Sanaaq

  manu neck of the hood of a garment, piece under the chin

  matsait, pl. of matsak spleen

  mattaq edible skin of the beluga

  mirsutaq outer stitching of a boot’s waterproof double seam

  misiraq rancid oil of marine mammals in which one steeps meat

  Mmm! onomatopoeia: cooing of affection when one kisses a child, to make it happy

  Muu muu muu! Miuu! onomatopoeia: dogs howling

  nanualuk a big polar bear. From “Nanuq” — polar bear (Thalarctos maritimes)

  nanuirvik pad of bear fur used to dampen runners with water

  naqitarvik leather strap, with fastening straps, that runs along the outside of a sled’s runners

  nasivvik point of land that serves as a lookout, often with a stone cairn

  natsinguaq little bone, figurine of a seal

  natsiq, dl. natsiik ringed seal

  niaquit, pl. of niaquq head of seals, humans, and small mammals

  niaquujait, pl. of niaquujaq bun made by the Whites, literally “which resembles a skull”

  nikku, pl. nikkuit dried meat

  nikut-tuasi see aakut-tuasi

  Ningiukuluk person’s name, literally “little old woman”

  ningiurqaluk saltwater fish, a kind of sculpin not eaten by the Inuit

  nipisaq sea snail (Liparis), literally “which is sticky”

  nuakuluk kinship term used by a woman for her sister’s child

  Nuilaq dog’s name, literally “fur trimming of a hood”; because the dog’s fur makes a good hood trimming

  nuliarsaq invisible female lover, succubus

  nutilliq fish, brook trout

  nuvviti main sled tugline, which is slipped through the loops of the lines running from each dog harness. Also: sinew braiding, on which fish are strung by their gills.

  paannguaq little bone, figurine of an entrance

  Palungattak dog’s name, literally “which has short drooping ears”

  pamialluit, pl. of pamialluk seal’s tail

  paugusiq, pl. paugusiit wooden pole stuck into the snow wall of the igloo and supported by a vertical post. It serves as a support for the drying rack. From it hangs the cooking pot, over the oil lamp

  paurngaqutit, pl. of paurngaquti black crowberry

  pavviit, pl. of pavvik anklebone

  Pikiuliq place name; given to places where various migratory bird species nest in early summer, and where the Inuit go to gather eggs; often islands

  puiji , pl. puijiit marine animal whose head appears at the water’s surface

  puijiit see puiji

  puttajiaq seriously wounded or dead marine mammal, whose body is floating on the water’s surface

  puurtaq bag of meat made from a sealskin turned inside out or from a beluga stomach

  puvait, pl. of puvak lung

  Qaa! onomatopoeia: snoring

  qainnguq ice ledge along the shoreline at high tide mark

  qajaak see qajaq

  qajaq, pl. qajait, dl. qajaak kayak

  qajuuttalutuq little bone, figurine of a drinking mug

  Qalingu person’s name

  qaliruat, pl. qaliruaq boot made of sealskin that has had its fur removed

  qalliniq part of a boot, covering the top of the foot and sewn to the sole

  Qalliutuq person’s name, literally “the one who is winning a fight”

  Qallunaaq, pl. Qallunaat, dl. Qallunaak White man, literally “big eyebrows”

  qalluviaq see qalluviat

  qalluviat, pl. of qalluviaq arch of the aorta in the heart of marine mammals

  qanirqutuut pl. of qanirqutuuq a kind of large-mouthed sculpin, literally “big mouth”

  qaritait, pl. of qaritaq brain

  qatanngut, dl. qatannguuk, voc. qatannguuk a woman’s “female cousin”; more broadly, a female friend

  qauliut wooden instrument for softening boot leather

  qaunnaq Inuit chewing gum

  qiaq caul, peritoneum

  qiiii onomatopoeia: crackling sound of an oil lamp burning

  qijuttaq firewood, brush wood, dwarf willow, or driftwood

  qilalukkaanaq, pl. qilalukkaanat beluga calf

  qillaqut, or qillaquti gift to a midwife as thanks for tying the umbilical cord

  qimminguat, pl. of qimminguaq humerus of seals, also first knucklebones of the front and rear seal flippers. Little bone, figurine of a dog

  qinirsiit, pl. of qinirsiq pancreas

  qinirsikallait, pl. of qinirsikallak lymph nodes

  qiqruaq, pl. qiqruat kelp

  Qirniq dog’s name, literally “black fur”

  qitirsiraq, pl. qitirsirait finger-guard made from skin, literally an index-finger-guard, though also put on the ring finger and forefinger

  qitsalikaat, pl. of qitsalikaak mesentery

  qukiutiaruk .22 long rifle, literally “little rifle”

  qulliq oil lamp made from steatite; also little bone: figurine of an oil lamp

  qulluniq, pl. qulluniit ice cave created by the ebb tide, on the foreshore

  qumait see Qumaq

  Qumaq, pl. qumait person’s name, literally “white-coloured intestinal worm” found in seals, humans, and fishes

  qungisiit, pl. of qungisiq cervical vertebrae

  qunujaq ominous prophetic dream

  qurvik Inuit chamber pot. Can be used as a spittoon or a garbage pail. Formerly made of leather

  quvianartuvik literally “the big thing that makes people happy.” Modern meaning: “heaven”

  sakiat, pl. of sakiaq short ribs of a mammal; also wife’s brother or husband’s sister

  Sanaaq person’s name

  sanaji midwife

  sappa little bone, figurine of wooden baggage compartment on a sled. Also called iksivinnguaq

  saputi stone dam that is used to trap Arctic char when they swim upstream, in order to harpoon them more easily

  Sarvaq! onomatopoeia: an object falling into the water. May also mean rapids

  sauniq person’s namesake, literally “bone”

  sigalaq, pl. sigalat plant with a hard red berry, or ship biscuit

  sigalat see sigalaq

  siiqrulik very skinny seal whose knees can be seen through its skin

  silalliq outer stitching of double seam on the leg of a boot

  sinaa edge of an ice floe; literally “its edge”

  Sinarnaaluk dog’s name, literally “the big grey one”

  siqruit, pl. of siqruq rear seal flipper

  sirmiq, dl. sirmiik, pl. sirmiit coating of smooth frozen peat moss on a sled’s runners

  sirpalutuq little bone (meaning unknown)

  Siu siu siu si si siu humming of a tune

  sulluniit leg of a boot

  sulluniq double stitching, folded over, of the leg of a waterproof skin boot

  suluppaujaq eelpout, a small fish; literally “which resembles a feather”

  sursat, pl. of sursaq thick fleshy root of the Alpine bistort

  Suvakkualuk! interjection to express opposition, anger, or unpleasant surprise

  Tajarak person’s name

  Tak tak! onomatopoeia: something hitting, knocking, or falling

  Taka taka taka onomatopoeia: singing of a child

  taliit, pl. of taliq rear seal flipper; also human arm

  Taqriasuk person’s name

  Taqulik dog’s name, literally “which has a white spot over its eyes”

  tarqaq, pl. tarqait leather strap running over the top of a qajaq to hold in the hunting equipment

  tarquti poker for an oil lamp, often made from an Arctic willow stem

  tikkuu onomatopoeia: a firearm going off

  tinguit, pl. of tinguq liver

  tulimaat, pl. of tulimaaq
mammal rib

  tunirjuit, pl. of tunirjuk mammal sternum

  turqujaat, pl. turqujaaq larynx

  tuurngaq, pl. tuurngait term for a shaman’s helping spirit. Used as a name for the devil by some of the first missionaries

  U! Uu! onomatopoeia: sound of great satisfaction after eating food

  Ua! command to dogs: “Forward!”

  Ua! Ua! interjection shouted by a hunter to make a seal dive under water and thereby tire it; also onomatopoeia: sound of vomiting

  Uai! interjection to curse dogs or people

  uanniq west wind

  uati part of the home, to the left and right of the entrance, which adjoins the wall

  uirsaq human-looking invisible male lover, incubus

  Uit! command to dogs: “Forward!”

  Ujararjuaq place name, literally “big slab of rock”

  ujjuk bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus)

  Ukiliriaq dog’s name. Used for a dog whose fur has several large patches of different colours (often white and black)

  ukpik, pl. ukpiit snowy owl (Nyctea nyctea)

  uliuliniq, pl. uliuliniit meat, sinewy fillet from the back of a beluga

  ullugummitaaq daily meal

  ullutusiq, pl. ullutusiit long day, the long days around the summer solstice

  ulu woman’s half-moon knife

  ulunnguat, pl. of ulunnguaq xiphoid process of mammals, literally “which resembles a woman’s knife (ulu)”

  umiarjuaq large boat of the Whites, literally “big boat”

  umiqruit, pl. of umiqruq seal snout

  umm see uumm

  Ungaa! onomatopoeia: plaintive cry of a human baby or an Arctic hare

  ungati side extension of the sleeping platform of the igloo

  ungirlaaq laced bag of meat, made here from a piece of beluga skin

  uqaujaq, pl. uqaujait leaf of an Arctic willow, literally “which resembles a tongue”

  uqumangirniq nightmare

  uquuqu baby talk mainly for a bird or sea animal

  usuujaq qajaq bow, literally “which resembles a penis”

  usuujaq, pl. usuujait homonym of previous word: means “sausage,” an imported product

  utsulutuq little bone, figurine of a vulva

  Uu! onomatopoeia: sound of satisfaction with food being eaten

  Uugaq dog’s name, in the legend of Luuumaajuq

  uujuq, pl. uujuit boiled meat

  Uujun ukua interjectional phrase: “Here are some pieces of boiled meat”

  Uumm! also see umm! and mmm! Onomatopoeia: sound of satisfaction after eating food

  uummatit, pl. of uummati heart

  Uuppaa! interjection that accompanies effort of lifting, carrying, or pulling something heavy

  uuttuq seal stretched out on an ice floe and basking in the sun

  ADDITIONAL READING

  SELECTED WORKS BY MITIARJUK NAPPAALUK

  Nappaaluk, Mitiarjuk. Qimminuulingajut ilumiutartangit. Montreal: Kativik School Board, n.d.

  — — — . Qupirruit. Montreal: Kativik School Board, 1987

  — — — . Sanaakkut Piusiviningita unikkausinnguangat. Edited by Bernard Saladin d’Anglure. Inuksiutiit Allaniagait, no. 4. Quebec City: Association Inuksiutiit Katimajiit, 1984.

  — — — . Sanaaq. Transliterated and translated from Inuktitut by Bernard Saladin d’Anglure. Montreal: Stanké, 2002.

  — — — . Tarrkii piniarningillu. Montreal: Kativik School Board, 1997.

  — — — . Tininnimiutaait. Montreal: Kativik School Board, n.d.

  — — — . Silaup piusingit inuit nunangani. Montreal: Kativik School Board, n.d.

  SELECTED WORKS BY BERNARD SALADIN D’ANGLURE ON INUIT

  Prof. Bernard Saladin d’Anglure has published extensively on Inuit in French. His work is entirely relevant for understanding the ethnographic details in the text of Sanaaq. Fortunately for the monolingual reader, some of his work has been published in English. This list contains articles available in English along with his major books in French.

  Aupilaarjuk, Mariano, Tulimaaq Aupilaarjuk, Lucassie Nutaraaluk, Rose Iqallijuq, Johanasi Ujarak, Isidore Ijituuq, and Michel Kupaaq. Interviewing Inuit Elders 4: Cosmology and Shamanism. Under the direction of Bernard Saladin d’Anglure. Iqaluit: Nunavut Arctic College, 2001.

  Saladin d’Anglure, Bernard. “Inuit of Quebec.” In Handbook of North American Indians: Arctic, edited by David Damas, 476–507. Vol. 5. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1984.

  — — — . “Contemporary Inuit of Quebec.” In Handbook of North American Indians: Arctic, edited by David Damas, 683–88. Vol. 5. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1984.

  — — — . “Nanook, Super-Male: The Polar Bear in the Imaginary Space and Social Time of the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic.” In Signifying Animals: Human Meaning in the Natural World, edited by Roy Willis, 178–95. London: Routledge, 1990.

  — — — . “The Mythology of the Inuit of the Central Arctic.” In Mythologies, edited by Yves Bonnefoy, 25–32. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991.

  — — — . “The Shaman’s Share or Inuit Sexual Communism in the Canadian Central Arctic.” Anthropologica 35 (1993): 59–103.

  — — — . “From Foetus to Shaman: The Construction of an Inuit Third Sex.” In Amerindian Rebirth: Reincarnation Belief among North American Indians and Inuit, edited by Antonia C. Mills and Richard Slobodin, 82–106. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994.

  — — — . “Brother Moon, Sister Sun, and the Direction of the World: From Arctic Cosmography to Inuit Cosmology.” In Circumpolar Religion and Ecology: An Anthropology of the North, edited by Takashi Irimoto and Takako Yamada, 187–212. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1994.

  — — — . “Shamanism.” In Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology, edited by Alan Barnard and Jonathan Spencer, 504–8. London: Routledge, 1996.

  — — — . “Erotic Dreams, Mystical Kinship and Shamanism.” North Atlantic Studies 4, 1 and 2 (2001): 5–12.

  — — — . “An Ethnographic Commentary: The Legend of Atanarjuat.” In Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, edited by Paul Angilirq, Zacharias Kunuk, Herve Paniaq, Pauloosie Qulitalik, and Norman Cohn, 196–208. Montreal: Coach House Books and Isuma Publishing, 2002.

  — — — . “Inuit and Shamanism.” In Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, edited by Paul Angilirq, Zacharias Kunuk, Herve Paniaq, Pauloosie Qulitalik, and Norman Cohn, 209–30. Montreal: Coach House Books and Isuma Publishing, 2002.

  — — — . “Etre et Renaître Inuit: Homme, Femme Ou Chamane.” Paris: Gallimard, 2006.

  — — — . “The Construction of Shamanic Identity aong the Inuit of Nunavut and Nunavik.” In Aboriginality and Governance: A Multidisciplinary Perspective from Quebec, edited by Gordon Christie, 141–66. Penticton: Theytus Books, 2006.

  — — — . “The Inuit ‘Third Gender’.” In Aboriginality and Governance: A Multidisciplinary Perspective from Quebec, edited by Gordon Christie, 167–78. Penticton: Theytus Books, 2006.

  — — — . “The Whale Hunting among the Inuit of the Canadian Arctic.” In Aboriginality and Governance: A Multidisciplinary Perspective from Quebec, edited by Gordon Christie, 179–202. Penticton: Theytus Books, 2006.

  Saladin d’Anglure, Bernard, and Colin Anderson. “The ‘Third Gender’ of the Inuit.” Diogenes 52, 4 (2005): 134–44.

  Saladin d’Anglure, Bernard, Richard Baillargeon, Jimmy Innaarulik Mark, and Louis-Jacques Dorais. La Parole Changée En Pierre: Vie Et Oeuvre De Davidialuk Alasuaq, Artiste Inuit Du Québec Arctique, Les Cahiers Du Patrimoine 11. Québec: Governement du Québec, Minstere des Affaires culturelles, Direction generale du patrimoine, 1977.

  Saladin d’Anglure, Bernard, and Igloolik Isuma Productions. Au Pays Des Inuit: Un Film, Un Peuple, Une Légende. Montpellier: Indigène éditions, 2002.


  CRITICAL WRITING ON INUIT LITERATURE

  Carpenter, Mary. “Stories: ‘Skeleton Woman,’ ‘Woman of the Sea.’” In Echoing Silence: Essays on Arctic Narrative, edited by John Moss, 225–30. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1997.

  Coates, Corey. “The First Inuit Autobiography: Text and Context(s).” The Northern Review 28 (2008): 261–70.

  Gatti, Maurizio, ed. Littérature amérindienne du Québec: écrits de la langue française. Montreal: Hurtubise, 2004.

  Gedalof [McGrath], Robin. Paper Stays Put: A Collection of Inuit Writing. Edmonton: Hurtig Publishers, 1986.

  Kennedy, Michael P.J. “Inuit Literature in English: A Chronological Survey.” Canadian Journal of Native Studies 13, 1 (1993): 31–41.

  — — — . “Southern Exposure: Belated Recognition of a Significant Inuk Writer Artist.” Canadian Journal of Native Studies 15, 2 (1995): 347–61.

  — — — . “The Sea Goddess Sedna: An Enduring Pan-Arctic Legend from Traditional Orature to the New Narratives of the Late Twentieth Century.” In Echoing Silence: Essays on Arctic Narrative, edited by John Moss, 211–24. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1997.

  Martin, Keavy. “Arctic Solitude: Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk’s Sanaaq and the Politics of Translation in Inuit Literature.” Studies in Canadian Literature 35, 2 (2010): 13–29.

  — — — . Stories in a New Skin: Approaches to Inuit Literature. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2012.

  McGrath, Robin. “Canadian Inuit Literature: The Development of a Tradition.” Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, National Museum of Man, 1984.

  — — — . “Images of the Land in Inuit Literature.” Etudes/Inuit/Studies 9, 2 (1985): 133–39.

  — — — . “Reassessing Traditional Inuit Poetry.” Canadian Literature 124–125 (1990): 19–28.

  — — — . “Circumventing the Taboos: Inuit Women’s Autobiographies.” In Undisciplined Women: Tradition and Culture in Canada, edited by Pauline Greenhill and D. Tye, 223–33. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1997.

  Neuhaus, Mareike. “That’s Raven Talk”: Holophrastic Readings of Contemporary Indigenous Literatures. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center Press, 2011.