Details

General

Morphemic form: N{(t)niaq}N
New orthography: +niaq, -nniaq
Old orthography: -niaĸ
Sources: [13, 17, 16, 19]
Combinations: View list
Constituents: N{(t)}V + V{niaq}N
Variants: N{(t)niaq}V
Left sandhi: Default
Right sandhi: Default/none
Inflection sandhi: Geminating
Stem type(s): Weak q-stem

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

This affix is a straightforward combination of N{(t)}V, 'hunt for N' and V{niaq}N, 'one who tries to Vb'. Hence, the meaning is also straightforward: 'one who (tries to) hunt for N' or simply 'N-hunter'. Given the meaning, it is only used with animal names for N.


Left sandhi:

Left sandhi is inherited from the left-most component, N{(t)}V. See this for details.


Meanings and examples

Only with animal names as N.

  • tuttunniaq, a caribou hunter [19]

    I.e. one who tries to catch a caribou. From tuttu, 'caribou', so here we see the epenthetic consonant injected.

  • nannunniaq, a polar bear hunter

    i.e. one who tries to catch a polar bear. From nanoq, 'polar bear'. This word is irregularly formed with drop of the final /q/ and gemination of /n/ to /nn/ in the stem. It is not clear why this happened.

  • terianniaq, fox

    From teriaq, 'mouse', so literally 'mouse-hunter'.

  • arfanniat, whale-catcher ship [16]

    Note that the word here is plural, arfanniat, because ships, like other vehicles, were previously referred to as plural, even if only a single ship was meant.

  • miterniaq, one who hunts for eider duck [16]

    From miteq, 'eider duck'.