Details

General

Morphemic form: {nuuk}N
New orthography: nuuk, nuuit
Old orthography: nûk, nûit
Sources: [MFSJLK10], [SK71], [JP67], [CWSL58], [CBBJRPIKJR97], [CWSL51]
Combinations: View list
Right sandhi: Default/none
Inflection sandhi: Irregular
Stem type(s): Regular k-stem

Description and behaviour

Form and usage:

According to the Comparative Eskimo Dictionary [MFSJLK10], the basic meaning of this stem is 'tip; point' (of something). However, it is nowadays primarily used in the specific sense of 'a piece of land/mountain sticking out into the sea', i.e. 'promontory' or 'headland'. It is also used in many place names, most prominently the name of the capital of Greenland, Nuuk (former Danish name: Godthåb).


Inflection

Declension pattern:

Stem type: Regular k-stem
Declension type: up-declined
Declension sandhi: Irregular

Stem before consonant Stem before vowel Notable forms
New orthography nuuk nuu nuuk, nuup, nuuit
Old orthography nûk nû nûk, nûp, nûit
Phonemic orthography nuuk nuu nuuk, nuup, nuuit

Notes on declension:

This stem inflects like a regular k-stem with up-declension. However, there is one irregularity: In the ergative singular, where N{-up} is added, we would expect to get /nuu.up/ ⇒ /nuujup/ with sandhi epenthesis to break up the impossible sequence /uuu/. However, this does not happen. Instead, one of the three /u/ is just elided, so we get

Thus, in the specific case of ergative singular, the stem behaves as if it were p-declined, but in plural it behaves as up-declined, taking N{-it} as usual.


Meanings and examples

E.g. the tip of a finger, staff, knife, wing, tower etc. This meaning is only given in older dictionaries, but not in the newer Oqaatsit [CBBJRPIKJR97].

I.e. a stretch of land that reaches out into the sea, like a tiny peninsula.

The capital of Greenland, located in West Greenland.


Search the corpus for further examples.


Tags

References