'Hand', 'finger' and their word family in Zamucoan

The present study analyzes the word family of 'hand' and 'finger' in Zamucoan languages (Old Zamuco, Ayoreo and Chamacoco), spoken in the Chaco lowlands of southeastern Bolivia and northern Paraguay. The analysis of the morphology of 'hand' and 'finger' allows us to reconstruct a common root in Proto-Zamucoan, which is similar to the root for 'hand' documented in several unrelated South American genealogical units. In addition to their common root in the proto-language, some idiomatic uses of 'hand' and 'finger' preserve traces of colexification, which is relatively frequent in hunter-gatherer societies, such as the Proto-Zamucoan one before agriculture was imported through contact. I then explore the partial colexifications of 'hand' and 'finger' in body parts and beyond the body domain. 'Hand' occurs in the number words for 'five' and 'ten' in the five-based system of Old Zamuco and Ayoreo, and this is possibly also an areal feature of neighbouring languages of the South American Chaco. Finally, I address some metaphoric extensions of 'hand' and 'finger': for instance, they may refer to actions performed with the hands, which is the origin of an unusual grammaticalization of the noun 'deed' into the question word 'how'.