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tansi cuzzins!
Welcome to week thirty-one of our journey into studying the Y dialect of the Cree language together!
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You can find past lessons on the website here. Not all lessons are up yet on the website – my
apologies! We're working on a new system of organizing them, which I hope to reveal to you soon.
Each week, readers follow along with me as I learn more about my language using a sacred type of alphabet called Spirit Markers (some folks call them syllabics). The Spirit Marker chart we're using is called a Star Chart and it is below. It's oriented opposite of how "western" maps are – North goes on the bottom for us, and South is at the top.
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This week we're continuing along the northern limb at the bottom of the Star Chart and looking at the Spirit Marker ᑌ, which is written 'tê' in SRO and is pronounced 'tehhh.'
The 't' sound in Cree is not like the 't' sound in English, so the letter 't' doesn't really capture the Cree sound all that well. But it's the closest representation we have.
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The Cree 't' sound is like an English 't' and 'd' being pronounced together. So it's like a softer 't' or a harder 'd.' See if you can make this sound by putting your tongue against the back of your upper teeth.
Our word of the week is ᐃᐢᑯᑌᐤ (iskotêw). It's a very important word – fire. This can refer to an actual fire, or to the life force energy inside all of us – the "fire in the belly," so to speak.
To hear the word pronounced on Itwewina, my favourite Cree dictionary, click here.
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Is there a reason the word for woman (iskwêw) is similar to the word for fire (iskotêw)? I have read that women were the keepers of the fire in our lodge. I suspect there are other teachings around women containing the fire of creation within them.
This concludes our Cree lesson of the week. hiy hiy for walking alongside me on my language journey.
a special hiy hiy to all the folks who have donated to IndigiNews' reciprocal fundraising campaign we're running this month. I raise my hands to you – we couldn't do this work without you.
Aunty Eden
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Eden Fineday is a nehiyaw iskwew and the publisher of IndigiNews. She is a also a mom, writer and student of nehiyawewin. She lives with gratitude as an uninvited guest on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), səl̓ ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Peoples.
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