Annie Muktuk and Other Stories

by Norma Dunning

  Atanarjuat: the movie, The Fast Runner (2001), an Inuit legend

  attagu: let’s go!

  attigi: caribou parka with fur inside

  aumajuq: soft, unfrozen

  avasirngulik: Elder

  Igjugarjuk: name of shaman

  ii: yes

  iima: yes

  ijuqtajuq: laughs easy

  ikauqpuq: cross a river, long distance

  iksarikpuq: done quickly, done well

  immaaluk: old days

  imminuuqpug: return home, to his own place, also goes into himself in thought

  inniavik: the house one will visit after a long journey

  intu’dlit braids: traditional Inuit women’s braids, hair wrapped around hide

  inuttapuq: get

  Inuttituuqpuq: behave like an Inuk, speak like an Inuk

  inuuhuktuq: boy

  isuaruti: heal us, heal in physical or moral sense

  isuigusuttuq: to be bad, evil

  isuinniluppuq: things are bad

  isummaniq: reached the age of reason

  isutsipaaq: head dog, lead dog

  itsanitaq: events that happened a long time ago

  kabloona: white man

  kajuq: red hair

  katitippat: work at uniting things that were separated

  katjaarivaa: misses it for a long time

  kiinarlutuq: sad face, sore face, ugly face

  kinauvit: who are you?

  krepik: sleeping bag

  kuru: In Japanese “to come”

  ma’na: thank you

  mikigiatsapuq: release traps

  mingippaa: punches with his fist

  muktuk: beluga or narwhal whale blubber used as food

  nakurami: thank you for it

  nakuusiaq: love received

  ninngappuq: a child is in a rage

  padlei: the HBC post from 1926 to 1960, the Caribou Inuit who lived close by in the Keewatin region of Northern Manitoba were also called Padleimiut (or Padlirmiut, or Paallirmiut, or Patlirmiut)

  pillurittitaq: to treat as great

  pisiit: songs of feelings, song with a drum only

  piujuq: good

  piusiqtuqpug: to pretend to be good

  pukaangajug: snow that is good enough to make a snow house

  qalgiq: ceremonial snowhouse

  qallunaaq: white person, non-Inuit

  qallunaaqtaq: Euro-Canadian cloth or clothing

  qallunaat: Anglo-Canadian

  qatangutigiit: a group, a group of siblings

  qugjuk: Whistling Swan

  quik: seal urine

  saimmavuq: in peace

  saimu: peace be with you

  saipaaqsauti: something to make a sad person happier

  sanningajuliuqpaa: make the sign of the cross over him, bless him

  sarimajuq: happy to have what he has

  sarliaq: carry on lap, shelter one’s young

  siutaujaqtuqpuq: Inuit string game

  siutiruq: snail, spiral shell that looks like wrinkles

  takusaqpaa: rise to see, seek to see, turn to see

  taliaq: being on guard

  taliut: caribou snot

  taima: asking if it is ready, if it is time?

  tarniq: breath soul

  tiguat: hard part of whip

  tirlinaaqpaa: plays him a trick quickly either in good or evil intent

  tunngahugit: welcome

  tuktu: caribou

  tungasuttuq: feel at ease

  turaaqpuq: precise aim

  turqavik: where one feels at home, where one lives

  uarittuq: person in soft snow

  ugguapuq: misses him

  uhuk: penis

  uisuppaa: make love to him

  ukkuusimajuq: of something caught in a trap

  ulu: woman’s knife

  unataqpaa: to struggle against someone in a psychological sense

  ungavaa: a kindly love, devoted to him

  upaluajaqpuq: he immediately does what he says, he obeys well

  upaluajaqpuq: obey well

  upirngasaq: melting of snows, start of spring

  uppirijatsaq: truth of faith

  uqarluatuq: he talks fluently but bad humouredly

  usiqtuq: lie down under blanket

  usuaqsimajuq: trap that has its tongue broken

  uummatuq: the soul comes back to the life of grace by the sacrament of penance

  NORMA DUNNING is an Inuit writer, scholar, researcher, and grandmother who grew up experiencing a silenced form of Aboriginality in the southern areas of Canada. When she began to write about her own ancestors, her Inukness became evident. Her creative work keeps her most grounded in the traditional Inuit ways of knowing and being. She lives in Edmonton.

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  More information at www.uap.ualberta.ca