Always Coming Home
Page 57
rrai om, rrai om pehaian then and there, in that place at that time (a narrative formula).
one maybe, perhaps.
ónhayú music. To be or to make music.
ónkama song. To sing.
onoy donkey.
opal frog (Rana spp.).
ósai bone.
ou hound dog. To howl.
oud (usually suffixed to obj.) with, along with.
oudan (usually suffixed to obj.) with; within; among, amidst.
ouklalt right; on or of the Right Arm.
oun (follows or suffixed to obj.) on, onto.
óya ease. To be easy, to be at ease.
wóya easily.
hanóya easily, with ease.
geved hanóya sitting easily, i.e., meditation, meditating.
P
p, pe (prefix indicating negative or privative)
paó achievement; sowing; ejaculation, male orgasm. To attain, achieve; to sow grain; to ejaculate, have orgasm (male).
parad meadow, uncultivated field, fallow.
pawon to hold, to carry in the hands or arms or next to the body.
pehai then (not now; at another time. Sequential then, next in order of events, is ense).
peham unbreathing, nonliving, dead.
peke (usually prefix) male, of masculine gender.
pekesh foreigner, person not of the Valley.
pekeshe man, male being.
pema foreigner, person without a House.
perru other; the other; another.
perrukesh valley (other than the Valley of the Na).
peshai drought.
peweyo piece, portion; region, area, place; era, time span.
wakwav peweyo dancing place, sacred area.
sheweiv peweyo, gochey peweyo common place, town plaza.
poud separate, separately; apart; alone.
póya difficulty, pain.
wepoya hard, difficult, painful.
pragasí summer; hot weather.
pragú shining; brightness. To shine, to be bright.
púch thornbush, esp. chaparral pea (Pickeringia montana).
púl if not.
R
rahem souls (the various souls of one being, or the souls of many beings).
rava speech, language, tongue. To speak, with or without words, to talk (see arra).
recha hunt, hunting. To hunt.
rechúde, rechúdiv hedom Hunters Lodge.
reysh line; anything very long, thin, and straight.
húreysh the Line, tracks of the train.
rip rib, spoke, bar.
ro (reflexive pronoun) self.
rón care. To care; to take care, be careful.
uvrón careful.
roy courage. To be valiant, brave.
oweroy valiant (woman), a name.
rrai (dem. adj. or pronoun) that.
rru (dem. adj. or pronoun) this.
rrutouyó (or) rrunenyó because; because of; on account of.
rruwey cosmos, universe.
S
sa sky; Sky.
saham atmosphere.
sahamdaó wind. To blow, of or like wind.
sahamnó still air, windlessness.
sas (or) dessas rattlesnake (Crotalus).
saya (may precede or follow obj.) across.
sayaten to send a message, to communicate.
sayagoten message.
she sayageten, sayatensh messenger.
sei lantern flower (Calochortus spp.).
sense (may precede or follow obj.) following, succeeding; after; behind; later than.
seppí fence lizard (Sceloporus).
set level, even, plane, smooth. To smoothe, to plane, level off.
setaik (precedes obj.) preceding; in front of; before; earlier than.
sev grass, grasses.
sevai 1. sheath, case, envelope. To sheathe, to envelop. 2. a fatal degenerative illness. To be affected by this illness.
seyed eye.
huseyed eye.
(SH listings follow S listings)
sitshidu winter; cold weather.
sobe conduct, behavior. To behave, conduct oneself.
sóde tree. To grow or form a shape or pattern like a tree.
sósóde wood, woods, forest, wooded country.
soun hummingbird (Calypte anna).
stad danger, peril, risk.
stanai art, skill, craft; to do or practice something with skill, to do (something) well.
stechab to offer.
gostechab offering, thing offered.
stik falcon, sharpwinged hawk.
yestik peregrine (Falco peregrinus).
inyesti sparrowhawk (F. sparverius).
stou, dou (usually precedes or prefixed to obj.) over; up, up across; upon.
stre, sústre California jay, scrub jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens).
su white; colorless. Whiteness. To be white.
sú blue; blue-violet. Blueness. To be blue.
súdrevídó serpentine (rock).
súdrevídóvma the Serpentine House.
sum head; top, summit.
súmun blue clay, potters clay.
súmunivma the Blue Clay House.
susha grey, or a mixed color of light or cold tone; pale.
SH
sh (suffix, indicating agency; may be translated -er)
sha grey, or a mixed color of dark, cold tone.
shahu ocean.
malov shahu the Pacific Ocean.
shai rain. To rain, to fall like rain.
shaipeweyo rainy season (approx. Nov.-April).
shansa (a plural) some, some few, a few.
shasóde digger pine (Pinus sabiniana).
she person; persons, people; being; self. To be a person, to exist (as a person or being).
sheiye work, business, doing, industry. To work, to do, to act, to be active.
shestanai artist, craftsperson, maker.
shewey everyone, everybody; everything; (as a plural) all, every.
sho as.
shókó 1. flicker (a woodpecker, Colaptes). 2. repeated multiple motions; sparkling, glimmering. To move or dance (of many people or objects), to sparkle, to glimmer or flicker.
shou large, big. (But not necessarily long-enduring; see houm. A mountain would be houm; a big cloud would be shou. Most living creatures would be shou not houm.)
shun (suffix) at.
T
ta (prefix or suffix) male, of masculine gender, man.
tabetúpah a miniature drama (a genre of oral literature).
tai (prefix or suffix) above; upon.
taidagam waterskater (insect; also amhudade).
taik (precedes obj.) before; preceding; in front of.
tar end, ending. To end, to finish, to come to the/an end.
tat (or) bada father (biological).
tavkach City of Man, i.e., civilisation.
ten to send.
tetiswou bat (Myotis or Pipistrellus).
tibro kingsnake (Lampropeltis).
tíódwa blue-green, turquoise color.
tís honey.
to circle; wheel. To form or turn in a circle, to circle, to wheel or turn as a wheel. (If the figure or motion is broken or spiral, the word used will be toudou or heyiya.)
TOK (not a Kesh word) a computer language taught to all human programmers by the Exchanges of the City of Mind, and used in spoken and/or written form as a lingua franca among human beings of different languages.
tom ball, sphere; roundness; round.
tomhoi completion, fulfilment, satisfaction; to complete, fulfill, satisfy; complete.
tóp to keep.
tópush keeper.
tótóp hoard, treasure. To hoard.
tou (prefix signifying the noun is the subject of the verb; also signifying the agent in a passive construction, where it may be translated as by)
toudou an open or broken circle or ring; a circling motion that does not return entirely upon itself. The motion of a millwheel is d
escribed by the word to (see above), but the motion of the water in and through the wheel is described by toudou.
tramad death; killing. To die; to cause to die; to kill.
tregai goose {Anser or Branta).
tregaiavarra wild geese in flight-skein.
trum bear (Ursus americanus? Pictures and descriptions indicated a larger animal, but this might well be exaggeration; it was spoken of as always black or dark but with white or grey underparts.)
truned substance of a living creature after death—meat, corpse, wood, straw, etc.; body in the sense of dead body (living body is chunú).
tú through (a substance, hole, passage; see dú).
tun (suffix) from.
túpúde (a plural) some, more than a few, a good many.
U
ubbu middle; middling. To be in the middle.
úbiú owl (usually the screech-owl. Otus asio).
úbishí barn owl (Tyto alba).
ud, udde (prefix signifying the noun is the indirect object of the verb)
uddam womb. To be pregnant with.
uddamten, uddamtunten birth. To bear, to give birth.
uddamgoten born, to have been born.
uddamgotenshe one having been born, (hence) to be (of animate beings only).
úde 1. (a plural) a group of, a number of. 2. (affix signifying a group, grouping, herd, etc.; thus kintashúde, Warriors Society; galikúde, a herd of deer)
údín Saturn (planet).
údou open; opening: To open.
úl if
úm empty, hollow, void. To empty.
úmí bee, honeybee.
unne love, trust, friendship, affection, loving kindness. To love, trust, to be a friend.
úrlele dragonfly.
ushud murder. To kill unjustifiably, without reason, in the wrong way, place, or time; to murder.
útí deermouse (see míp).
uv (prefix signifying use of the word as adj.; may be translated characterised by, apt or able to, -ful, etc.)
uvlemaha beautiful.
uvyai mindful.
úyúma rose (Rosa californica).
V
v, iv (suffix signifying the possessive; may be translated of, belonging to, or with the possessive ’s, s’; also with the sense made of, consisting of, etc. Thus nahevna: river of water; navnahe: water of the river, river-water.)
vaheb salt.
vahevha the Salt Journey.
vahevhedom the Salt Lodge.
vana not yet; almost; not quite; nearly.
vave cloud, especially cumulus and cirrus types of cloud.
ved seat. To sit; to seat.
geved hanóya sitting easily, i.e., meditating, meditation.
vedet a severe congenital disease.
ven (suffix) to (especially to a place).
verou quartz.
vesheve fog, mist, low cloud, cloudiness. To cloud, to fog, to be foggy, misty, overcast.
vetúlou a game played on horseback, with a wicker ball and scoops.
veya (a plural) some, a couple, more than one but not many.
viddí weakness. To be weak.
vodam inland.
kavodam to come inland, i.e., to cease being celibate.
vón shadow. To cast a shadow, to shadow.
vou (suffix) outside, beyond; out, out of (see bou).
vúre sand, sands.
W
wakwa spring, source of water; ceremony, festival, rite, ritual, observance; dance; mystery. To spring, flow from a source, arise; to hold or participate in a ceremony or festival or observance; to dance; to be mysterious, to participate in mystery.
wakwana spring of water, headwaters, source of stream.
we (prefix signifying use of the word as adj; may be translated by -y, -ish, -ian, etc.)
wenha to find, to discover.
wenhash finder, Finder (plural: wenhaúde).
wenhav hedom the Finders Lodge.
wenun desire, want. To want, desire, covet, like, love.
weshole mean, poor, stingy, wretched.
wey all; whole, wholeness; entire, entirety.
weyewey everything, all times and places.
wisúyú willow (Salix) tree and wood.
wo seed. To be a seed, seeds.
woi, woy (suffix) to, towards (see also ób).
won egg. To be an egg, eggs.
wotun increase, maturation. To grow, mature, increase in being (for growth in size, enlargement, see houdada).
wu, wud (prefix) again (signifies repeated action; may be translated re-).
wudun exchange, transference, some forms of barter. To exchange. The Exchange (computer terminal[s] of the City of Mind).
wukaiya return; repetition. To return; to repeat.
wurrai story; fiction; invention; telling. To tell, tell a story, make up, invent.
wurrarap recitation; report; telling. To tell, repeat, report, make a report, recite.
wuyai reflection. To reflect; to return an image; to ponder.
Y
ya (precedes obj. or prefix) by; by means of.
yabre vine.
braiv yabre grapevine (Vitis vinifera).
sódev yabre wild grape (Vitis californicus), used as root stock for the wine-grape grafts.
yai mind; thought; thinking. To think, to give mind to.
yaivkach the City of Mind, an autonomous computer network or organisation of artificial intelligence, represented in human communities by the terminals called wudun, Exchanges.
yakle, yakleda to walk or go on four feet.
yaklegele, yaklele to run on four feet.
yambad (literally, generously) please. (Signifies the imperative mode when used with a verb, usually with híó.)
ye (prefix signifying use of the word as adv.; may be translated -ly)
yebshe to yield; to oblige.
yem shore, bank of stream or river.
yí note (in music).
geyí tone, played note
yik boat. To boat, to go on water in a boat.
yó, yówut in order to; in order that; so that.
yówai coyote (Canis latrans)
yówayo Coyote
Z
z (suffix, signifying that the word is in the Five-House Mode, used only in colloquial speech)
Stammersong
From the Library at Wakwaha.
I have a different way, I have a different will,
I have a different word to say.
I am coming back by the road around the side,
by the outside way, from the other direction.
There is a valley, there are no hills around it.
There is a river, it has no banks.
There are people, they have no bodies,
dancing by the river in the valley.
I have drunk the water of that river.
I am drunk my life long, my tongue is thick,
and when I dance I stumble and fall over.
When I die I will come back by the outside road
and drink the water of this river and be sober.
There is a valley, high hills around it.
There is a river, willows on its shores.
There are people, their feet are beautiful,
dancing by the river in the valley.
Ursula K. Le Guin is the author of novels, children’s books, short stories, critical writings, and poetry. She is the winner of the National Book Award and the Nebula and Hugo awards for science fiction. She grew up in Berkeley and the Napa Valley and now lives in Portland, Oregon. Her most recent book is The Telling (2000).
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