Details
General
| Morphemic form: | {agcak}N |
| New orthography: | assak |
| Old orthography: | agssak |
| Sources: | [22] |
| Combinations: | View list |
| Right sandhi: | Default/none |
| Inflection sandhi: | Default/none |
| Stem type(s): | Regular k-stem |
Description and behaviour
Form and usage:
According to Kleinschmidt [14], this stem has three meanings:
- a finger;
- metacarpal bone, i.e. a bone in the hand;
- the corresponding part on an animal's leg, i.e. the part of the leg right above the hoof.
Schultz-Lorentzen [17] only mention the two first meanings. Kleinschmidt further mentions that the word also denotes 'hand' when used in plural, i.e. a hand is viewed as a collection of fingers.
However, the newer dictionary Oqaatsit [20] only records the meaning 'hand' for this stem. Thus, nowadays, this stem is also used in singular in the sense of 'hand'. For 'finger', {inu(j)ak}N is used instead.
Inflection
Declension pattern:
| Stem type: | Regular k-stem |
| Declension type: | up-declined |
| Declension sandhi: | Default/none |
| Stem before consonant | Stem before vowel | Notable forms | |
|---|---|---|---|
| New orthography | assak | assa | assak, assaap, assaat, |
| Old orthography | agssak | agssa | agssak, agssaup, agssait, |
| Phonemic orthography | agcak | agca | agcak, agcaup, agcait, |
Meanings and examples
In older literature, the meaning is 'finger' in singular, and 'hand' in plural, e.g. in [14, 17]. Nowadays, the stem is also used in singular in the sense of 'hand', as in [20].
- assaat naallugit, ten
[14]
Literally: 'the fingers to end'.
- assai, his hand; his hands
[14]
I.e., according to Kleinschmidt, the plural form is used for both the singular and plural meaning.