Paakwin8gwezian!: Some Abenaki phrases
May. 7th, 2009 04:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
modernwizardI'm poking around on www.cowasuck.org, reading past issues of the Aln8bak News, the band's quarterly (?) newsletter. Each issue contains a column called "Say That in Abenaki." Here's a few things that I'm picking up from the January 2008 issue about greetings and good wishes:
Haaw (haa-oh): A general greeting, equivalent to "hello."
Kwai (k-why-ee): A more informal greeting or recognition of people nearby, equivalent to "hi" or maybe even "hey there."
Pedgi mina (pit-gee mee-nuh): Equivalent to "return again," maybe even "goodbye."
And my favorite...
Paakwin8gwezian (paa-kwe-n8-gwe-zee-ann): Equivalent to "long time no see," a greeting specifically for people who haven't been seen in a while.
The 8 is a nasal long o ["oh"] sound.
"Paakwin8gwezian" is what Absinthe says to Will after 100 years of separation. :D All things considered, such a greeting would probably come a bit more readily to her than "long time no see."
Over in the word search from the same issue, I find the following:
Yahi [yah hee]: An exclamation of joy, equivalent to "yahoo," "yay," "hooray," "yippee," etc.
There is a pronunciation guide in the October 2007 Aln8bak News.
Haaw (haa-oh): A general greeting, equivalent to "hello."
Kwai (k-why-ee): A more informal greeting or recognition of people nearby, equivalent to "hi" or maybe even "hey there."
Pedgi mina (pit-gee mee-nuh): Equivalent to "return again," maybe even "goodbye."
And my favorite...
Paakwin8gwezian (paa-kwe-n8-gwe-zee-ann): Equivalent to "long time no see," a greeting specifically for people who haven't been seen in a while.
The 8 is a nasal long o ["oh"] sound.
"Paakwin8gwezian" is what Absinthe says to Will after 100 years of separation. :D All things considered, such a greeting would probably come a bit more readily to her than "long time no see."
Over in the word search from the same issue, I find the following:
Yahi [yah hee]: An exclamation of joy, equivalent to "yahoo," "yay," "hooray," "yippee," etc.
There is a pronunciation guide in the October 2007 Aln8bak News.