Up, above, high, up high. x̣ʷáami iwá ‘it is above’; pawáta kʷná x̣ʷáami mɨná ‘they will be somewhere high up’; x̣ʷáami kʷná pawá sɨlksɨlkyáy ku X̣ʷaamayáy ‘Cricket and Eagle were there above’; ana tún áwa paamíin x̣ʷáamični ‘whatever they have up above’; x̣ʷáamina x̣níx̣ana x̣áwš ‘we would dig cous high above’; x̣ʷáamičan iwáynana x̣ʷaamá ‘the eagle flew upward’; čáwnam šína qaˀáat tún kúša ačanam kú pɨ́nɨm iq̓ínušamš x̣ʷáamični ‘you are not doing anything to anyone in secret when he sees you from on high’; x̣ʷáamični áničɨnk ‘put it up there!’; x̣ʷáami tiičám ‘high ground’; maykx̣ʷáami ‘higher’; x̣ʷáamičan ‘upward’; x̣ʷáamični ‘from above, above’; x̣ʷáamitx̣aw ‘clear up on the top, all the way up’. [NE also x̣ʷayám; NW x̣ʷíimi; NP /tús(ti)/.]
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).
