Arwiryaa’aq – Bridge Kaiwik angituq arwiryaa’akun. – The old woman is coming back via the bridge. The Alutiiq word arwiryaa’aq means crossing place or ford, and it has come to mean bridge in modern usage. This word is distinct from the term niraq – which refers to a temporary bridge, like a log used to cross […]
Ushnerluku – ErodeNuna ushnertuq. – The land is eroding. Erosion is the gradual wearing away of the earth by natural forces. Over thousands of years, wind, waves, rain, snow, and ice reshape the landscape, carving through soil and bedrock to create new landforms. Kodiak’s complex coastline, with its steep-sided fjords, inlets, straits, estuaries, lagoons, rocky […]
Ciruneq – HornUna luuskaaq cirunemk canamauq. – This spoon is made from horn. In the Alutiiq language the words for horn and antler are the same–ciruneq. Like antler, horn is a hard but flexible material that grows from an animal’s heads. Typically found in pairs, horns feature a core of bone covered with a hard […]
Kumaq – WickKumaq kuakaskameng tamleritaartuq. – The wick always gets black after it burns. Stone lamps filled with sea mammal oil once illuminated and heated Alutiiq homes with the aid of small wicks twisted from plant fibers. Many different plants could serve this purpose. Kodiak’s early Russian colonists noted lamps fitted with grass wicks. Alutiiq […]