Greetings

Written by ᏗᎦᏃᏣᎵ Patrick Del Percio

ᏗᏓᏲᎵᏍᏗ – didayolisdi – Greetings

Osiyo!

Whether you are just starting out on your tsalagi language learning journey or you are a second language learner/speaker, you have probably heard this phrase or its shortened, conversational form, siyo, more than just a few times. However, have you ever thought of what the word osiyo really means? The late Cherokee linguist Durbin Feeling used to say, Gado usdi idadiha? ‘What are we saying?’, urging us to think about the true Cherokee thought behind the word and not just its English translation.

If we look at the morphemic breakdown of the word, we get a more accurate understanding of how this word functions. The root word osi comes from the word meaning ‘well, good.’ The particle –yo (sometimes –yu) is attached to the end of some words/verbs to give an emphatic meaning. Before this word became commonly used as a greeting, it was used in many written documents at the end of the speaker’s message to convey a meaning of sincerity. The word is more accurately translated as, ‘it is good.’

Let’s look at some other examples used for greeting one another that are found throughout the corpus of the DAILP database.

ᏙᎯᏧ tohitsu ᎣᏏᏧ ositsu ‘How are you?’

The root word tohi refers to ‘peace’ or ‘balance.’

The word osi also translates to ‘well, alright, fine.’

The suffix –tsu makes the word or phrase a question.

Ꭷ ka Now! let’s look at some other common greetings and responses that may be used in a typical Cherokee conversation.

  1. osiquu ‘[I’m] just fine.’
    1. The root word osi is translated to mean ‘good, well.’
  2. tohiquu ‘[I’m] just fine.’
    1. The word tohi refers to being at peace or feeling a sense of balance.
    2. The suffix –quu is attached to words and verbs to mean ‘just, only.’
  3. tohiquudv, osiquudv ‘[I’m] just fine.’
    1. tohi: ‘peace, balance’
    2. -quu: suffix meaning ‘just, only’
    3. -dv: suffix giving emphasis to a certain word or statement; in this case, affirming that someone is doing well
  4. osiquuju ‘Are you well?’
    1. -ju: question suffix
  5. tohiquuju, osiquutsu ‘How are you?’
    1. osi: ‘good, well’
    2. tohi: ‘peace, balance’
    3. -quu: suffix meaning ‘just, only’
    4. -tsu: question suffix
  6. osiquus, tohiquus ‘How are you?’
    1. osi: ‘good, well’
    2. tohi: ‘peace, balance’
    3. -quu: suffix meaning ‘just, only’
    4. -s: question suffix
  7. nihina ‘How about you?’
    1. This word is broken down into two morphemes (word parts). The first word nihi is the pronoun ‘you.’ The morpheme –na is a question suffix affixed to words and/or verbs meaning ‘what/how about…’
  8. igvwsdihaquv tohi dagigitsvhnega ‘I am still healthy from day to day.’
    1. igvw[a]sdihaquv: ‘It is just/still the same.’
    2. tohi: ‘healthy’
    3. dagigitsvhnega: ‘I am going [dawning on me] day to day.’
      1. Related words: ugijvhvsga ‘It is dawning’; ugijvhnv’i ‘It dawned’
  9. gado jadvhnadega ‘How are you doing?’
    1. gado: ‘what’
    2. jadvhnadega: ‘you are going around in a certain state of being’
  10. igvwasdihaquv ‘Just the same.’
    1. said in response to igvwasdihaju? ‘are things just the same?’
  11. ᏙᎯᏋᏨ dohiquvjv ‘Are you well?’
    1. Note the difference between the ending -Ꮛ –quv and the previously mentioned suffix -Ꮚ -quu.

Take a look at the following example: In a letter to Dollie Duncan from Walter Duncan that was sent on February 7th, 1951, Walter ends his letter with a greeting of ᎣᏏᏲ instead of at the beginning. Open the Story view and read the second to last line then write the whole sentence in which the word ᎣᏏᏲ is found:

ᏘᎪᎵᏯ ᎠᎴ ᏙᏪᎸᎦ – Read and Write

Listed below are examples from the DAILP collection that contain specific examples of greetings used by Cherokee speakers. These examples come from the Dollie Duncan Collection. Dollie Duncan received letters written by her son Walter Duncan, who was an inmate in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary. Can you find the greetings in the following examples given below? Read through each of the documents listed in this section and write the greetings you find in ᏗᏣᎳᎩ ditsalagi ‘syllabary’, Cherokee Phonetics, and the ᏲᏁᎦ yonega ‘English’ translation.

  1. Letter to Dollie Duncan: 1951-02-07
    1. ᏗᏣᎳᎩ:
    2. phonetics:
    3. ᏲᏁᎦ:
  2. Letter to Dollie Duncan: 1951-02-11
    1. ᏗᏣᎳᎩ:
    2. phonetics:
    3. ᏲᏁᎦ:
  3. Letter to Dollie Duncan: 1951-02-20
    1. ᏗᏣᎳᎩ:
    2. phonetics:
    3. ᏲᏁᎦ:
  4. Letter to Dollie Duncan: 1951-04-01
    1. ᏗᏣᎳᎩ:
    2. phonetics:
    3. ᏲᏁᎦ: