Greenlandic reading lesson 5 - Arnanut
A short reading exercise this time, based on a Greenlandic women's magazine cover that caught my eye on the sermitsiaq.ag website.
If you were to ask someone unfamiliar with Greenland what they imagined an Inuit women's magazine would cover, your guesses probably wouldn't be too far from the following:
- how to sew your own sealskin purse
- it’s reindeer season! How to look good on the hunt
- an article on facial tattoos making a comeback
- a cut-out-and-keep guide to recognising 40 types of snow
- win some handcream, made with natural Greenlandic plant extracts
Well, 4 out of 5 of those are exactly what this magazine is about! You can no doubt guess the one I made up (although it's probably the headline of the equivalent men's magazine...).
Here's the vocabulary list (of course, for you Danish speakers out there you can see the magazine is bilingual):
arnanut - for women, derived from arnaq woman and -nut allative case (plural); to, for
ukiaq - autumn/fall. Not to be confused with ukioq year. Note related forms ukiaru this coming autumn/fall and ukiarmi last autumn/fall
eqquigit - win! Second person singular imperative form of eqqui- to hit [something], to guess [something] right. Half-transitive form of eqqorpaa he/she hits it.
atuagassiap – of the magazine (relative case); in absolutive case atuagassiaq
iluani – in its inside, so atuagassiap iluani inside the magazine
takusaqarnerugit see more [things]! From taku- see + -saq passive noun (thing which is [verbed]) + -qar- have/exist + -neru- more + -git second person singular imperative, intransitive. Literally “[please] have more things [to be] seen!”
puisip - of the seal (relative form); absolutive form puisi
amianik – with its skin (instrumental case); from ameq skin + -a- his/her/its + -nik instrumental case form used after plurals or possessive endings (as here)
aningaasiviliorit – make a purse! From aningaasat(1) coins, money + -sivik/-livik place where one puts something + -lior- make + -rit second person singular imperative (note the sound alternation: -git is used after vowel endings or “hard consonant” endings; -rit after -r- endings). ((1) In turn I believe that singular aningaasaq coin is derived from aningaaq an old Eskimo name for the moon in storytelling + -usaq thing which is like)
kiinnakkut – on the face (prosecutive case: by, along, upon). From kiinaq face; note this is one of those words where the consonant before final –q undergoes gemination (due to metathesis of the -q- before the -n-) before certain suffixes. This is the same process found in nanoq bear > nannup / nannut / nannumut of the bear / the bears / to the bear. Because this gemination is an irregular process, sometimes “regularised” forms are seen, e.g. nanormut has a small number of google hits.
kakiortinnerit – tattooings. From kakior[paa] – [he/she] tattoos [him/her] + -ti*- to cause something to happen + -neq verbal noun, the act of doing [verb] + -it plural form of –neq ending.
atugaaqqilersut – they are being used again. From atu- use + -gaq passive noun (like –saq above), something which is [verbed] + -u- to be (changes to -a- after previous -a- from -gaq under normal spelling rules) + -qqi- again + -ler- to start, to have started, be about to + sut 3rd person plural intransitive nominal mood.
tuttunniarneq – going deer hunting. From tuttu reindeer + -t- to catch (only used with a few animal names) + -niar- which, as noted above, means “to want/to intend/to try” but in a hunting context it implies being out on the hunt + -neq verbal noun. Note the -t- morpheme is assimilated into the following -n-.
aallartippoq – it has started
piniarninni – [when] on your hunt. pi- here is a “dummy” ending (discussed in previous lessons) which can function as a dummy object for a subsequent ending which supplies the meaning for the word. So with the “hunting” meaning of -niar- discussed above we have piniarpoq – he/she hunts; piniartoq hunter. Here with the addition of -neq verbal noun (shortened to -ni- due to affix following it) + -nni in your/on your (formed from the fusion of -t- your + -ni in, on (locative case)).
atisarissaarit – wear some nice clothes! Or perhaps more naturally dress well! Formed from atisaq clothing item + -rissaar- to have a nice [noun] on (e.g. kavaajarissaarpoq she has a nice jacket on) + -rit 2nd person imperative.
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As ever, please ask if you have any questions (or corrections)!