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ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • vii
Guide to Using the Dictionary1
This is a first version of a bilingual keBdUSCix (Anishinaabemowin)-English
dictionary, designed specifically for use in the northern Ontario Ojibwe communities of
Cat Lake, Frenchman’s Head, Lac Seul, Pikangikum, Poplar Hill, and Red Lake. The
dictionary is intended to be a resource for teachers and students of Anishinaabemowin
(Ojibwe), as an aid to spelling in both Syllabic and Roman writing traditions, as a help in
understanding meanings, and as a record of the richness of the Anishinaabemowin
language and culture as evidenced through its vocabulary. The dictionary should also be
useful in the development of other language-related materials. This version is
preliminary— we hope to keep adding to it in the coming years, especially as users make
suggestions for additional vocabulary and as new words are added to Anishinaabemowin.
Throughout this guide, keywords are identified with boldface type. All keywords are
also included in a glossary which follows the guide, so that grammatical concepts and
terms can be looked up at any time.
History of the Project
In 1989, a group of Native language teachers met in Sioux Lookout to discuss some
common concerns, such as the lack of a native language policy, the lack of teaching
materials in the Native languages, problems of dialect diversity, the need for the
development of Native language vocabulary for modern terminology, and the lack of
effective communication between teachers in different communities. A list of
recommendations was developed at the meeting, and used as the basis for drafting a
language proposal under the joint cooperation of Shibogama Education Authority,
1
These helps were prepared by Rand Valentine, for an as yet unpublished dictionary of
Northern Ojibwe.
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • viii
Windigo Education Authority, Independent First Nations Alliance and the Northern
Nishnawbe Education Council. In 1991 a Native Language Project steering committee
was formed with representatives from each of these First Nations councils. Initially,
research was carried out to assess the status of Native language vitality in the Ojibwe,
Oji-Cree, and Cree comunities in northern Ontario serviced by the participating education
authorities. In 1994, the results of this survey were published in a report translated into
each of the three language groups under consideration. The report showed clearly that
there is a great need for Native language materials if these languages are going to survive
and flourish.
In 1994 researchers developed plans for canvassing each of the three language areas,
and then carried out dictionary work in many of the communities represented by the
education authorities involved in the project. The beginning stages of work was greatly
aided by the willingness of others to share their materials. For example, the
Anishinaabemowin dictionary was based originally on a wordlist developed by John
Nichols for Oji-Cree, and the Cree dictionary benefitted from a wordlist compiled by the
Cree School Board of Chisasibi, Quebec, representing the speech of Coastal and East
Cree communities on the east coast of James Bay and points inland. All of these
languages are related, and share much structure and vocabulary, so having a headstart due
to another individual or group’s willingness to share their work made the task easier to
accomplish in the limited time frame for which research funding was available.
Three preliminaries dictionaries have been produced, an Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe),
an Anishininiimowin (Oji-Cree), and an Ininiw ayimiwin (Cree). To compile this
Anishinaabemowin dictionary, Pat Ningewance travelled to each of the six Ojibwe
communities from June to December of 1994, and gathered words by working with elders
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • ix
and other people interested in the dictionary, especially the education directors in the
communities. In this way, many thousands of words were gathered and checked,
including some very common vocabulary and some more specialized vocabulary. Both
kinds of words have been preserved in this edition of the dictionary, so that users can
have access to the full range of Anishinaabemowin vocabulary. The reader should keep in
mind though that the language has an almost limitless stock of words, so no dictionary
will ever include every word in the language.
Dialect Variation
It is well known that aboriginal languages show much variation from place to place,
giving rise to different dialects and languages. In northern Ontario there is even variation
between nearby communities, especially for terms for modern technology, but in other
vocabulary as well. For example, the words for ‘airplane’ in different northern
communities include KCjoqfx (ombwaasijigan), fuwOsfc (gaa-bimisemagak), and
uwOCix (bimisewin), among others. One challenge in making a dictionary for a dialect
region is giving a proper account of what vocabulary exists and how widespread in usage
each item of vocabulary is. If a dictionary of northern Ontario Anishinaabemowin were to
list just one of the words for ‘airplane’ above, it would not be giving a complete picture
for all of the communities. At the same, however, only some of these words, but not all,
may be used in any one community, and it would be wrong to suggest that every
community uses all three words with the same frequency. An effort has been made in the
dictionary to specify where each item of vocabulary is used, but this is not easy to do.
One problem is that speakers in one community may not regularly use a word
themselves, but may still understand the word on the basis of its meaning. For example,
fuwOsfc (gaa-bimisemagak) literally means ‘that (thing) which flies,’ so it isn’t too
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • x
hard to figure out that this refers to an airplane, especially if the conversation is about
travel, even for people who don’t happen to use that word as their regular word for an
airplane. Within any given community, too, elders may pronounce words somewhat
differently from youth, or use different words from the younger. Elders usually have a
richer and more precise vocabulary than others, especially in areas of traditional life such
as hunting and trapping, in part because the elders have had more opportunity to live the
traditional life, while younger generations have grown up on reserves or in towns. On the
other hand, the youth may have special vocabulary for things of interest to them, such as
terms for rock music and hockey gear. And these “youth” words may show different
patterns of variation across communities than the elders’ vocabulary does. So the picture
is very complex, and it is hard to know exactly where each word is actively used, where it
is recognized but not used locally, and where it is neither recognized with a given
meaning nor used. The only way to really be sure is to do an exhaustive check of many
speakers in all communities, but this is never possible, so some measure of guessing must
be done. Users can easily check forms in their own communities if they have any doubts.
As has been already mentioned, to gather and check vocabulary in the dictonary the
prinicipal researcher travelled to each of the six communities and worked with local
elders and language specialists. After a rough draft of the dictionary was made, it was
distributed to each of the communities, with the request that it be checked for vocabulary,
spellings, and meanings. If an item of vocabulary is used only by some communities but
not all, a special community code appears next to it, indicating where it is used. The
following community codes are used:
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xi
Code
Community
CL
Cat Lake
FH
Frenchman’s Head
LS
Lac Seul
PI
Pikangikum
PH
Poplar Hill
RL
Red Lake
Community Codes
A dictionary entry that has no community code specified is assumed to be used in all
of the communities, though local preferences should be confirmed whenever there is
doubt.
The Basic Dictionary Entry
In the notes which follow, key words appear in bold type. Many of these words are
grammatical terms, and are defined as they are introduced. However, all boldfaced
words are also listed and defined in the brief glossary which follows these notes.
Each word (entry) listed in this dictionary has four types of information, and some
have more. A standard, four-part entry, consists of: 1., a syllabic spelling; 2., a Roman
spelling; 3., a specification of the word’s part of speech (also called its word category);
and 4., a simple English translation (also called a gloss) of the word. The following
example shows these components:
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xii
IhLuJx • endaso-biboon
pc every winter.
Here is a breakdown of the parts:
Part 1
Syllabic Spelling
Part 2
Roman Spelling
Part 3
Part of Speech
Part 4
English Gloss
IhLuJx
endaso-biboon
pc
every winter
Some words have additional information, such as the plurals, locatives, diminutive,
or pejoratives of certain nouns. These elements are described below. We will first
address each of the common components of the dictionary entry.
Part 1. Syllabic Spelling
Part 1
Syllabic Spelling
Part 2
Roman Spelling
Part 3
Part of Speech
Part 4
English Gloss
IhLuJx
endaso-biboon
pc
every winter
This is the syllabic spelling of the word. There are many different ways of writing
Syllabics. For example, the word for ‘meat’ might be written in any of the following
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xiii
ways.
Eastern Syllabics I
Cigm
Eastern Syllabics II
Cigo
Western Syllabics I
iCgµ
Western Syllabics II
Cigµ
Each of these ways of writing represents a tradition in a particular region, though there
are two main traditions, an Eastern and a Western. The syllabic tradition used in this
dictionary is identified as Eastern Syllabics I in the list above, which is the most common
tradition used by writers of Anishinaabemowin in the area represented by the dictionary.
Space has not allowed us to include all of the different ways of spelling each word within
these different traditions. This is not a very significant problem, though, because all
Syllabic traditions in Anishinaabemowin share the same basic stock of symbols and
values to represent syllables, and it is only the minor characters which vary. The
following characters are shared by all Anishinaabemowin Syllabic traditions. They are
given with letter correspondences to the Roman (English-letter) writing system that is
also used in this dictionary. The Roman writing system is discussed elsewhere in the
Guide.
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xiv
e
i/ii
o/oo
a/aa
I
i
K
k
w
CI
Ci
CK
Ck
p/b
U
u
J
j
t/d
Y
y
H
h
k/g
R
r
F
f
ch/j
Q
q
A
a
m
W
w
S
s
n
E
e
D
d
z/s
O
o
L
l
y
T
t
G
g
Basic Syllabary Common to Eastern and Western Traditions
In addition to these letters, most Anishinaabemowin Syllabic writers use the following
set of characters for the sh-syllables:
zh/sh
e
i/ii
o/oo
a/aa
V
B
N
M
The group of characters that varies in the Eastern and Western traditions are called
finals, the small, raised letters used to represent a consonant sound which occurs at the
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xv
end of a syllable. The correspondences between these finals in the Eastern and Western
Syllabic traditions are shown in the following chart.
Eastern
Western
East. Example West. Example
b/p
n
ñ
d/t
b
∫
Rfb
Rf∫
gegaad
g/k
c
ç
wyc
wyç
mitig
j/ch
z
Ω
eFhz
eFhΩ
nigotaaj
m
Z
b
eheBdUZ
eheBdUb
nidanishinaabem
n
x
≈
qsx
qs≈
jiimaan
z/s
m
µ
eOrm
eOrµ
nizegiz
zh/sh
X
˛
wX
w ˛
miizh
y
v
´
wlv
wl´
mizay
kln
klñ
Roman
asab
Correspondences Between Finals in Eastern and Western Syllabic Traditions
The other area where there is variation is in the position of the character that
represents the w-sound (sometimes called w-dot). In the Eastern tradition it comes before
the Syllabic character it is associated with, while in the Western tradition, it follows. Here
are a few examples to show the differences.
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xvi
Eastern
Western
Eastern
Example
Western
Example
Roman
Ck
kC
CkCkx
kCkC≈
waawan
CI
IC
CIjox
ICjo≈
webaasin
Ci
iC
Cigm
iCgµ
wiiyaas
Cu
uC
kCu
kuC
abwi
Ch
hC
Ch/iR
hC/iR
dwaa’ige
Table Showing Position of W-Dot in Eastern and Western Syllabic Traditions
Using these two tables, the Eastern spellings used in this dictionary can easily be
converted to Western, if desired, or a word spelled with Western conventions can easily
be converted to the Eastern system used here.
Syllabic Spelling Order
Just as there is a specified order of letters in the English alphabet, a, b, c, d…, there is
an accepted order of letters in the syllabary as well. This order is used in the sorting of
words in the dictionary. The following chart gives the order of syllabic characters. The
order is across each row and then down to the next row.
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xvii
I
CI
i
Ci
K
CK
k
Ck
√
U
CU
u
Cu
J
CJ
j
Cj
n
Y
CY
y
Cy
H
CH
h
Ch
b
R
CR
r
Cr
F
CF
f
Cf
c
Q
CQ
q
Cq
A
CA
a
Ca
z
W
CW
w
Cw
S
CS
s
Cs
Z
E
CE
e
Ce
D
CD
d
Cd
x
O
CO
o
Co
L
CL
l
Cl
m
V
CV
B
CB
N
CN
M
CM
X
T
t
G
g
v
Syllabic Spelling Order
Notice that each series of Syllabic symbols is followed in order by the same series
with w-dot. The finals come after all of the large symbols, so that, for example krZ
(aagim), ‘snowshoe,’ comes after krsc (aagimaak), ‘willow,’ because Z comes after s in
the sort order.
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xviii
We have chosen to ignore the symbol / in the sort order, since there is a tendency for
many speakers not to represent it in writing. Also, since n and m before a consonant, as in
waabandan, ‘see s.t. (in.)’ and ombizigan, ‘yeast,’ are not written in standard Syllabics,
they too have no effect on sort order.
Writers show considerable variation in the representation of a gliding sound that
sometimes occurs between two long vowels, as in wiisaande’aakwaa, ‘the trees are
mossy and have few needles,’ which may also be written as wiisaandeyaakwaa. We have
followed the dictionary compiler’s preferences in the spelling of such forms.
Dialect variation also occurs in the pronunciation and spelling of words such as
waabigwan versus waabigon, ‘flower.’ Spellings with both «o» and «wa» occur in the
dictionary, depending on the dialect source of the form.
Part 2. Roman Spelling
Part 1
Syllabic Spelling
Part 2
Roman Spelling
Part 3
Part of Speech
Part 4
English Gloss
IhLuJx
endaso-biboon
pc
every winter
This is the Roman (English-letter) spelling of the word. It is included as a guide to
pronunciation for those who desire to learn the language. Anyone not fluent in
Anishinaabemowin will not be able to correctly pronounce a word based only on its
Syllabic spelling, because Syllabics is a kind of “shorthand” way of spelling, and many
important aspects of pronunciation are not represented in Syllabic writing. For example,
the Syllabic form krZ could be the word that means, ‘count him or her or it’ (a boy, a
girl, or a pipe), or it could be the word meaning ‘snowshoe.’ These two words are often
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xix
spelled the same way in Syllabics, even though they are pronounced differently. In
Roman spelling, they are spelled differently in order to capture the difference between
pronunciations:
agim
‘count him or her’
aagim
‘snowshoe’
The Roman system of writing adopted here is the most popular one used to write
Anishinaabemowin today, and has been used in several dictionaries and story collections
in other dialects, including Chippewa and Ottawa/Odawa. By knowing this system,
students will have access to a wide variety of materials available in these dialects and can
gain a better sense of the diversity of Anishinaabemowin linguistic heritage.
The Roman letters used to write Anishinaabemowin, their rough English equivalents
of pronunciation, and example Anishinaabemowin words are listed below, organized into
sets of vowels and consonants.
Vowels
Letter
English Equiv.
Example
Translation
a
puck
animosh
‘dog’
aa
pod
omaa
‘here’
e
bed, made
miigwech
‘thank you’
i
pit
abin
‘sit!’
ii
pea
niin
‘I, me, my’
o
put
ozaam
‘too much’
oo
soup, soap
boozhoo
‘hi!’
Roman Spelling Vowels of Anishinaabemowin
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xx
The vowels written with double letters, aa, ii, and oo are long vowels. The vowel e is
also a long vowel. The vowels a, i, and o are short vowels.
Consonants
Letter
English Equiv.
Example
Translation
b
balloon, speed
abin
‘sit!’
p
top prize
apii
‘when’
d
dog, stop
mindido
‘s/he is big’
t
boat top
mitig
‘tree’
g
go, scone
gaag
‘porcupine’
k
pick corn
amikwag
‘beavers’
j
jack, chip
ajina
‘a short time’
ch
beach chair
miigwech
‘thank you’
z
zap, sap
mizay
‘eel’
s
gas station
baaso
‘s/he is dry’
zh
pleasure
azhigan
‘sock’
sh
bush shirt
asham
‘feed her/him!’
m
money
minik
‘that much’
n
nose
niin
‘I, me, my’
w
wiggle
wiiyaas
‘meat’
y
yellow
ayaa
‘s/he is there’
’
button
ma’iingan
‘wolf’
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxi
Roman Spelling Consonants of Anishinaabemowin
For some speakers of northern Ontario Anishinaabemowin, the sounds associated with
p, t, k, and ch have a breath of air before the consonant sound. This breath of air is called
aspiration, and sounds a bit like English h at the beginning of a word such as ‘hot.’
The Roman writing system used here capitalizes the first word in a sentence just as
English does. Prenouns and preverbs are set off with hyphens in Roman writing, but
person prefixes are not. These rules are shown in the following example:
Aabiding iinzan mewinzha mawinzoobaniig anishinaabeg e-niibing,
waasa noopimiing gaa-izhi-miinikaanig, ikwe, inini, ogozisensiwaan dash.
‘Once it seems, long ago, some people gathered berries in the summer, a
man, a woman and their little son went to get berries deep in the woods.’
Part 3. Part of Speech (Word Category)
Part 1
Syllabic Spelling
Part 2
Roman Spelling
Part 3
Part of Speech
Part 4
English Gloss
IhLuJx
endaso-biboon
pc
every winter
The words of Anishinaabemowin group into different classes, or parts of speech. The
main classes are nouns, verbs, pronouns, and particles. Each word listed in the
dictionary has its class listed, in the form of an abbreviation. Nouns and verbs are
grouped into subclasses on the basis of various properties discussed below.
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxii
The following part of speech categories are recognized in the dictionary. The
abbreviation used with each is also listed.
Abbrev.
Part of Speech
Example (Syllabics)
Example (Roman)
expr
expression
fCix Ljsq/Ko
gaawiin zaabamanji’osii
na
noun, animate
kwc
amik
iCR
ikwe
qsx
jiimaan
SFsx
mookomaan
DFZ
nookom
eeZ
niinim
efb
nikaad
eec
ninik
fefduhsRb
gaa-niigaanabiitamaaged
ni
nad
nid
noun, inanimate
noun, animate, dependent
noun, inanimate
dependent
na-pt
noun, animate, participle
ni-pt
noun, inanimate, participle fsodYOc
gaa-mazinaateseg
fuwOsfc
gaa-bimisemagak
wmCffwCiouxc
Miskwaagamiwiziibiing
Ckufx
Waabigoon
rq
gichi-
eF
ningo-
e
ni+
place
pre
pref
placename
pre-element used with
both nouns and verbs
prefix
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxiii
r
gi+
Abbrev.
Part of Speech
Example (Syllabics)
Example (Roman)
pr
pronoun
rdCk
giinawaa
kCig
awiya
h
daa-
r
gii-
irH
ikido
Cioe
wiisini
verb, animate intransitive
KCUXf
ombweshkaa
and inanimate intranstive
sqYO
majidese
verb, inanimate
oCfx
ziigwan
intransitive
uwuY
bimibide
verb, transitive animate
CkjZ
waabam
jFEuX
bagonebizh
Ckjhx
waabandan
kjqHx
aabajitoon
pv
preverb
vai
vai/ii
vii
vta
vti
verb, animate intransitive
verb transitive inanimate
Parts of Speech in Anishinaabemowin
Nouns
Nouns typically refer to persons, spirits, animals, plants, and physical objects in the
world. Nouns are typically free words that answer the questions “Who?” or “What?”
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxiv
Most nouns are countable, and can be either singular or plural. Nouns function as the
subjects (actors) and objects (goals) of verbs, as in the following sentence:
SLx KrCkjsx iee.
Moozoon ogii-waabamaan inini.
‘The man saw a moose.’
Here there are two nouns, Sm (mooz), ‘moose’ and iee (inini), ‘man’. The subject of
this sentence is iee (inini), ‘man,’ and the object is SLx (moozoon) ‘moose.’
Nouns in Anishinaabemowin group into animate and inanimate genders or classes,
and dependent and independent sub-groups. In addition, there are participial forms,
that is, verbs used as nouns but keeping some of their verbal properties as well. These are
all discussed below.
Gender: Animate and Inanimate Nouns
Nouns in Anishinaabemowin group into two classes, or genders, animate and
inanimate. All words for people, animals, birds, fish, insects, spirits, and trees belong to
the animate class. Most non-living things belong to the inanimate class, but there are
exceptions: for example spoons, (smoking) pipes and pails are animate. A few words
vary in their animacy from one community to another, being in some communities
animate and in others inanimate. Animate nouns have plurals that end in c (g), as in
ieeCkc (ininiwag) ‘men’, while inanimate nouns have plurals that end in x (n), as in
qsdx (jiimaanan) ‘boats’. Because the animacy of a noun is not always predictable, the
dictionary lists nouns with the following codes to show whether they are animate or
inanimate.
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxv
na
noun, animate
ni
noun, inanimate
Anishinaabemwin words can have a variety of elements called prefixes and suffixes
attached to them to signal different meanings. A prefix is an element attached to the front
of a basic word in order to add some kind of meaning, for example eqsx (ninjiimaan),
‘my boat’ has the prefix e (ni) added to the basic word qsx (jiimaan) ‘boat’. Here this
prefix adds the meaning ‘my’. A suffix is an element attached to the end of a basic word
to add meaning. For example, qsdx (jiimaanan) ‘boats’, has the suffix kx (an), which
adds the meaning ‘more than one’ (inanimate plural). A word can have both a prefix and
suffix, or more than one prefix or suffix, as in eqsedex (ninjiimaaninaanin), ‘our
boats,’ which has the prefix e (ni) and the suffixes idx (inaan), meaning ‘we’, and ix
(in) meaning ‘more than one’ (plural). The prefixes and suffixes taken together are called
the inflections of the word.
All of the following forms of the basic word BBn (zhiishiib) with different prefixes
and suffixes might be found, for example.
Syllabics
Roman
English
BBjc
zhiishiibag
‘ducks’
BBjx
zhiishiiban
‘other duck’
BBj/
zhiishiiba’
‘other ducks’
eBBuZ
nizhiishiibim
‘my duck’
KBBusx
ozhiishiibiman
‘her|his duck’
Various Forms of the Word BBn (Zhiishiib) ‘Duck’
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxvi
To look up a simple noun in the dictionary, you must remove any prefixes and suffixes
attached to it. So, in these examples, several different elements would have to be
removed:
Prefix(es)
Stem
Suffix(es)
BBn
kc (-ag)
BBn
kx (-an)
BBn
k/ (-ah)
e (ni-)
BBn
iZ (-im)
K (o-)
BBn
isx (-iman)
These must be
removed before
looking up this
word
Examples of Prefixes and Suffixed to be Removed from Nouns before Looking them up
Dependent and Independent Nouns
In Anishinaabemowin, the words for relatives (family members, kinship terms) and
body parts are almost never used without identifying whose body part or relative is being
referred to, by means of elements (prefixes and suffixes) added to the basic noun. For
example, the word -nik ‘arm’ does not usually occur alone, but with a prefix, such as
eec ninik, ‘my arm,’ rec ginik, ‘your arm’, or Kec onik ‘his/her arm’. Nouns that
require such specification of relationship are called dependent nouns, and those that do
not are called independent nouns. Nouns whose part of speech is given simply as na and
ni in the dictionary are independent, but dependent nouns have special codes. Just as with
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxvii
independent nouns, dependent nouns can be animate or inanimate. The following codes
are used to identify dependent nouns:
nad
noun, animate, dependent
nid
noun, inanimate, dependent
Since dependent nouns must be used with a prefix that specifies relationship, there is a
question of what form or forms should be listed in the dictionary. We have chosen to
standardly represent body parts with a third person form, that is the one meaning
‘her/his __,’ for example, Kob (ozid) ‘her/his foot’, Kfb (okaad) ‘her/his leg.’ This
means that if you want to look up a word such as eob (nizid) ‘my foot’, you will have to
remove the prefix e (ni) meaning ‘my’ and add the prefix K (o) or C (w) meaning ‘her or
his’ in order to find the word in the dictionary. In the case of words for relatives, the ‘my’
(first person) form has been used, for example, DFZ (nookom), ‘my grandmother’, or
eFom (ningozis) ‘my son.’ Again, attention must be given to the prefix, and the form that
means ‘my…’ looked up.
Participial Nouns
Some nouns in Anishinaabemowin are made from verbs, and keep some of their
verbal properties, even though the words are used as nouns. A participle is a kind of
hybrid word somewhere between a noun and a verb. For example, some speakers refer to
an airplane as fuwOsfc (gaa-bimisemagak), or a typewriter as fKBu/ROc (gaaozhibii’igeseg). Both of these words refer to things and can be used as the subject or
object of a verb, so they are nouns, but they also have verbal properties, such as the way
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxviii
they make their plurals. Also, unlike other kinds of nouns, you can’t just attach a prefix
e (ni) to the front of these words to mean ‘my airplane’ or ‘my typewriter,’ because
these participles don’t behave like simple nouns.
Participial nouns may be animate or inanimate. The following codes are used for each
sub-class of participial noun.
na-pt
noun, animate, participle
ni-pt
noun, inanimate, participle
In northern Ontario Anishinaabemowin, participial nouns all begin with the element f
(gaa–). Participles must be distinguished from abstract nouns, which are also nouns
made from verbs, usually by adding the ending Cix (win), as in irHCix (ikidowin)
‘word, utterance’, and kDrCix (anokiiwin) ‘work.’ These words, although they have
been made from the verbs irH (ikido) ‘speak’ and kDr (anokii) ‘work’ are regular
nouns, which you can tell by the fact that they can have a prefix added to them to signal
‘my’, ‘your,’ or ‘her/his,’ for example, ehDrCix (nindanokiiwin) ‘my work,’ rhDrCix
(gidanokiiwin) ‘your work,’ etc.
Specification of Other Categories of Nouns
Certain assumptions are made in the dictionary about the way that nouns work in
Anishinaabemowin, in the form of default behaviours. These include the forms of
plurals, locatives, possessives, diminutives, and pejoratives. Basically, the following
default patterns are assumed:
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxix
Category
Default Form
Example
Example
Translation
Animate Plural
Add suffix -ag
BBjc
zhiishiibag
‘ducks’
Inanimate Plural
Add suffix -an
qsdx
jiimaanan
‘boats’
Locative
Add suffix -ing
qsec
jiimaaning
‘in the boat’
Possessive
No -im Suffix
eqsedx
ninjiimaaninaan ‘our boat’
Diminutive
Add suffix -ens
qsEm
jiimaanens
‘little boat’
Pejorative
Add suffix -ish
qseX
jiimaanish
‘worn-out boat’
Default Forms for Various Noun Categories
When nouns conform to the patterns above their forms do not have to be listed in the
dictionary. For example, the plural of BBn need not listed, because it is predictably
formed by adding kc (ag) to the basic noun. The plural of wyc (mitig) ‘tree,’ however, is
more likely to be listed in the dictionary, because its plural wyFc (mitigoog) is not
predictable. In the cases of some common words, however, even regular plurals are
included as illustrations of the standard patterns.
Plurals
The plural refers to more than one of whatever the noun refers to, for example, BBjc
(zhiishiibag) refers to more than one duck, ‘ducks.’ Plurals of nouns are formed in
Anishinaabemowin by adding a suffix sensitive to gender. The following words show a
variety of plural endings:
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxx
Syllabic
Roman
English Gloss
Kfhx
okaadan
‘his or her legs’
KfYgux
okaadeyaabiin
‘tent ropes’
CkfCfHx
waagaakwadoon
‘axes’
krFc
akikoog
‘pails, kettles’
kYCfc
aandegwag
‘crows’
koec
asiniig
‘stones, rocks’
Some Anishinaabemowin Plural Forms
In many cases, the plural for an animate noun ends in kc, for example, as in KCjfdc,
‘pipes.’ Inanimate nouns often have plurals that end with kx, as in SFsdx, ‘knives.’ As
mentioned above, usually such predictable plurals aren’t listed in the dictionary, but a
few are, as illustrations of standard patterns.
The obviative (backgrounded) form of animate nouns can always be determined by
changing the last sound of the plural to x (n) for obviative singulars and / (’) for obviative
plurals. So, for example, the plural of kox (asin) ‘stone’ is koec (asiniig); the
obviative singular is koex (asiniin) and the obviative plural is koe/ (asinii’). Example:
koec eCkjsc. (Asiniig niwaabamaag.) ‘I see stones’; koe/ KCkjs/. (Asinii’
owaabamaa’.) ‘S/he sees stones’
Plural forms are identified in the dictionary with the abbreviation pl.
Locatives
The locative form is used to express a location, equivalent to English concepts such as
‘on’ or ‘in,’ for example, KCiuhc, (owiibidaang) ‘on his or her tooth.’ The most
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxxi
common form of the locative ending is ic (ing), as in Kfyc (okaading) ‘on his or her
leg,’ and nouns that form their locative in this way do not usually have their locative form
listed in the dictionary. The locative forms are most commonly given for words that
define parts of the body, because they are somewhat exceptional in their behaviour.
Syllabic
Roman
English Gloss
KuCfdc
obikwanaang
‘on his or her back’
KCRfec
okweganing
‘on his or her neck’
KFec
okoning
‘on his or her liver’
Kohc
ozidaang
‘on his or her foot’
Locatives of Some Body Part Words
Locative forms are identified in the dictionary with the abbreviation loc.
Possessed Forms
In English, possession (ownership or having in one’s possession) of something or
relationship to someone is shown by the addition of a pronoun or noun that indicates who
the possessor is, for example ‘my book’ or ‘our book.’ In Anishinaabemowin, possession
of a noun is shown by adding prefixes and endings onto words. For example, among the
possessed forms of the word ‘book’ might be the following:
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxxii
Syllabic
Roman
English Gloss
esod/ifx
nimazina’igan
‘my book’
rsod/ifx
gimazinag’igan
‘your (sing.) book’
Ksod/ifx
omazina’igan
‘her or his book’
esod/ifedx
nimazina’iganinaanin ‘our (but not your) books’
rsod/ifeCk
gimazinag’iganiwaa
‘your (plural) book’
Ksod/ifeCk
omazina’iganiwaa
‘their book’
Some Possessive Forms
In some cases possessed words have an additional suffix, having the form iZ (im) or
KZ (om), as in ehxYFZ (nindaandegom) ‘my crow.’ Where the addition of the
possessive suffix is unpredictable for a noun, we have included it in the dictionary.
Possessive forms are indicated with the abbreviation poss.
Diminutives
The diminutive ending is put on words to indicate that something is a young (nonadult) or small version of a person, animal, or thing. For example, a young crow is
expressed with the following Ojibwe word:
kYFxm aandegoons
‘young or small crow’
The usual way to make a diminutive is to add the ending Im (ens), as in qsEm
(jiimaanens), ‘small boat.’ When a diminutive ends in something other than Im (ens), we
usually list it in the dictionary. Diminutive forms are identified with the abbreviation dim.
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxxiii
Pejoratives
The pejorative form is used to communicate the idea that something is worn out or
disliked, for example, qseX (jiimaanish), ‘worn out boat.’ We have listed a few
pejorative forms of nouns to illustrate their usage. The most common pejorative form is
made with suffix iX (ish), as in the example here, and most nouns with this form of the
pejorative suffix do not have their pejoratives listed in the dictionary. Pejoratives are
identified with the abbreviation pej.
Placenames
Placenames, such as WWCRBCiLf/ifexc (Memegweshiwi-zaaga’iganiing), ‘North
Spirit Lake, Ontario’ and Ckjlyfxc (Waabazaadiikaang) ‘Poplar Hill, Ontario’ are
indicated with the following abbreviation:
place
placename
Pronouns
Pronouns are usually described as ‘words that stand in for nouns.’ These are words in
English
such as
‘I,’
‘you,’
‘someone,’
and ‘those’,
among
many others.
Anishinaabemowin is rich in a variety of distinct types of pronouns, including personal
pronouns, such as ex (niin), ‘I’, indefinite pronouns, such as kCig (awiya) ‘someone’,
demonstrative pronouns, such as
i/iCI (i’iwe) ‘that (inanimate)’, interrogative
(question) pronouns, such as CIFEx (wegonen) ‘what? (inanimate),’ and many other
kinds. Pronouns are identified in the dictionary with the following code:
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxxiv
pr
pronoun
Verbs
Verbs refer to actions, states, experiences, and qualities. Verbs answer the questions
‘What is happening?’ or ‘What’s the state of things?’ Verbs in Anishinaabemowin are
subclassified according to their transitivity and the gender of their subjects or objects.
These concepts are discussed in detail below.
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
One way that verbs are classified in Anishinaabemowin is on the basis of how many
distinct noun roles they have associated with them. One class of verbs has only one role
associated with the verbal idea. For example, the verb uSO (bimose) ‘s/he walks along’
has only one role, that of the walker; the verb ew (niimi) ‘s/he dances’ has only one role,
that of the dancer. Verbs that have only one role associated with them are called
intransitive. Another way of describing intransitive verbs is to say that they have only
subjects, but no objects.
There are also two subclasses of intransitive verbs in Anishinaabemowin, based on
the grammatical gender ofwhatever fills the single role of the verb, whether animate or
inanimate. The following forms show this difference.
animate
inanimate
wyH
wa
mindido
michaa
animate
inanimate
kfBt
kfox
agaashiinyi ‘s/he is small’
agaasin
‘it is small’
‘s/he is big’
‘it is big’
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxxv
Verbs that have a single animate role are called animate intransitive verbs (vai);
verbs that have a single inanimate role are called inanimate intransitive verbs (vii).
The codes for these two classes are as follows:
vai
verb, animate intransitive
vii
verb, inanimate intransitive
Transitive Verbs
Other verbs have more than one role associated with them. For example, the verb
yj/ks√ (diba’amaw) ‘pay s.o.’ has a role of a payer and a payee; the verb KqZ (ojiim)
‘kiss him or her’ has the role of a giver of a kiss and the role of a receiver of a kiss. Verbs
that have more than one role associated with them are called transitive. And just as
Anishinaabemowin divides intransitive verbs into two types on the basis of the animacy
of the one playing the role, so too it divides transitive verbs into two classes on the basis
of the animacy of one of the roles. The relevant role in transitive verbs is the one
specifying the receiver of the action, in the examples above, the receiver of the pay and
the receiver of the kiss. If the receiver of the action is animate, the verb is a transitive
animate verb; if the receiver of the action is inanimate, the verb is a transitive
inanimate verb, as in qsx Klwdx CrCioxm. (Jiimaan ozaaminaan gwiiwizens.) ‘The
boy is touching the boat’. Here qsx (jiimaan) ‘boat’, an inanimate noun, is the recipient
of the action of touching.
The following codes are used for these two classes.
vta
verb, transitive animate
vti
verb, transitive inanimate
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxxvi
The Citation Forms of Verbs
Verbs are very rich in inflection in Anishinaabemowin, that is, in the combinations of
prefixes and suffixes that indicate participants in the action, the time of the action,
whether the statement about the action is positive or negative, whether the speaker is
certain that the action has actually taken place or is speculating, whether the action takes
place toward the speaker or away from the speaker, and so on. There are many thousand
potential forms, and it is simply not possible to list them all, or even a significant portion
of them. Rather, a consistent way of representing each subclass of verb must be used, and
one by which, with the proper knowledge, a dictionary user can derive any needed verb
form, with all of the appropriate prefixes and suffixes. This can really only be done with
native speaker fluency or with access to a very complete grammar of the language. But
for now we can at least consistently represent and consistently label verbs in the
dictionary.
Consider the following list, showing a few of the forms of the verb ew (niimi) ‘s/he
dances’:
Syllabics
Roman
English Gloss
ew
niimi
‘s/he dances’
eeZ
niniim
‘I dance’
ewCkc
niimiwag
‘they dance’
ewgx
niimiyaan
‘(that) I dance’
ewHCRdc
niimidogwenag
‘perhaps they’re dancing’
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxxvii
Syllabics
Roman
English Gloss
ewCkjx
niimiwaapan
‘when they had danced’
eewowdjx
niniimisiiminaaban
‘we hadn’t been dancing’
(RF) ewRx
(gego) niimiken
‘don’t dance!’
A Few of the Many Forms of the Verb ew (niimi) ‘s/he dances’
The list here represents only a very small portion of the possible distinct forms of this
verb. We have chosen to list the form that means ‘she or he is __’ in the dictionary for
animate intransitive verbs (vai), because this form has no prefixes and no apparent
suffixes— it seems to represent the simplest, most straightforward form. In the case of
the word above, ew (niimi) is listed. In the case of inanimate intransitive verbs (vii),
we have also used the simplest form possible, the one that means ‘it is __’, as in rwCkx
(gimiwan), ‘it is raining.’
In the case of transitive verbs, however, there is no form that is quite as simple as the
forms that we use for intransitive verbs, because almost every transitive verb form has a
prefix or suffix or both. We have chosen to use the simple command (imperative) form
for transitive verbs. The imperative form expresses a simple command, such as Ciq/
(wiiji’) ‘help her/him!’ or Cixhs√ (wiindamaw) ‘tell her/him!’. These verbs are both
transitive animate verbs (vta), because they have two roles, a helper and someone helped,
a teller and someone told, and the one on the receiving end is animate. Transitive
inanimate verbs (vti) are also listed in their simple command forms, for example,
kjqHx (aabajitoon) ‘use it!’ and fdCkjxhx (ganawaabandan), ‘look at it!’.
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxxviii
To summarize, the following citation forms for the main verb classes are used in this
dictionary.
Verb Class
Code
Form
Syllabics
Roman
Meaning
Animate
Intransitive
VAI
3rd person singular,
present tense
ew
niimi
‘s/he dances’
Inanimate
Intransitive
VII
3rd person singular,
present tense
rwCkx
gimiwan
‘it’s raining’
Transitive
Animate
VTA
2nd person sing.
acting on 3rd sing.
command
Ciq/
wiiji’
‘help
her/him!’
Transitive
Inanimate
VTI
2nd person singular
actiing on 3rd sing.
command
kjqHx
aabajitoon
‘use it!’
List Forms for the Major Verb Classes
There are some transitive animate verbs that vary the last consonant of their stems.
Such verbs show the following kinds of variation:
wX
miizh
‘give it to
her/him!’
ewd
nimiinaa
‘I give it to
her/him’
hFuX
dakobiz
h
‘tie her/him up’
ehFud
nindakobinaa
‘I tie her/him up’
eB
nishi
‘kill her/him!’
eel
ninisaa
‘I kill her/him’
iB
izhi
‘say to her/him!’
eyd
nindinaa
‘I say to her/him’
Verbs Showing Variation in Stem Form
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xxxix
The problem here is that the basic verb form shows variation— in some cases the
basic verb appears to end with X (zh or sh), while in other cases the same basic verb ends
with x (n) or m (s). In a few such cases, we list both the simple imperative form and the
form that means ‘I do __ to her/him.’ These forms are identified with the code 1sg, which
stands for ‘first person singular (‘I’) acting upon third person singular (him, her, or it
(animate).’ So, an example entry is the following:
iB izhi vta say to s.o. 1sg eyd nindinaa.
A simple rule that accounts for vast amounts of stem variation of this sort is that if a
vta imperative form ends in «zh», it will have a stem-alternant that ends in «n», as in
webizh, ‘
VAI/VII Verbs
Most animate intransitive and inanimate intransitive verbs have different forms for the
same meaning, for example, jrBx (bangishin), ‘s/he falls’ and jrox (bangisin), ‘it
falls.’ Both of these verbs express the idea of falling, but the animate verb of falling is
pronounced and spelled slightly differently from the inanimate verb of falling. For some
concepts, though, the basic verbal form is the same for animate and inanimate subjects,
for example, jRXf (bakeshkaa), can mean either ‘s/he moves to the side’ or ‘it
(inanimate) moves to the side’; jfwO (bagamise), can mean either ‘s/he arrives’ or ‘it
(inanimate) arrives.’ Rather than list such words twice, once as an animate intransitive
verb (vai) and again as an inanimate intransitive verb (vii), a single code is used to
collapse these two together, having the form:
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xl
vai/vii
verb, animate intransitive and
verb inanimate intransitive
VAI+O Verbs
There is a small set of animate intransitive verbs which can optionally have a second
role associated with them. Such verbs include weCR (minikwe) ‘s/he drinks (it)’ and
khCI (adaawe) ‘s/he buys (it).’ These verbs are labeled as follows:
vai+o
verb, animate intransitive with optional object
Prefixes, Prenouns and Preverbs
There is a very small group of prefixes, elements which attach to the beginning of
verbs to indicate first, second, or third person subject or object, and to nouns to indicate
the possessor of the noun. The most common prefixes are e (ni+) ‘first person’, r (gi+)
‘second person’ and K (o+), ‘third person.’ The Roman forms of prefixes in the
dictionary have a following (+) to show that they are attached directly to a word, rather
than with a hyphen as in the case of prenouns and preverbs. Prefixes are identified with
the following code.
pref
prefix
Prenouns are elements which attach to the front of nouns and describe them or pick
them out in some way, such as DV (noozhe-) ‘female’ and dU (naabe) ‘male,’ as in
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xli
DVSm (noozhe-mooz) and dUSm (naabe-mooz). Prenouns are identified with the
following codes:
pn, pren
prenoun
Preverbs are like prenouns, except they are attached to the front of verbs. Preverbs
include elements such as r (gii-) ‘past tense,’ h (daa-) ‘should, may, can’ (modal
preverb), and u (bi-) ‘towards speaker,’ among many others. Preverbs are indicated with
the following abbreviations:
pv, prev
preverb
Particles
The class of particles includes all of the items that do not belong to any of the other
classes named. Particles include single words that indicate place (uxHdc biindoonag
‘inside the boat’), time (DsT noomaaye ‘recently’), quantity and repetition (eBc
niizhing or eCM niizhwaa ‘twice’), negation (fCix gaawiin, RF gego), and many other
concepts. Particles are identified with the following abbreviation:
pc
particle
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xlii
Interjections
An interjection is a word that expresses strong emotion or surprise, and is usually
capable of standing alone, such as Ugh! or Wow! in English. Interjections are indicated
with the code int.
int
interjection
Expressions
In a few cases, phrases, groups of words with a special meaning, have been included.
An example is fCix Ljsxq/Ko (gaawiin zaabamanji'osii), ‘s/he is not feeling too
good.’ These are identified with the following code:
expr
expression consisting of
several words
Part 4. English Gloss (Translation)
Part 1
Syllabic Spelling
Part 2
Roman Spelling
Part 3
Part of Speech
Part 4
English Gloss
IhLuJx
endaso-biboon
pc
every winter
This is the English meaning of the Anishinaabemowin word in very rough, simple
translation. One problem in glossing dictionary items is that there are some clumsy
matches between Anishinaabemowin and English. For example, consider how eCkjs
(niwaabamaa) might be translated into English:
If talking about a woman…
[iCR) eCkjs
‘I see her.’
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xliii
If talking about a man…
[iee) eCkjs
‘I see him.’
If talking about a kettle…
[krc) eCkjs
‘I see it.’
So the word eCkjs (niwaabamaa) should be translated as ‘I see her/him/it
(animate).’ This is very clumsy, though, and it is customary in Anishinaabemowin
dictionaries to use an abbreviation for an animate object, usually s.o., which is related to
the English word ‘someone’ but different from it, because someone is never used in
English to refer to things such as stones, pipes, and kettles, or even animals, but only
people. We have also chosen to represent many animate objects with the abbreviation s.t.
(an.), ‘s.t. animate.’ Inanimate objects are identified in this dictionary with the
abbreviation s.t. The following entries illustrate these conventions for glosses:
CkjZ waabam vta see s.t. (an.)
Ckjhx waabandan vti see s.t.
In the case of intransitive verbs, no subject is provided in the gloss, as in the
following examples:
wa michaa vii is big.
wyH mindido vai is big.
It is only by its part of speech designation that one can see that wa (michaa) is used to
describe grammatically inanimate things such as qsx (jiimaan) ‘boat’ and Ckf/ifx
(waakaa’igan) ‘house’, and that wxyH (mindido) is used to describe grammatically
animate things, such as iee (inini) ‘man and KCjfx (opwaagan) ‘pipe.’ Since wa
(michaa) is labeled vii, for verb inanimate intransitive, we know that it applies to
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xliv
inanimate noun and pronoun subjects; since wyH (mindido) is labeled vai, for verb
animate intransitive, we know that it applies to animate noun and pronoun subjects.
Example Sentences
In some cases, example sentences are given to help illustrate the meaning of a word. For
example, for the verb, km (as) ‘put s.o. there’.
is Khlx KYwCfdx.
‘S|he puts his|her spoon there.’
KrhHJCix ehl ehrFZ. ‘I put my pot on top of the table.’
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xlv
Glossary
This glossary contains entries for all of the grammatical concepts introduced in the
notes on the dictionary. At the end of each entry cross-references to related entries are
given.
A BSTRACT NOUN. A noun made from a
verb, usually by adding the suffix
Cix
(win),
as
in
lr/iCICix
(zaagi’iwewin) ‘love’, made from
the verb lr/iCI (zaagi’iwe) ‘s/he
loves’. These nouns are called
abstract because they don’t refer to
physical objects such as trees,
animals, or people, but rather to
general
ideas
and
principles,
watomi, and many others. See
Language.
ANIMATE. One of the two gender
classes
of
Anishinaabemowin
nouns, consisting mostly of words
referring to living things, though
some other nouns as well. Animate
nouns have plurals that end in c (g),
such as CkFMc (waagoshag) ‘foxes’.
See Gender, Noun.
concepts, or actions in a very
general sense. Nouns that refer to
ANIMATE INTRANSITIVE VERB. A verb
physical objects, such as iee
which has only one role associated
lf/ifx
with it, a subject, and that role is
(inini)
‘man’
(zaaga’igan)
and
‘lake’,
are
called
concrete nouns. See Noun, Verb.
filled
by
that Anishinaabemowin belongs to.
This
family
includes
Abenaki,
Arapaho, Atikamekw-Cree-Montagnais-Naskapi, Blackfoot, Delaware,
Fox, Kickapoo, Malecite- Passamaquoddy, Menomini, Micmac, Pota-
animate
noun.
Examples: hFBx (dagoshin) ‘s/he
arrives’
A LGONQUIAN. The family of languages
an
(single
arriving’);
works’
kDr
(single
working’);
role
of
‘one
(anokii)
‘s/he
role
Cke/iR
of
‘one
(wanii’ige)
‘s/he traps’ (single role of ‘one
trapping’). See Transitivity, Verb.
ASPIRATION. A very brief puff of air
that can be heard in the
pronunciation
of
some
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xlvi
Anishinaabemowin speakers when
plural forms are Kc (oog) as in SLc
saying the sounds spelled p, t, and k,
(moozoog) ‘moose’ (pl.), and ic
as in ku
(iig) as in koec (asiniig) ‘rocks’.
(apii) ‘when’, wyc
(mitig) ‘tree’ and sCf
(makwa)
The default plural of inanimate
nouns is kx (an), as in Sfsdx
‘bear’. See Consonant.
(mookomaanan) ‘knives’. If the
COMMAND. See Imperative.
plural of a noun is not listed in the
COMMUNITY CODE. A two-letter code
used in this dictionary to identify
particular communities where a
word is used or a particular meaning
dictionary, then it is assumed to be
made in the default way. See
Diminutive, Locative, Noun, Pejorative, Plural.
is found. Codes are CL Cat Lake;
FH Frenchman’s Head; LS Lac
Seul; PI Pikangikum; PH Poplar
D EMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN.
A
pronoun which singles out or picks
out a particular member or members
Hill; RL Red Lake.
of a class of nouns. For example,
CONSONANT. One of the two basic types
of speech sounds (the other is
Vowels). Consonants begin or end
syllables, while vowels occupy the
K/KCI qsx (ohowe jiimaan) ‘this
boat’ picks out a particular boat that
the speaker is referring to. See
Pronoun.
middle (core) of a syllable. Most
consonants
alone,
are
but
accompanying
not
only
pronounced
with
vowel.
an
The
consonants of Anishinaabemowin
are b, ch, d, g, ’, j, k, m, n, p, s, t, w,
y, and z. Compare Vowel.
D EFAULT. The expected, normal, most
common form of a grammatical
element. For example, the default
plural of animate nouns is kc (ag),
as in SLxlc (moozoonsag) ‘little
moose’. Other (non-default) animate
D EPENDENT NOUN. A noun that must
have a possessor prefix indicating
the possessor, owner, or person in
relationship
to
the
noun,
for
example eob (nizid) ‘my foot’, with
possessor prefix e (ni) ‘my’, and
rFom (gigozis) ‘your son’, with
possessive prefix r (gi) ‘your.’
Nouns for body parts and relatives
(family relations) are dependent, as
well as a few others. Compare
Independent Noun. See also Noun.
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xlvii
DIALECT. A distinctive variety of a
language used by speakers in a
particular geographical regions or in
a particular social
dialects
of
include
Anishinaabemowin
Chippewa,
Odawa/ Otta-wa, Oji-Cree, Ojibwe,
and
Western Syllabics. See Syllabics.
ENDING. See Suffix.
group. The
Al-gonquin,
Nipissing,
and iCR (ikwe) ‘woman’. Compare
Saulteaux.
See
Language.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION. See Gloss.
ENTRY. An individual word, as listed
separately in the dictionary.
FINALS. In Syllabic writing, the small,
DIMINUTIVE. A noun having an ending
raised letters used to represent an
isolated consonant sound at the end
that indicates that the word refers to
of a syllable, as in ejn (nimbaap)
someone or something that is a
‘I laugh’, or krc (akik) ‘pail,
young,
kettle’. See Syllabics.
small
immature,
member
or
of
especially
the
group
identified by the noun. For example,
kYFm (aandegoons) ‘young or small
crow’ is the diminutive of kxYc
(aandeg)
‘crow’;
qsEm
(jiimaanens) ‘small boat’ is the
diminutive of qsx (jiimaan) ‘boat.’
See Noun, Suffix.
FIRST PERSON. One of the three
‘persons’
or
language
communication.
roles
in
First
person refers to the one or ones
speaking. In English, the pronouns
‘I’, ‘me’ and ‘my’ are all first
person singular, and ‘we’, ‘us’ and
‘our’
E ASTERN SYLLABICS. One of the two
speech
first
person
Anishinaabemowin
plural.
first
In
person
ex (niin) ‘I’,
basic Syllabic traditions. Eastern
pronouns include
Syllabics
which
eehZ (niinitam) ‘my turn, me
resemble smaller versions of the
first’, edCixb (niinawind), ‘we, us
basic
(but
uses
syllable
finals
characters,
for
not
you)’
and
rdCixb
example, final x (n) corresponds to
(giinawind) ‘we, us (you and I),’
basic syllable character d (na/naa).
among others. Compare Second
Also in the Eastern tradition, the w-
Person, Third Person.
dot symbol precedes the symbol for
the syllable it is associated with, for
example, CkCkx (waawan) ‘egg’,
GENDER.
The
grammatical
noun
groups or classes in a language.
Anishinaabemowin groups nouns
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xlviii
into two genders, animate and
IMPERATIVE. The form of a verb used
inanimate. Members of the animate
when giving someone a command to
class
animals,
do something, when telling someone
spirits, trees, many plants, and many
to do something. For example,
other objects such as pipes, spoons,
Cioex (wiisinin), ‘eat!’. See Verb.
include
people,
and the sun and moon. Members of
the inanimate class include nonliving things and a few plants. Each
class requires verbs of
appropriate type. See Noun.
the
GLOSS. The simple English translation
associated with an Anishinaabemowin word in the dictionary. For
example,
the
gloss
for
BBn
(zhiishiib) is simply ‘duck’.
INANIMATE. One of the two genders of
Anishinaabemowin nouns, mostly
words referring to non-living things.
Inanimate nouns have plurals
ending in x (n), such as qsdx
(jiimaanan)
‘boats’.
Compare
Animate. See Gender, Noun.
INANIMATE INTRANSITIVE V ERB (VII ).
One of the four main subclasses of
verbs. An inanimate intransitive
GRAMMAR. The patterns and rules of a
verb is a verb that has a single role
language, including pronunciation,
associated with it, and the noun
how words are made from parts of
filling the single role is inanimate,
words, and how words are put
as in wa qsx. (Michaa jiimaan.)
together to make words, phrases and
‘The boat is big.’ See also Verb,
sentences.
Transitivity.
GRAMMATICAL. Anything having to do
with grammar. See Grammar.
Intransitive
Compare
Verb
Animate
(vai).
INDEFINITE PRONOUN. A pronoun
used when the identity of a thing or
HYPHEN. A punctuation mark (-) used
individual is not fully known, for
to separate prenouns and pre-verbs
example kCig (awiya) ‘someone’
from their stems in the Roman
and RFx (gegoon) ‘something’. See
writing system, for example, gichiAnishinaabe,
‘great
Pronoun.
Anishi=
naaabe’, gichi-anokii ‘s/he is really
working’. See Prenoun, Preverb.
INDEPENDENT NOUN. A noun that can
be used without a possessor, a noun
that can stand alone, independently.
Independent nouns are contrasted
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • xlix
with
dependent
which
are believed to be approximately
require a possessor. Examples: qsx
5,500 languages spoken in the world
(jiimaan)
nouns,
‘boat’,
Ckf/ifx
(waakaa’igan) ‘house’. See Noun.
Compare Dependent Noun.
today.
LOCATIVE. The locative form of a noun
expresses the noun as a location, for
INFLECTION. Any prefix or suffix
eohxc
example,
(nizidaang)
added to a word to add a meaning
means ‘on my foot’ from the basic
such as who or what the subject is,
word
who or what the object is, the
plurality of the subject or object,
Another example is Kfyxc
(okaading) ‘on his or her leg.’ The
ehDrwx
locative is formed by adding a
(nindanokii= min), ‘we are working’
suffix (ending) to the noun stem.
has the inflectional prefix eb (nid)
The default locative suffix is ixc
and the inflectional suffix wx (min).
(ing), as in qsexc (jiimaaning) ‘in
See Noun, Prefix, Suffix.
the boat’. See Noun.
etc.
Example:
eob
(nizid)
‘my
foot.’
INTERJECTION. A word that expresses
LONG VOWELS. The long vowels in
strong emotion or surprise, and is
Anishinaabemowin are aa, ii, oo and
usually capable of standing alone,
e. See Vowels.
such as Oh! or Wow! in English.
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN. A pronoun
used in asking questions, such as
CIFEx
(wegonen)
‘what?
(inanimate) or kCkEx (awanen)
‘who’. See Pronoun.
NOMINAL. Having to do with a noun.
See Noun.
NOUN. One of the main parts of speech
of Anishinaabemowin. Nouns are
words for living and non-living
things, such as CrCiOxm (gwiiwi=
L ANGUAGE. A system of communi-
zens) ‘boy’, and srox (makizin)
cation used by human beings, in
‘shoe’. Nouns answer the question
which meanings are associated with
‘who’ or ‘what’. There are two
combinations of sounds. Sounds
genders
group together to form word parts
and words, and words group
animate and inanimate. Nouns can
be singular or plural. Nouns in
together to form sentences. There
Anishinaabemowin are also marked
or
classes
of
nouns,
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • l
for obviation, that is, whether they
‘The woman saw a man.’ Here the
are in focus in the story being told,
word for man, which in its basic
or
be
form is iee (inini), has an ending
diminutive or pejorative. Nouns
(kx -an) attached which designates
can be locative. See all of these
it as being out of focus (obviative).
categories for additional notes.
The noun iCR (ikwe) ‘woman’,
not.
Nouns
can
also
NOUN PHRASE. A noun along with any
associated helping words, such as
however, has no such ending, and so
is in focus, or highlighted in this
sentence.
demonstrative pronouns (kCI
iee awe inini ‘that man’), or a
PART OF SPEECH. Also called Word
number (UBc iee bezhig inini
Category. Any of the small number
‘one man’). See Noun.
of classes or types into which the
OBJECT. The noun, noun phrase, or
pronoun
in
a
sentence
that
expresses the receiver of the action,
that is, the one whom the action is
done to. Also called a Direct Object.
Only transitive verbs have objects,
and a few exceptional animate
intransitive verbs. Compare Subject.
OBVIATIVE. In Algonquian languages,
third persons (nouns and pronouns)
are distinguished as being more
prominent or less prominent in the
discourse. Only one noun or third
person pronoun may be in focus at
any given time. Nouns which less
prominent (background) have a
special ending, called the obviative.
Take, for example, the sentence
ieeCkx
KrCkjsx
iCR.
(Ininiwan ogii-waabamaan ikwe.)
words of a language group, on the
basis of their meanings, their word
structures, and the way they are
used in sentences. The main parts of
speech in Anishinaabemowin are
Nouns,
Verbs,
Pronouns
and
Particles.
PARTICIPLE. A verb which is used as a
noun.
Many
nouns
in
Anishinaabemowin are made from
verbs which describe the behaviour
or use of the object, for example,
fuwOsfc (gaa-bimisemagak) ‘airplane’ (literally, ‘that (inanimate)
thing which flies along’). See Verb,
Noun.
PARTICLE. One of the main parts of
speech
(word
classes)
of
Anishinaabemowin.
Particles are
simple words that express ideas
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • li
such as location (UN (besho) ‘near’
BBn
and Ckl (waasa) ‘far’), time (DxFZ
(zhiishiibag)
(noongom) ‘now, today’, emphasis
contrasted with singular, which
(l (sa) and iF (igo)), and many
refers to one of a thing, for example,
other concepts.
BBn (zhiishiib) refers to one duck.
PEJORATIVE. The pejorative form is
(zhiishiib) ‘duck’ is BBjc
‘ducks’.
Plural
is
Compare Singular. See Noun.
used to communicate the idea that
POSSESSION. Possession has to do with
something is old, worn-out or
close association between one or
qseX
more persons or thing and other
persons or things. Possession may
disliked, for example,
(jiimaanish), ‘old boat.’
PERSON. See First Person, Second
Person, Third Person.
relate to close relationship, such as
one’s relatives or the parts of one’s
own body, or it may have to do with
PERSONAL PRONOUN. A pronoun
which identifies one of the basic
communicative roles of speaker
(first person), listener (second
person) or item of conversation
(third person). Personal pronouns
may be singular or plural. Some
examples are ex (niin) ‘I’ and
CidCk (wiinawaa), ‘they’. See
Pronoun.
PLACENAME. A word that names a
place, such as WWCRBCiLf/ifec
(Memegweshiwi-zaaga’iganiing),
‘North Spirit Lake, Ontario’.
PLURAL. Plural indicates more than one
of a thing. The plural is made from
the singular in Anishinaabemowin
by adding an ending onto the
singular. For example, the plural of
ownership or caretaking. Possession
of a noun is signalled by means of
prefixes and suffixes that indicate
who the possessor is, for example,
esod/ifx (nimazina’igan) takes
the
basic
noun
sod/ifx
(mazina’igan) ‘book’ and adds a
prefix e (ni-) which indicates a
first person possessor, giving the
meaning ‘my book.’
POSSESSOR. See Possession.
PREFIX. A word-element attached to the
front
of
the main
word.
For
example, the word esod/ifx
(nimazina’igan) ‘my book’ has a
prefix e (ni-) attached to the main
word sod/ifx (mazina’igan)
‘book’ to produce the word with the
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • lii
meaning ‘my book.’ See also stem,
of the one(s) killed. See Verb,
suffix.
Transitivity.
PRENOUN. A word-building element
ROMAN WRITING. Writing based on the
which attaches to the front of a
original letters of the Latin alphabet,
noun. In Roman spelling prenouns
such as the writing system used by
are set off by hyphens. Some
English. Compare Syllabics. See
examples:
rqkeBdU
(gichi-
Anishinaabe) ‘great Anishinaabe’;
SECOND PERSON. One of the three
PRONOUN. A member of a small class of
words which are used as
replacements
refers to whoever is being spoken to
nouns, for example rx (giin) ‘you’,
at the time of speaking. In English,
i/iCI (i’iwe) ‘that (inanimate)’,
the word ‘you’ is used to represent
and RFx (gegoon) ‘something’.
second
There
of
Anishinaabemowin, there are many
personal
second person pronouns, such as rx
pronouns,
substitutes
‘persons’ or speech roles in
communication. Second person
for
are
or
Consonant, Vowel.
many
subtypes
including
person.
(giin)
indefinite pronouns, interrogative
(giinitam) ‘your turn, you first’,
pronouns, etc. See Part of Speech.
rdCk (giinawaa), ‘you (plural)’ and
to a verb. For example, in the
sentence kDr
iee. (Anokii
(singular),
rehZ
pronouns, demonstrative pronouns,
ROLE. A relationship which a noun has
‘you’
In
rdCib (giinawind) ‘we, us (you and
I),’ among others. Compare First
Person, Third Person.
inini.) ‘The man is working.’— the
SHORT VOWELS. The short vowels of
noun iee (inini) ‘man’ has the
Anishinaabemowin are a, i, o. See
role of worker. In the sentence
Vowels.
CkJLx
(Waaboozoon
Krelx
ogii-nisaan
iee.
inini.)
‘The man killed the rabbit.’— the
noun iee (inini) ‘man’ has the
role of killer, and the noun CkJLx
(waaboozoon) ‘rabbit’ has the role
SINGULAR. One of a thing, for example,
the word BBn (zhiishiib) refers to
one duck. Singular (one item) is
contrasted with Plural (more than
one item). Compare Plural.
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • liii
STEM. A word or word part to which
SYLLABLE. A sound grouping of 1. a
other parts may be added in building
single vowel, as in krZ (aagim)
words. For example, to make the
‘snowshoe’; 2. a consonant followed
plural of BBn (zhiishiib) ‘duck’ a
by a vowel, as in ef (nika) ‘Canada
suffix kc (-ag) is added to the stem
goose’; 3. a consonant followed by a
BBn, producing BBjc (zhiishiibag).
vowel, followed by one or more
SUBJECT. The noun, noun phrase, or
pronoun
in
a
sentence
that
represents the doer of the action. In
sentences with intransitive verbs,
the subject is the noun or pronoun
additional consonants, as in sc
(maang) ‘loon’ or UXc (beshk)
‘nighthawk’.
See
Consonant, Vowel.
Syllabics,
THIRD PERSON. One of the three
filling the verb’s one role. Compare
‘persons’
Object.
communication. Third person refers
SYLLABARY. 1. A writing system in
which the basic letters stand for
syllables, that is, groupings of
consonants and vowels. 2. A list of
the symbols making up the Syllabic
writing system.
write Anishinaabemowin in which
each basic letter stands for a
syllable, that is, a combination of a
consonant and a vowel sounded
together. There are two main ways
of writing Syllabics, an Eastern
tradition and a Western tradition.
These traditions differ in the way
small Consonant value letters are
written and in the position of the dot
used to write the sound w. Compare
Roman Writing.
speech
roles
in
to whoever or whatever is being
spoken about. In English, the words
‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘it’, and many others,
are used to represent third person. In
Anishinaabemowin, there are many
third person pronouns, such as Cix
(wiin)
SYLLABICS. A writing system used to
or
‘she/her,
he/him,
it
(animate)’, and CidCk (wiinawaa)
‘they’. In English, third persons are
grouped
into
three
genders,
masculine (he), feminine (she), and
neuter (it). In Anishinaabemowin,
third
person
divides
into
two
genders or groups, animate and
inanimate. So, for example, there
are different third person pronouns
meaning ‘this’ when referring to
animate things as opposed to
inanimate:
i/iCI (i’iwe) ‘that’
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • liv
(inanimate), k/kCI (a’awe) ‘that’
example, wyH iee. (Mindido
(animate). Compare First Person
inini.) ‘The man is big.’ If the noun
and Second Person.
filling
TRANSITIVITY. Transitivity is a property
of verbs. Verbs express actions,
states, experiences, etc. Each verb
has one or more roles associated
with it. The roles are filled by nouns
or pronouns. Some actions have
only a single role involved, for
example, in kDr iee. (Anokii
inini) ‘The man is working’ the verb
kDr (anokii) ‘work’ has only the
role of the one working, in this case
filled by the noun iee (inini)
‘man’.
But
in
KFolx
KrkDrHsCkx iee. (Ogozisan
ogii-anokiitamawaan inini.), ‘The
man worked for his son’ there are
two roles: the role of the one
working, filled by the man, and the
role of the one being worked for,
the
the
single
role
is
inanimate, the verb is an inanimate
intransitive verb (vii), for example
wa qsx. (Michaa jiimaan.) ‘The
boat is big.’ Transitive verbs are
subclassified on the basis of the
animacy of their objects: if the
object is animate, the verb is a
transitive animate verb (vta), as in
SLx
KrCkjsx
idd.
(Moozoon ogii-waabamaan inini.)
‘The man saw a moose.’ Here the
object is SLx (moozoon) ‘moose’,
which
is
animate.
In
qsx
KrCkjhx idd. (Jiimaan ogiiwaabandaan inini.) ‘The man saw a
boat.’ the object is inanimate, qsx
(jiimaan) ‘boat’. Verbs used with
inanimate
objects
are
called
transitive inanimate verbs (vti).
filled by the son. Verbs that have
TRANSITIVE ANIMATE VERB (VTA ). A
only one role are intransitive.
transitive verb having an animate
Verbs that have two or more roles
object, as in SLx
are transitive. Intransitive verbs are
idd. (Moozoon ogii-waabamaan
subclassified according to whether
inini.) ‘The man saw a moose.’ Here
their one role is filled by an animate
the object is the animate noun SLx
noun or an inanimate noun. If the
(moozoon)
noun filling the single role is
animate, the verb is an animate
Transitive Inanimate Verb. See
Verb, Transitivity.
intransitive
verb
(vai),
for
‘moose’.
KrCkjsx
Compare
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • lv
TRANSITIVE INANIMATE VERB (VTI).
A
transitive
an
middle (core) of a syllable. The
qsx
vowels of Anishinaabemowin are a
KrCkjhx idd. (Jiimaan ogii-
aa e i ii o and oo. The vowels aa, e,
waabandaan inini.) ‘The man saw a
ii and oo are long vowels. The
boat.’. Here the object is inanimate,
vowels a, i, and o are short vowels.
qsx (jiimaan)
Compare Consonants.
inanimate
verb
object,
having
Consonants). Vowels occupy the
as
‘boat’.
in
Compare
Transitive Animate Verb. See Verb,
Transitivity.
W-DOT. The symbol in Syllabics used to
represent the sound w, as in CkCkx
(waawan) ‘egg’. See Syllabics.
TRANSLATION. SEE GLOSS.
V ERB. One of the major parts of speech
WESTERN SYLLABICS. One of the two
in Anishinaabemowin. Verbs refer
basic Syllabic traditions. Western
to actions, states, experiences, and
Syllabics uses finals which have
qualities.
the
shapes that are not like the basic
questions ‘What is happening?’ or
syllable characters, for example,
‘What’s the state of things?’ or
final ≈ (n) has no correspondence to
‘What does it look like?’ Two very
basic syllable character d (na/naa).
important properties of verbs are
As well, in the Western tradition,
their transitivity and the gender of
the w-dot symbol follows the
their subjects and objects. Based on
symbol
these properties, there are four main
associated with, for example, kCkC≈
subclasses
(waawan) ‘egg’, and iRC (ikwe)
Verbs
of
answer
verbs,
intransitive,
animate
inanimate
‘woman’.
intransitive, transitive animate,
Syllabics.
and transitive inanimate. See these
topics for additional information.
for
the syllable it
Compare
is
Eastern
WORD. The smallest unit of meaning in
a language that is spoken by itself.
VOCABULARY. 1. An individual word
For example, in answer to the
CIFEx
fCkjhsb
in a language. 2. All the words of a
question,
language taken together. See Word.
(Wegonen
gaa-waabandaman?)
‘What do you see?’, one can answer
VOWELS. One of the two basic types of
speech
sounds
(the
other
is
qsx
(jiimaan) ‘boat’, or rqsx
(gijiimaan) ‘your boat’, but not just
ANISHINAABEMOWIN DICTIONARY GUIDE • lvi
r (gi) ‘your…’, because qsx and
rqsx are words, but r is only part
of a word. The basic, core part of a
word is called the stem. Elements
added to the front of the stem to
give additional meaning are called
prefixes. Elements added to the end
of the stem to give additional
meanings are called suffixes. The
prefixes and suffixes together are
the inflections of the word. Some
words consist of a stem alone, such
as qsx
(jiimaan) ‘boat’; other
words have inflections as well, such
as rqsidx (gijiimaaninaan) ‘our
boat’ have prefixes and suffixes.
See Prefix, Suffix, Stem.
WORD C ATEGORY. See Part of Speech.