17 Making new nouns and verbs
Size: -uce ‘little’ and -rakko ‘big’
- The suffix -uce is used for a smaller version of a noun.
- efv
- ‘dog’
- efuce
- ‘puppy’
- este
- ‘person’
- estuce
- ‘baby’
- cuko
- ‘house’
- cukuce
- ‘outhouse, bathroom’
- tafvmpe
- ‘onion’
- tafvmpuce
- ‘wild onions’
- ecke
- ‘his/her mother’
- eckuce
- ‘his/her maternal aunt’
- erke
- ‘his/her father’
- erkuce
- ‘his/her paternal uncle’
- The word rakko is used for a larger version of a noun.
- nene
- ‘road’
- nene-rakko
- ‘big road, highway’
- hotvlē
- ‘wind’
- hotvlē-rakko
- ‘big wind, hurricane, storm’
- cukpe
- ‘hundred’
- cukpe-rakko
- ‘thousand’
- ’Tvcako
- ‘Sunday’
- ’Tvcako-Rakko
- ‘Christmas’
Turning verbs into nouns: opanv ‘dancer’, yvhikv ‘singer’
Mvskoke has many pairs of verbs and nouns like these.
- opvnetv
- ‘to dance’
- opanv
- ‘dancer’
- letketv
- ‘(one) to run’
- lētkv
- ‘runner’
- opunvyetv
- ‘to speak’
- opunayv
- ‘speaker’
The nouns are formed from the verbs in steps from the stem (the part of the verb before -etv).
- opvnetv ‘to dance’
- opvn-
- stem: ‘dance’
- opan-
- lengthen the last vowel
- opan-v
- add -v
- letketv ‘(one) to run’
- letk-
- stem: ‘run’
- lētk-
- lengthen the last vowel
- lētk-v
- add -v
- opunvyetv ‘to speak’
- opunvy-
- stem: ‘speak’
- opunay-
- lengthen the last vowel
- opunay-v
- add -v
Here is the general rule for lengthening the last vowel of the stem.
- If the last vowel of the stem is a short vowel e, v, or u, lengthen it to ē, a, and o. If the last vowel of the stem is already long or a diphthong, no change is made.
Here are examples where the last vowel is already long or a diphthong.
- fayetv
- ‘to hunt’
- fayv
- ‘hunter’
- elēcetv
- ‘to kill’
- elēcv
- ‘killer’
- hoccicetv
- ‘to write’
- hoccicv
- ‘writer’
- yvhiketv
- ‘to sing’
- yvhikv
- ‘singer’
- vteloyetv
- ‘to collect’
- vteloyv
- ‘collector’
- mvhayetv
- ‘to teach’
- mvhayv
- ‘teacher’
There is an exception, though (using “C” to mean any consonant).
- If the last vowel is followed by lC, or mC, or nC, then the vowel is not lengthened.
This exception can be seen in words like the following.
- tvmketv
- ‘to fly’
- tvmkv
- ‘flyer’
- ohfvnketv
- ‘to be above’
- Ohfvnkv
- ‘the One Above’
Compounds: pvrko-opuswv ‘grape juice’
A noun compound is a noun composed of two stems, as in efv-hute ‘dog house’. Mvskoke frequently uses compounds to create new words.
- One common pattern for compounds is Noun + Adjective. The adjective appears second and usually ends with short -e.
- este ‘person’ + catē ‘red’
- este-cate
- ‘red person, Native American’
- cetto ‘snake’ + tokohē ‘spotted
- cetto-tokohe
- ‘type of spotted snake’
- hetutē ‘ice’ + hvtkē ‘white’
- hetutē-hvtke
- ‘snow’
A few common adjectives have final -o in compounds instead of -e.
- -rakko
- ‘big’
- akhvsē-rakko
- ‘lake, big pond’
- -cvpko
- ‘long’
- eslafkv-cvpko
- ‘sword, long knife’
- -vcako
- ‘sacred, holy’
- Nett-vcako
- ‘Sunday, holy day’
- A second common pattern is Noun1 + Noun2, where Noun1 modifies Noun2.
- pvrko ‘grape’ + opuswv ‘juice’
- pvrko-opuswv
- ‘wine, grape juice’
- rvfo ‘winter’ + tvhvyv ‘squash’
- rvfo-tvhvyv
- ‘winter squash’
- cokv ‘book’ + hvrpe ‘skin’
- cokv-hvrpe
- ‘book cover’
- A third pattern is Noun1 + Noun2, where Noun2 modifies Noun1. This pattern is used when the modifying word is a title, sex, or location.
- tvse ‘blue jay’ + mēkko ‘chief, king’
- Tvse-Mēkko
- ‘King Jaybird’
- este ‘person’ + honvnwv ‘male’
- este-honvnwv
- ‘man’
- wakv ‘bovine’ + hoktē ‘female’
- wakv-hoktē
- ‘cow’
- cuko ‘house’ + onvpv ‘top’
- cuko-onvpv
- ‘roof, house top’
- The first word in a compound may be shortened. Nouns that end in wv often lose that element.
- cufunwv ‘fork’ + fvskē ‘sharp’
- cufun-fvske
- ‘pitchfork’
- cukwv ‘mouth’ + hvrpe ‘skin’
- cuk-hvrpe
- ‘lip’
- uewv ‘water’ + cetto ‘snake’
- ue-cetto
- ‘water snake’
Verb pairs: kvwvpetv ‘to raise’, kvwvpketv ‘to rise’
- Verbs in Mvskoke often come in pairs of related forms.
- vtvretv
- ‘to hang (something)’
- vtvrketv
- ‘to hang, be hanging’
- ēhetv
- ‘to hide (something)’
- ēhketv
- ‘to hide oneself’
- kvwvpetv
- ‘to lift, raise (something)’
- kvwvpketv
- ‘(one) to rise, go up’
- rakpvletv
- ‘to turn (one) over’
- rakpvlketv
- ‘(one) to turn over, roll over’
The verbs on the left above involve actions that affect something else. The verbs on the right with -k are self-contained: the subject does the action without changing anything else.
Some -k forms of verbs can also be used as adjectives.
- hocefetv
- ‘to name (someone)’
- hocefkē
- ‘named’
- vhopvnetv
- ‘to ruin (something)’
- vhopvnkē
- ‘ruined’
- kvcetv
- ‘to snap (one)’
- kvckē
- ‘snapped, broken’
Verb pairs: hecetv ‘to see’, hecicetv ‘to show’
- Some verbs show a different pattern.
- eletv
- ‘to die’
- elēcetv
- ‘to kill’
- hecetv
- ‘to see’
- hecicetv
- ‘to show, make see’
- esketv
- ‘to drink’
- eskuecetv
- ‘to give a drink’
- cvlletv
- ‘to roll (of a wheel, etc.)’
- cvllēcetv
- ‘to roll (something)’
- penkvletv
- ‘to get scared’
- penkvlēcetv
- ‘to frighten (another)’
This time, the words on the left above are self-contained, while the words on the right affect something else. The element …c- in the above words seems to mean ‘cause’ or ‘make’.
