language in the Americas, proposed a deeper relationship between this word and the Proto-Salish root *nak, *nəkʼ-uʼ, *nəkʼʷ-əʔ, identifying *n(V) as an  numeral prefix. Greenberg's suggestion that Algic, Salish and various other North American language families might descend from a common ancestor has been rejected by many linguists as flawed and unsupported by valid evidence.

Proulx reconstructs this term as nekwet- and notes that several descendants, including Unami, Wiyot, and Yurok, have lost the prefix ne-. Sapir had previously conjectured that the Proto-Algic form lacked ne- and the languages which have it had added it analogically.

Numeral

 * 1) one (1)