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[
Uu Kanata!
Nangmini nunavut!
Piqujatii nalattiaqpavut.
Angiglivalliajuti,
Sanngijulutillu.
Nangiqpugu, Uu Kanata
Mianiripluti.
Uu Kanata! nunatsia!
Nangiqpugu mianiripluti,
Uu Kanata, salagijauquna! Translation: Oh, Canada Snow falling from the sky. Snow on the ground. Snow dissolving into the sea. Snow building up on sea ice. Snow compressed to a crust. Snow compressed into ice. Snow blowing in the air, oh, Canada. Snow melting in the summer heat. Oh, Canada. Snow swirling on the ground. Snow blowing in the air. Snow melting in the summer heat. Oh, Canada, snow covering the igloos. Well,well, nice! The only thing regognizable is 'Uu Kanata' They must have a different word for each type or state of snow. Miranirapluti must be the melting in the summerheat. But no reoccuring indication of the snow-part. Really interesting.
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"The unfortunate fact is that even lists of
Eskimo words with meanings attached, written out by people with
extensive acquaintance with the people and the language, have to
be interpreted in a sophisticated way against the background of a full
understanding of Eskimo morphology and etymology if we are to
draw conclusions about whether they can be counted as words
for snow.
So how many really? 1 know you still crave an answer. I will say..."
No , I do not crave the answer to how many there are. Sorry, can't do the 8 pages all as I have to really work, but it struck me that in our so many words for rain the word rain returns as a reconizable part . Not in these Eskimo words.
Never mind.
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This whole Eskimo snow thing got started with a comment by Franz Boaz that the Eskimos had four words for snow. The number increased in the retelling and has been seen as large as 400. Here's another, easier to skim, statement of the "hoax", as it is sometimes called. What all these retellings and any of the refutations of the retellings left out is that Boaz also said (and I'm going by memory here. I can't find the original text from Boaz) is that they had no word that covered snow in all its aspects. PS Aklthough I am a descriptivist, I don't like the use of the term 'hoax' to describe this phenomenon. To me 'hoax' implies a deliberate attempt to deceive for some gain on the part of the hoaxer.
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Thanks Faldage, this is easier digestible stuff.
I like this quite poetic one:
naklin - forgotten snow
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Uu Kanata!
Nangmini nunavut! We had none of Nunavut when I was in school (I think it was called Northwest Territories then) so I only know that it suddenly appeared on the new maps one year. Since the English lyric is "Our home and native land", I'm leaping to the conclusion (since the French lyrics seem to be different) that nunavut means something along the lines of either home or native land. I wonder if it causes anyone any cognitive dissonance to sing that lyric as if The Star Spangled Banner were to say "the land of the free and the South Dakota of the brave". On the other hand if you're singing "True patriot love in all thy sons command." while the guy next to you is singing "Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux" (your brow is girded with glorious garlands), you're probably used to that sort of thing.
Last edited by Myridon; 08/09/08 04:15 PM.
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"Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux" (your brow is girded with glorious garlands)
Just for the record, the French line precedes the English one by a couple of decades.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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In my searches for information on the origin of the Great Eskimo Snow Kerfuffle I ran acros numerous complaints about the use of the term Eskimo being offensive, the terms Inuit, Yupik, or Aleut being prefered. My question is whether there is a term that covers all three groups. First Nations is fine for those who were descended from the first wave of humans to migrate to the Americas, but the, you should pardon the expression, Eskimos weren't in that group. Do we call them Second Nations?
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I'm really curious what could be the offensive in Eskimo.
Dictionaries don't give any negative sign.
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I'm really curious what could be the offensive in Eskimo.The problem boils down to it be a term that was applied by another language group to the Inuit et al. (see link). Whether the term is (or was) in fact a pejorative one or not is besides the point. Compare a similar situation with the people formerly known as Winnebago (which meant something like 'stinking water people' in a neighboring language) who are now known as the Ho-Chunk. This phenomenon has to do with explorers asking neighboring (sometimes hostile) people what the folks next over were called. People are touchy about what they're called. Unfortunately, people are also touchy about being told what to call other people. I try to accommodate people by using a term for them that they prefer. Otherwise, communication tends to break down and we end up squabbling about matters unimportant to the original subject. I also try not to make fun of their accent, word choice, syntax, etc.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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