Greenlandic Text Lesson 3
So far: Text lesson #1 and Text Lesson #2
This text lesson looks at a short article that recently appeared on Greenlandic national broadcaster KNR (Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa – “Greenland’s Radio”).
Qeqertarsuarmi nanorsiortut
februaarip 02-at 2017
Qeqertarsuarmi ippassaq unnukkut nal. 23 missaani nanorsiortoqalerpoq.
Nanoq Qeqertarsuup illoqarfiata iluani ippassaq unnukkut takuneqarpoq. Kingorna qamuteralassortunit arlalinnit ujaarineqarpoq pisarineqaranili.
Piniarnermik nakkutilliisup Per Nukaaraq Hansenip Sermitsiaq.AG-mut ilisimatitsissutigaa illoqarfiup ungasinngisaani sikumi nannuttoqarsimasoq, pisarineqartorlu tassaassagunartoq illoqarfimmi ippassaq unnukkut takuneqartoq.
Aamma oqaluttuarpoq nannup pisarinissaanut akuersissummik tunniussisoqarsimasoq.
Video KNR.gl-ip nassiussarsiarisimasaa ataani takuuk:
Link
Vocabulary
qeqertaq - island
-:suaq - large
Qeqertarsuaq - town in West Greenland, on the island of the same name, formerly called Disko Island.
-mi – locative case (in), singular form
nanoq - (polar) bear
Interesting fact: the Latin name for the brown bear is ursus arctos, which you would think ought to be the Latin name for the polar bear. However ursus and arctos are simply the Latin and Greek words, respectively, for “bear”. So the Arctic region is named after the bear(s), rather than the other way round. The polar bear is ursus maritimus or “sea bear”, which kind of makes sense.
-:sior- - to hunt for, to catch the scent of
-toq - one who (does verb) (absolute form), plural form -tut. Can also mean “(the fact) that someone (does verb)”
februaari - February
-(i)p - ending for the singular relative form. Can function like a genitive form (showing the possessor) but also marks the subject in a transitive sentence. Here februarip = “of February". Note that the object "owned” by the relative form must also be declined to reflect its possessor.
2-at = aappaat - their second one (absolute form of aappaq: second, other, with a plural possessor) Note aappaq also appeared in Text Lesson 1 in its other meaning of spouse, partner
So februarip aappaat means “the second of February”, but where is the plural possessor, if February is singular? The reason is that the phrase is a short form of februarip ulluisa aappaat, where ulluisa is the relative case (“genitive”) form of ullut, but with a singular possessor (February). So the whole phrase means “of-February of-its-days their-second-one”. However the ulluisa is presumably redundant here and can be dropped without affecting the meaning, but is reflected in the declination of aappaat.
ippassaq - yesterday
unnukkut - (last) evening, prosecutive (vialis) case (-kkut, meaning through, by, along with) of unnuk: evening
nal. - short for nalunaaqutaq: hour, watch. Here corresponds roughly to “o'clock” (albeit using the 24 hour clock)
missaani - about, approximately
-qar- - have, exist, there is
-ler- - start, be about to, be in process of
nanorsiortoqalerpoq - “there started to be people hunting bears”, i.e. “a bear hunt got underway”
asseq – photo. assi – his or her own photo
toqqorpaa – he hides it, he stores it
-si- - intransitive marker, makes a transitive verb into an intransitive one
-vik,-(-r)fik – place where…
-mit – ablative case, “from”. Derived from this is a verbal form -meerpoq to be from, and from this -meersoq: one which is from. So asseq toqqorsivimmeersoq: photo which is from the stores, i.e. archive photo
-:suup - dependent form of -:suaq
illoqarfik - town, settlement. Formed of illu (house, cognate with Inuit “igloo”), -qar- have, exist, and -fik place where…
ilua – “its inside”, the inside of something.With -ni (in): iluani – “in the inside of” illoqarfiup iluani – in the town. Qeqertarsuup illoqarfiata iluani – in the town of Qeqertarsuaq. As with the ulluisa example above, the middle noun has to be in the relative case to show “ownership” of iluani, but is also “owned” by Qeqertarsuaq, and so the relative case form showing a third party (singular) possessor -ata is used.
takuvaa – he sees it
-neqar- - creates passive verb form
Giving takuneqarpoq – it was seen
kingorna – later
qamutit – (dog) sled
-ralak - suffix meaning poor, dear old, bad, nasty.
Add the two together and you have qamuteralak snow scooter. I’m not quite sure how this word came about in this way! Maybe a true Greenlander sees a snow scooter as a poor alternative to a proper dog-powered sledge…
-:sor- - various meanings, but here meaning “using…”
-toq/-soq – one who (verbs)
-nit – ablative (by, from) case marker, plural form. Here meaning “by”, denoting the agent for the passive verb takuneqarpoq.
arlallit – several, ablative form is arlalinnit
ujaari- - to be out looking for…
pisaq – a catch (result of hunting)
pisaraa – formed of pisaq + -gaa/-raa to have something as a catch. Add -neqar- (passive) and the negative contemporative mood -nani/-rani (while not verb-ing), giving pisarineqarani “while not being caught”
-li – but. Note that it comes at the end of the word, although in English we would place it before. Compare –lu and below
piniar- – to go hunting
-neq – forms verbal nouns, the act of doing (verb)
-mik – instrumental case. Roughly translatable as “more specifically…”, providing additional information about a verb or noun (Jensimik ateqarpoq: “he has a name, more specifically Jens” = “he is called Jens”), and can also be translated in English as an indefinite object if used with an intransitive verb.
nakkuppaa – stare at (object), from which nakkutigaa – to keep an eye on something, the intransitive form of which is nakkutilliivoq. Hence nakkutilliisoq one who oversees, supervisor, attendant, officer
nuka – younger sibling of the same sex (a boy’s little brother, a girl’s little sister)
-araq – diminutive ending, little
-mut – allative case (towards), singular form
ilisimavaa – to know (object).
-ti*- - causative affix, to have something happen, to make something happen. So ilisimatippaa – to inform him/her (of something) (i.e. to “cause to know”). With ending-ssut cause of, means to we have ilisimatitsissut – notification, report. And with ending –gaa “to have something as one’s…”, we have ilisimatitsissutigaa meaning roughly “he had [the following phrase] as his report: …”
ungasippoq – to be far
-nngi- - negative affix, not
-saq – normally forms a passive noun ending, one which is verb-ed, but here the meaning of ungasinngisaq (not far, close by) doesn’t appear to be passive, although maybe it serves to connect the word to its possessor illoqarfiup, giving illoqarfiup ungasinngisaani – “in the proximity of the town, close up to the town”
siku – ice
-mi – locative case (in, on), singular form
nannuppoq – to bring down a bear. It’s interesting to note that the verb “to kill” an animal is often a derived form of the animal’s name. Another example is tuttuppoq to kill a reindeer from tuttu: reindeer
From the above comes nannuttoq – one who shoots a bear or “that [someone] shot a bear”, with -qar-to exist and -sima- perfective aspect (“have done”) and -soq/-toq, here meaning “(the fact) that…”. Together: nannuttoqarsimasoq “that there has been the shooting of a bear”, i.e. “that a bear has been shot”
pisaraa (see above) + -neqar- (passive) and –toq “the one that…” to give pisarineqartoq “the one which was caught”.
-lu – and. Note that, like –li but, this affix comes at the end of the word which is being “added”, although in English we would place it before.
tassa – it is, namely, such
-u- - to be (a+u > aa in accordance with standard Greenlandic spelling and pronunciation rules)
-ssa- - future tense marker
-gunar- - apparently
aamma - also
oqaluttuar- - tell
nannup – relative case form of nanoq. Note the irregular doubling of the middle “n”.
pisarinissaanut – broken down as pisari- (to have as a catch, see above) + neq (verbal noun, appears as ni when the -r- falls away) + -ssa- (future tense marker) + -a (its, referring back to nannup: the bear’s) + -nut (allative case (to)). “To its (future) catching …”
akueraa – he/she is in agreement with him/her. With -si- (intransitive marker, see above) and –ssut (cause of, the means to) we have akuersissut: permission. Here in the instrumental case –mik which can be translated as an indefinite object of the intransitive verb tunniussi- below.
tunniuppaa – he/she hands it over (to someone). Here with -si- (intransitive) + -soq (“the fact that”) + qarsimasoq (as in nannuttoqarsimasoq above).
-ip – form of relative case after a consonant (here, the website name KNR.gl)
nassiuppaa – he/she sends it.
-:saq – passive noun ending. nassiussaq – a thing which is sent, a dispatch
-:siaq – something obtained. Here with –raa (-ri-) (have something as one’s…) + -sima- (perfective) + -:saq (passive noun ending) + -a (its) we have the formidable nassiussarsiarisimasaa “which has been had by it [KNR.gl] as an obtained dispatch” or more naturally “which KNR.gl has been sent by somebody”
ataa – under (it). Here with locative –ni, giving ataani “located under”
takuuk – imperative form of takuvaa he/she sees it, with single object, giving “(please) see (it)”
Translation
Qeqertarsuarmi nanorsiortut
Bear Hunt in Qeqertarsuaq
februaarip 02-at 2017
2 February 2017
Qeqertarsuarmi ippassaq unnukkut nal. 23 missaani nanorsiortoqalerpoq.
A bear hunt took place yesterday evening in Qeqertarsuaq at around 11pm.
Nanoq Qeqertarsuup illoqarfiata iluani ippassaq unnukkut takuneqarpoq. Kingorna qamuteralassortunit arlalinnit ujaarineqarpoq pisarineqaranili.
A polar bear was seen yesterday evening in the town of Qeqertarsuaq. It was then searched for by several people on snow scooters but without being caught.
Piniarnermik nakkutilliisup Per Nukaaraq Hansenip Sermitsiaq.AG-mut ilisimatitsissutigaa illoqarfiup ungasinngisaani sikumi nannuttoqarsimasoq, pisarineqartorlu tassaassagunartoq illoqarfimmi ippassaq unnukkut takuneqartoq.
Hunt officer, Per Nukaaraq Hansen, informed Sermitsiaq.AG [a newspaper] that a bear had been shot on the ice close by the town, and this was presumably the one that had been seen yesterday evening in town.
Aamma oqaluttuarpoq nannup pisarinissaanut akuersissummik tunniussisoqarsimasoq.
He also said that a licence had been issued to shoot the bear.
Video KNR.gl-ip nassiussarsiarisimasaa ataani takuuk:
See below the video that has been passed to KNR.gl.
As ever, if there are any questions on the above, I would be happy to try and answer. Any corrections by native speakers are also very welcome!
@tulunnguaq
