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What is the sioux word for earth?
like in "mother earth" ?
it would be helpful if I could know how it is pronounced too.
thank you
@Jen okay okay... didn't know that,.... sorry
2 Answers
- JenLv 61 decade agoFavorite Answer
Update: Oh, now I feel bad. I can be really pedantic at times! I didn't mean to make you feel bad about calling the language Sioux. I only pointed it out so you'd have the right word to search on, if you decided to do so. I hope what I offered was helpful. I learned a lot just answering this question! ; )
Sioux isn't the language; it's the people group. The language they speak (or one of the dialects) is Lakota (Lakhota, alt. spelling).
The Lakota word for Earth is "Makoce." The link below is a list of English words translated into Lakota. The 2nd link is an English-Lakhota dictionary which may help you with pronunciation, but it's currently down for maintenance.
Ohhh! I just found the following link which is a Lakota pronunciation and spelling guide: http://www.native-languages.org/lakota_guide.htm
So, according to this guide, "makoce" would be pronounced MA -ko -chay. Or it could be ma-KO-chay, or even ma-ko-CHAY. There is no stress accent shown on the word anywhere, so it's hard to know where it is exactly. However, having read what the pronunciation guide says about "c" and "k" (unaspirated consonants), I'd bet my bottom dollar the correct pronunciation is MA-ko-chay, because the other pronunciations would change the k or c to "aspirated" (think "hard"). Just say each pronunciation out loud and really listen to the sound that each of those consonants makes by changing the stress. I think you'll get what I mean. ; )
Source(s): http://language.nativeweb.org/Lakota_translation.h... http://www.cafepress.com/tnwcreations.11285489 http://www.native-languages.org/lakota_guide.htm