Blackfoot Dictionary of Stems, Roots, and Affixes

524 Pages·2017·5.77 MB·English

by  Donald G. Frantz

Blackfoot Dictionary of Stems, Roots, and Affixes
Third Edition
The Blackfoot Dictionary is a comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of
Blackfoot, an Algonquian language spoken by thousands in Alberta and
Montana. This third edition of the critically acclaimed dictionary adds more than
1,100 new entries, major additions to verb stems, and the inclusion of vai, vii,
vta, and vti syntactic categories. It contains more than 5,500 Blackfoot-English
entries and an English index of more than 6,000 entries, and provides thorough
coverage of cultural terms. The transcription uses an official, technically
accurate alphabet and the authors have classified entries and selected examples
based on more than 46 years of research.
donald g. frantz is professor emeritus of Native Studies at the University of
Lethbridge.
norma jean russell is a graduate of the Native American Studies program at
University of Lethbridge and is a native speaker of Blackfoot.
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Blackfoot Dictionary
of Stems, Roots, and Affixes
Third Edition
DONALD G. FRANTZ and NORMA JEAN RUSSELL
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
© University of Toronto Press 1989, 1995, 2017
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
Printed in Canada
Second Edition 1995
Reprinted 2000, 2004, 2006, 2009
Third Edition 2017
ISBN 978-1-4875-0084-9 (cloth)
ISBN 978-1-4875-2063-2 (paper)
♾

Printed on acid-free paper
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Frantz, Donald G., author
Blackfoot dictionary of stems, roots, and affixes
Donald G. Frantz and Norma Jean Russell. – Third edition.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Text in Siksika and English.
ISBN 978-1-4875-0084-9 (cloth). – ISBN 978-1-4875-2063-2 (paper)
1. Siksika language – Dictionaries – English.
2. English language – Dictionaries – Siksika.
I. Russell, Norma (Norma Jean), author II. Title.
PM2343.F73 2017 497’.3523 C2016-907844-2
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its
publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts
Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.
an Ontario government agency
un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario
Funded by the Financé par le
Government gouvernement
of Canada du Canada
Contents
How to Use This Dictionary vii
Acknowledgements viii
Preface to the Third Edition x
Preface to the Second Edition xi
Preface to the First Edition xiii
Introduction xv
Blackfoot-English Dictionary 1
English Index 323
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How to Use This Dictionary
1. If you are not already familiar with the Blackfoot alphabet, see chapter 1 of
Blackfoot Grammar, third edition.
2. Read the first few pages of the Introduction (at least read section 1).
3. Make note of the location of the list of abbreviations (section 6 of the
introduction).
4. When looking something up in the English Index, don’t take the first entry
that has the English word you are looking for. Read the full English translation
of that header and check the part of speech (noun, verb, etc.; see ‘Morphological
Type’ in section 1 of the Introduction).
Then go to the Blackfoot entry itself to see more about how it is used and
how its shape may change. Almost all Blackfoot stems and roots have more than
one shape, and their shapes depend upon whether affixes are added, and may
even depend upon which affixes are added.
5. If you don’t find the English word you are looking for in the Index, try
another English word which means about the same thing.
6. Don’t expect to find Blackfoot words that mean exactly the same thing as the
English words you are searching for. No two languages organize meaning in the
same way.
vii
Acknowledgements
The project that has culminated in the publication of this dictionary grew out of
a Blackfoot lexicography seminar at the University of Lethbridge in the fall of
1980.1 At the encouragement of John Gray, it became a full-fledged project in
June 1981. Initial costs were met by tapping part of a development grant to the
Native American Studies department of the University of Lethbridge from the
Muttart Foundation. From June 1982 until June 1990, the project operated on
funding provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada. These funds paid Ms. Russell’s salary, the wages of other students and
graduates who were employed for various periods of time, payments to the many
First Nations consultants who have provided or checked the examples for us,
and the fees of our invaluable computer consultant and programmer, John Gray.
We are very grateful to the SSHRC for funding, and to both the Native American
Studies department and the university administration for their encouragement
during those years of research.
Professor Allan Taylor of the University of Colorado also deserves
acknowledgement. By example and advice he has helped to make this a more
scholarly piece of work than it otherwise would have been. His research on
Blackfoot botanical terms (Taylor 1989 – see sec. 3 of our Introduction) has
allowed us to greatly improve our coverage of this area of the Blackfoot lexicon
in this third edition.
Researchers who have provided material for this dictionary include Celeste
Strikes With A Gun, Martin Heavy Head, Lena Russell, and Alvine Mountain
Horse. Heavy Head, Russell, and Mountain Horse have done double duty, as they
have additionally served as consultants by virtue of their fluency in the language.
1 Participants in that seminar were authors Frantz and Russell, Martin Heavy Head,
Patricia Frantz, Joanne Little Bear, and John Gray.
viii
Special thanks are due to Leroy Little Bear and Martin Heavy Head for being
willing to give serious consideration to our research questions even though we
have repeatedly interrupted their work at the University of Lethbridge.
Numerous fluent speakers of the language have provided or checked material
for us. Those who spent more than a single one hour session are listed here in
decreasing order of amount of time involved: Adelaide Heavy Shield, Cecile
Russell, Frank Melting Tallow, Charlotte Russell, Bill Strikes With A Gun, Pat
Weasel Head, Dan Weasel Moccasin (the latter two were especially helpful
to Martin Heavy Head as he re-elicited bird terms found in Schaeffer 1950),
Priscilla Bruised Head, Geraldine Crying Head, Billy Strikes With A Gun,
Mary First Rider, Joe Heavy Head, Ruth Little Bear, Allen Shade, Ada Weasel
Moccasin, Harry Shade, Morris Crow, Margaret Hind Man, and Percy Smith.
Special mention must be made of those who gave extensive help to co-author
Frantz between 1960 and 1975 as he conducted research on their language while
working under the auspices of the Wycliffe Bible Translators: Irene Butterfly
and Agnes Rider (both Blackfeet of Montana), Rosie Ayoungman, Matthew
Manyguns, Tom Manyguns, Mike Peacemaker, Francis and Bona Blackkettle,
Floyd Royal, Joe Catface, Jack Big Eye, and Frances Running Rabbit (all North
Blackfoot).
In preparation of the second edition, Mary Fox, Monica Bruised Head, Pam
Wadsworth, and Pam’s mother, Mary First Rider, checked large amounts of data.
Emma Lee Warrior has also been of great help in answering questions that have
come up during the final stages.
Changes that have been made to this third edition are largely based on
knowledge shared by Olive Davis. We are very fortunate to have access to this
fluent speaker who was raised by her grandmother Rosie Davis on the Kainai
reserve.
The final formatting of the dictionary for publication is the result of hours of
work by programmer Peter Pankonin. In the process, Peter also caught a number
of errors.
Many errors and inconsistencies were found and corrected by diligent student
researcher Madeline Neufeld. Elizabeth Chen has pointed out several errors and
entries that need to be combined.
ix