Details

General

Morphemic form: N{miuq}N
New orthography: +mioq, +miu
Old orthography: -mio
Combinations: Click here
Left sandhi:
Default,
Right sandhi:
Default/none,
Inflection sandhi:
Default/none,
Stem type: Weak q-stem

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

The meaning of this affix is 'inhabitant of N' (in a literal, or sometimes metaphorical sense). This is a very common affix, which also appears in the names of many Greenlandic towns, notably Sisimiut, Paamiut, Kuummiut (EGL: Kuummiit), Illoqqortoormiut (EGL: Ittoqqortoormiit), and also in Savalimmiut, 'the Faroe Islands'. These names all appear in plural, but if another affix is combined with these names - e.g. indeed N{miuq}N itself, to express 'inhabitant of' that town - then the affix must of course, as usual, be added to the morphemic form of the stem, i.e. without the plural ending. As an example, consider the town name Paamiut. The morphemic form is this {Paamiuq}N, and combining it with N{miuq}N we therefore obtain Paamiormioq, 'an inhabitant of Paamiut'.

An alternative form, N{miu}N also exists, but this form is not used in combination with other affixes, so we do not record it.The Comparative Eskimo Dictionary also mention a verbal form N{miu}V, but this form does not seem to be commonly used. Instead, a combination with N{-u}V is preferred nowadays to express 'is an inhabitant of'.


Inflection

Declension pattern
Declension type: p-declined
Declension sandhi: Default/none

Stem before consonant Stem before vowel Notable forms
New orthography +miu +miu
+mioq
+miup
+miut
Phonemic orthography miu miu
miuq
miup
miut


Meanings and examples

Comparable to English '-er', as in e.g. New-Yorker. The affix is common in town names.

  • Sisimiut, (name of a town in West Greenland)

    From sisi, 'fox hole' and plural ending N{-t}, so the name is inherently plural.

  • Sisimiormioq, inhabitant of Sisimiut

    From Sisimiut, a town name. The affix is combined with the stem (i.e. without an ending), hence we get Sisimiormioq.

  • Nuummioq, inhabitant of Nuuk
  • Iluliarmioq, inhabitant of Ilulissat

    From the morphemic form of Ilulissat, i.e. {ilulijaq}N.

  • allamioq, a stranger/foreigner

    Lexicalised, literally 'inhabitant of something different', i.e. a different country (or different place).

  • qilammioq, someone who is dead

    Lexicalised, from qilak, 'Heaven' (in Christian theology), so literally 'inhabitant of Heaven'.

  • assammioq, ring

    Lexicalised, from assak, 'hand', so literally 'inhabitant of the hand'. This meaning is uncommon, and the word is lexicalised in this sense.


References