Cherokee/Dictionary

Key

Lexical Indications

• [A]: Set A verb.
  • [A-ga]: Set A verb that takes ga- instead of a- for the third person singular subject.
• A-: Set A noun, a lexical feature commonly used to denote humans. The entry is a noun, listed as its root, with "A-" preceding to indicate that a Set A pronominal prefix always precedes the root. Coincidentally, the 3rd person singular (he/she/it) Set A prefix (for such nouns) is a-. (Thus I thought it was ingenious to use the notation "A-".)
• [B]: Set B verb.
• [D]: Verb takes the distributive prefix lexically. For the PRC, INC, and CMP stems, the form deex́- or its variants are used. For DVN, di- or its variants are used. For IMM, deex́- is used for past and future tenses; for commands di- is used instead.
• [INC, IMM, CMP, DVN]: For verbs, the 4 stems in addition to the present continuous (PRC) stem used as citation form, namely the incompletive, immediate, completive, and deverbal noun stems.
• s.o.: Someone (animate object).
• s.th.: Something (inanimate object).

Parts of Speech

• adj.: Adjective.
• vi.: Intransitive verb.
• vt.: Transitive verb.
• n.: Noun.

Floating Tones and Length

• -x́: Previous syllable takes high tone. (<x> is a placeholder.)
• x́-: Following syllable takes high tone.
• -xx: Previous syllable gets lengthened.

Miscellaneous

• NA: Not applicable.

Dictionary

A

• -alisdáayvvhvsg- [-alisdáayvvhvsg-, -alisdàyvvhvga, -alisdáayvvhn-, -alisdàyvhd-]: vi. [A] eat a meal

Ch

• A-chũja ᎠᏧᏣ: n. boy

D

• doosvv́dáqli ᏙᏒᏓᎵ: n. ant
  • possibly derived noun

E

• eeloóhi ᎡᎶᎯ: n. Earth, world

G

• gaáda ᎦᏓ: n. (1) soil, dirt; (2) land
• gansda ᎦᎾᏍᏓ: n. stick
• ganvvnoowa ᎦᏅᏃᏩ: n. pipe
• -gíqa [-gíisg-, -ga, -g-, -gísd-]: vt. eat s.th. (neutral/solid object)
• guule ᎫᎴ: n. acorn

H

• -ha [-h-, -héésti, -h-, NA]: vt. [B] have s.th. (neutral/solid object)
  • 3SG exceptional form: uúha (tone unexpected)

J

• -xxjayoohíha [-xxjayoohih-, -xxjayoóha, -xxjayoohl-, -xxjayoost-]: vt. [A-ga] (1) prick s.th./s.o.; (2) give s.o. an injection
  • IMM stem ends in -yoóha for inanimate object but -yoqa for animate object. H/Q alternation expected, tone/length change probably linked thereto.
• joólani ᏦᎳᏂ: n. window

K

• kamaama ᎧᎹᎹ: n. (1) butterfly; (2) elephant

L

• -loónéqa [-loónéesg-, -loóna, -loónéq-, -loónéed-]: vt. [A-ga] oil s.th.
• -lvv́gwóhdi [-lvv́gwóhd-, -lvvgwohda, -lvv́gwóhd-, -lvv́gwóhdohd-]: vt. [B] like s.th./s.o.
• [D]-lvv́hwísdàneha [-lvv́hwísdàneeh-, see note, lvv́hwísdàneel-, lvv́hwísdànehd-]: vi. [B] work
  • CED cites IMM (with distributive prefix, in command form) as diijálv́v́hwiisdàsi. This is the only IMM stem in any dictionary cited with a long vowel in the di- prefix, i.e. dii-. Should be elicited to confirm.

N

• nokwsi ᏃᏈᏏ: n. star
• nuúna ᏄᎾ: n. potato
• nvvwóoti ᏅᏬᏘ: n. medicine

O

• -oolihga [-oolihg-, -ooligi, -oolihj-, -oolihísd-]: vt. [A-ga] (1) understand s.th.; (2) recognize s.o.

Q

• -x́qluhga [-x́qluhg-, -qluhgi, -qlúhj-, -qlúhísd-]: vi. [A-ga] arrive

S

• seélu ᏎᎷ: n. corn

T

• tuúya ᏚᏯ: n. bean

U

• uuwáqni ᎤᏩᏂ: n. wool

V

• vvdali ᎥᏓᎵ: n. pond, lake

W

• weésa ᏪᏌ: n. cat

Y

• -xxyeewisga [-xxyeewisg-, -xxyeéwa, -xxyeewis-, -xxyeewist-]: vt. [A-ga] sew s.th.