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Paakwin8gwezian!: Some Abenaki phrases

Paakwin8gwezian!: Some Abenaki phrases published on No Comments on Paakwin8gwezian!: Some Abenaki phrases

I’m poking around on www.cowasuck.org, reading past issues of the Aln8bak News, the band’s quarterly (?) newsletter. Each issue contains a column called "Say That in Abenaki." Here’s a few things that I’m picking up from the January 2008 issue about greetings and good wishes:

Haaw
(haa-oh): A general greeting, equivalent to "hello."

Kwai (k-why-ee): A more informal greeting or recognition of people nearby, equivalent to "hi" or maybe even "hey there."

Pedgi mina (pit-gee mee-nuh): Equivalent to "return again," maybe even "goodbye."

And my favorite…

Paakwin8gwezian (paa-kwe-n8-gwe-zee-ann): Equivalent to "long time no see," a greeting specifically for people who haven’t been seen in a while.

The 8 is a nasal long o ["oh"] sound.

"Paakwin8gwezian" is what Absinthe says to Will after 100 years of separation. 😀 All things considered, such a greeting would probably come a bit more readily to her than "long time no see."

Over in the word search from the same issue, I find the following:

Yahi [yah hee]: An exclamation of joy, equivalent to "yahoo," "yay," "hooray," "yippee," etc.

There is a pronunciation guide in the October 2007 Aln8bak News.

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