SIGTUNAQ – SITKINAK ISLAND ARWEGET SIGTUNAMEN AG’UT. – THE WHALES ARE SWIMMING TO SITKINAK ISLAND. Sitkinak is one of the Trinity Islands, a group of three large, windswept, grassy islands off the southern coast of Kodiak. Sitkinak is the largest. It stretches about 30 km east to west, forming the southern boundary of Sitkinak Strait. […]
TUPUURUQ – AXE TUPUURULLEQ YAAMAMEK CANAMAUQ. — THE OLD AXE IS MADE OUT OF STONE. Today, Alutiiq speakers refer to axes and adzes with the term tupuuRuq, a word derived from the Russian term for an axe. However, historic sources reveal that there were once distinct Alutiiq terms for different types of adzes. The verb cikllarluku means to […]
QUIRIQ – HOARY MARMOT QUIRIT QUILITARTUT. – MARMOTS ARE FAT. The Alutiiq word for marmot may come from quili- a root word meaning fat. This in an apt description. Hoary marmots are the largest member of the squirrel family. These plump mammals that can weigh over ten pounds and eat heartily during the summer to fatten up […]
KAUGCIRLUNI – TO HAIL LLAAMI KAUGCIRTUQ. – IT IS HAILING OUTSIDE. Hail is precipitation that forms in storm clouds and falls to Earth as pieces of ice. Hailstones are created when updrafts carry water droplets into cold air. The droplets freeze and stick to each other as air currents repeatedly cycle them through clouds. Each cycle […]