Needle, awl, metal, iron. ipɨ́stxša ɨstína ‘he (a blacksmith) is working the metal’; pawísxɨnx̣a ɨstíki ‘they sew with a needle’; láx̣ʷayx̣ ɨstí ‘hot iron’; pipšmí ɨstí or pípš ɨstí ‘bone needle (a long bone with a hole in one end for sewing tule mats)’; ilukasmí ɨstí ‘wooden needle (whittled from hardwood and used for sewing tule mats)’; wisxpamá ɨstí ‘sewing needle’; nč̓í ɨstí ‘awl’; ɨstí palkliktpamá ‘fence wire’; ɨstinmí ‘silver dollar’; ɨstipamá ‘needle pouch’. [NP /ˀsty/.]
As spoken by a group of elders in the early 1980s when thinking about putting their language to writing.
The words and sentences in this dictionary are mostly the contribution of Twáway, otherwise known of as Inez Spino Reves. Twáway has never flinched from working with linguists, and her command of the “old language” with all its intricacies of grammar and vocabulary is second to none. Other Umatilla contributors are Charley McKay, Donald Joe, Emily Littlefish, Fred Hill, Joan Watlamet, Mildred Quaempts, and Thomas Morning Owl. Animal and plant identifications were much aided by botanist Dave Corliss (personal communication) and by Eugene Hunn (1979, 1990).
