Hill, Kenneth C. (editor in chief), Hopi dictionary/Hopìikwa lavàytutuveni: A Hopi-English dictionary of the Third Mesa dialect, with an English-Hopi finder list and a sketch of Hopi grammar. Compiled by the Hopi Dictionary Project, Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, University of Arizona. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1998. Pp. xviii, 900. Hb $85.00.

Abstract

This volume, containing some 30,000 entries, takes its place as one of the most sophisticated and comprehensive dictionaries ever prepared for an American Indian language; indeed, it is among the best dictionaries available for any language of the world, and a model for future lexicographers of “neglected” languages. The editorial team – including Hill, Emory Sekaquaptewa, Mary E. Black, Ekkehart Malotki, and the late Michael Lomatuway'ma – compiled the work in consultation with a large team of elder Hopi speakers from the westernmost Third Mesa (the villages of Oraibi, Kykotsmovi, Hotevilla, Bacavi, and Moencopi). Entries include information on inflection, definitions, examples (often illustrating aspects of Hopi culture), etymologies, and synonymy, as in the following sample entry:

(1) kyàasom|ta (∼tota)vn.p. cook creamed corn. Hakim tùupeptote' mit pay hingsavàwyat hakim poyot akw ang sispayangwu; pu' hak ∼tangwu; kyasmi pamningwu. When they roast sweet corn in the pit oven, they scrape the kernels off the very short ears and cook them by boiling; that is creamed corn. kyàasom-ta [creamed:corn-caus] Syn. kyàasomkwiva.