Details
General
| Morphemic form: | {məklijaq}N |
| New orthography: | milliaq, millissat |
| Old orthography: | migdliaĸ, migdlíssat |
| Sources: | [21] |
| Combinations: | View list |
| Right sandhi: | Default/none |
| Inflection sandhi: | Geminating |
| Stem type(s): | Weak q-stem |
Description and behaviour
Form and usage:
According to Kleinschmidt [13], this stem has two very different meanings:
- Umbilical cord. This is the only meaning recorded in the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [21]. However, none of the other dictionaries record this meaning. Instead, {qalasiq}N is used in this sense today.
- A thin cover, such that the thing placed upon the cover does not touch whatever is below it; for example, a table cloth, that ensures that the food does not touch the table. Variants of this meaning are also given by Schultz-Lorentzen [16, 8] and in Oqaatsit [19].
As Kleinschmidt [13] also notes, these two meanings seem entirely unrelated, so a likely explanation is that they are actually the result of two different derivations. Unfortunately, the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [21] only lists the first meaning, and gives no hint about the second. The morphemic form recorded in the present dictionary is therefore based on the stem denoting 'umbilical cord'.
Inflection
Declension pattern:
| Stem type: | Weak q-stem |
| Declension type: | p-declined |
| Declension sandhi: | Geminating |
| Gemination type: | j⇒cc |
| Stem before consonant | Stem before vowel | Notable forms | |
|---|---|---|---|
| New orthography | millissa | millia | milliaq, millissap, millissat, |
| Old orthography | migdlíssa | migdlia | migdliaĸ, migdlíssap, migdlíssat, |
| Phonemic orthography | məklijja | məklija | məklijaq, məklijjap, məklijjat, |
Meanings and examples
In general: anything to put between a surface and something else, preventing one from touching the other.
This meaning does not seem to be used today; see {qalasiq}N.