Alleewame and Proper Greetings

Alleewame is a Hiaki word meaning ‘contentment’ and ‘(physical or mental) well-being’.  It’s derived from the word allea,  meaning ‘content, happy, well’, with the addition of two suffixes, the impersonal -wa and the nominalizer -me. This concept plays an important role when one is greeting other people in Hiaki.

Properly greeting someone is an important aspect of Hiaki culture, and part of a proper Hiaki greeting consists of asking about the alleewame of the other person. You don’t want to just say a quick hello and then get on with it. Instead you should ask about their health and happiness with something like Ketche allea? which means something like “Are you still happy?” In case you need to remind somebody to inquire about the alleewame of whoever they’re going to greet, you could say Alleewamta nattemaine! which means “Ask about their health and contentment!”

Also, if you happen to be receiving the greeting, it’s important that you reciprocate the courtesy that has been extended to you. This means that if you are asked about your health and if you’re content, you should respond and then ask about the well-being of whoever is greeting you. For example, after you hear Ketche allea? you should say Ket tu’i, which means “still good”. Then you should say Emposu? which means, ‘And you?’ (If you’re talking to more than one person, you would say, Eme’esu? instead, which means ‘And you (plural)?’)

But before you begin asking about people’s alleewame, you would want to begin the greeting with Lios enchi anía (God help you), to which the proper response is Lios enchi hiokoe (God bless you).

Here’s an example of a typical exchange of Hiaki greetings:

Greeter: Lios enchi anía!                          (God help you)

Response: Lios enchi hiokoe.                  (God bless you)

Greeter: Ketche allea?                               (Are you still content?)

Response: Ket tu’i. Emposu?                   (Still good. And you?)

Keeping all of this in mind, you should be ready to give an appropriate greeting in the Hiaki language!

Just like in many different cultures around the world, in Hiaki culture, it is expected of an individual to look presentable and be well dressed for more formal occasions. But, there is always at least one person who just never seems to dress formally enough for events that call for nicer attire. Here are some Hiaki phrases you can say to describe the way somebody like that might look or dress.

San cho’o kovak is a phrase you can use to describe somebody with unkempt hair.

Womti cho’o kovak is a similar phrase, but it means something like “frightened hair” and refers to somebody’s hair standing up more than it should.

To describe somebody who simply never dresses appropriately for special occasions, you can say

Aapo hiva hunuen au uhu’u, which means something like “this is how he/she carries him/herself”.

If you want to say something similar but want to make it specific about messy hair, you can say

Aapo hiva san ata kovaka na weye, which roughly means “he/she’s always going around with his/her hair like that”. In a conversation, somebody could reply

Kaa au chike, which means “he/she doesn’t comb him/herself”.

However, if you want to say something positive about somebody who always looks presentable and is always well-put-together, you can say Hunuu hamut hiva tu’ulisi au uhu’u, which means “that woman always carries/presents/takes care of herself well”, but only if you’re a woman yourself. If you are a man, you ought to say Hunuu maala hiva tu’ulisi au uhu’u. The difference here is that it’s okay for a woman to refer to another woman as using the word hamut, but men should use the word maala out of respect for the woman they’re speaking about.

The Hiaki word etwame roughly translates to “agriculture” in English. But farming is a long and multi-step process, so there are many different words in Hiaki that name and describe some of these steps. Here are some examples:

Mauhte refers to the process of preparing the ground for planting by clearing the field of wild plants and plowing it to loosen up the soil. This is normally done in the months preceding October, which is when the crops are actually planted.

Hina’a is the Hiaki word for “weeding”. This is something you’ll want to do after you’ve planted your crops and they’ve started to sprout so that weeds don’t steal all of their water. Speaking of water…

Vaane is the Hiaki verb used when talking about watering plants. If someone wanted to mention irrigating wheat, they might say something like tiikom vanwa, which means “the wheat is being irrigated”.

Yuku is the Hiaki word for rain, however, just like in many other languages, there is a variety of words one can use to describe rain in different situations and contexts. Here are some examples of useful Hiaki words related to rainfall.

Tevuhria is the Hiaki word for what we know as the “monsoon season” here in the Southwest. It refers to the period of high humidity and frequent, heavy rain between late July and mid-September. During tevuhria, you’re much less likely to encounter a type of rain known as kepa yuku.

Kepa yuku is a light, pleasant, and gentle rain. This rain typically lasts longer in duration than other rains, but it’s closer to a drizzle and doesn’t usually occur with wind, so people don’t mind walking around in it and it doesn’t necessitate an umbrella. The cloud that causes kepa yuku is a low-hanging, seemingly motionless cloud known as kepa yuku naamu, and the phrase kepa cha’atula describes the state of the weather and the sky before kepa yuku actually occurs.

Ha’achihtia is a short plant that produces tiny and bright yellow flowers. The plant can be found growing beside creeks and small streams in Northern Sonora, Mexico, though it’s picky about where it grows and is difficult to find. In use, it is actually very similar to what is commonly known as “sneezeweed” in English, though the differences in the two plants’ sizes and distribution suggest that they’re not the same plant. The flowers of ha’achihtia look similar to those of a daisy, though there is one key distinction; they make anyone who sniffs them sneeze explosively. Because of this, the Hiaki and other indigenous people who live near to where it grows, such as the Mayo, use it as a natural decongestant. The flower is picked, dried, and ground into a powder which is then kept covered so that everyone isn’t constantly sneezing uncontrollably. When somebody catches a cold or just wants to clear out his or her sinuses, all they have to do is sniff the powder. After a heavy bout of sneezing, they should be able to breathe through their noses again.

Ha’achihtia likely gets its name from the Hiaki word for sneezing, ha’achihte. In fact, if we replace the letter “e” at the end of ha’achihte with “ia”, the word becomes a noun. Additionally, the word ha’achihte is a good example of a concept called sound symbolism, which means that it sounds similar to the particular action it describes. If you think about it, ha’achihte sounds close to the noises people make when sneezing. (The word Achis! is the equivalent of English achoo! in many languages around the world; it’s possible that ha’achihte is made up of some variant of achis plus the verbalizing suffix -te. In Hiaki -s is pronounced like ‘h’ when it occurs before a consonant, so achis-te would be expected to surface as achih-te if that were the etymological base of ha’achihte.)

The Hiaki name for the plant is reflective of its natural properties and the effect it has on people. However, the Mayo people also live in the plant’s natural habitat. They speak a language very closely related to Hiaki, but their name for the plant derives from the way it is taken in its medicinal use. In Mayo, ha’achihtia is called júptera, which literally means “for sniffing”.

Kuta Wikui (Black Spiny-tailed Iguana)

This lizard’s name literally means “wood lizard”. Like veho’ori, kuta wikui likes to live in trees. However, unlike veho’ori, these lizards aren’t targeted by lightning. Instead, they’re targeted by people! Some Hiakis boil kuta wikuim and eat them. They’re said to taste like chicken.

Waittopit (Mediterranean House Gecko)

These lizards usually measure around three to four inches and have a very light colored body. Unlike the other lizards typically found around the Sonoran Desert, their scales are very small and soft. This makes it much easier to accidentally break their skin. Many Hiakis believe that if the innards of a waittopit touch a person, it means that he or she will soon die. Because of this, the Hiaki prefer to keep their distance from these lizards and sometimes even throw things at them to keep them away from children.

In Hiaki, the general term for lizard is wikui, but if you want to talk about a particular lizard or a certain type of lizard you’ll probably want to be a bit more specific. There are dozens of different species of lizards that make their home in the Sonoran Desert and the Hiaki language has words and names for most of them. Here are some examples:

Tasa’a wikui

This lizard measures about four to six inches in length and is characterized by a light brown color with black stripes along its body. Typically, it’s only seen during the hotter months of the year, which may be why it has the name that it does, as the Hiaki words for summer and hot are tasaria and tata, respectively. Tasa’a wikui is a favorite food of the red racer snake.

Hipuyesa’ala

These tiny lizards are a dark grey color and are usually no more than two inches in length including their tails! Their small size makes it easy for them to slip through little cracks and under doors to get into houses, and their name roughly translates to “watches your house while you’re out of town”. If these lizards could speak, they might say something like Nee hipu tawala, kialikun ne kaakun aa weye, which means “I’m house-sitting, which is why I can’t go anywhere”.

Veho’ori
(Ornate Tree Lizard)

This lizard is a similar color to hipuyesa’ala, but it has a much bigger and fatter body, as it measures about six to eight inches. It prefers to live in trees, particularly mesquite trees. The Hiaki believe that if veho’ori makes its home in a tree and there are enough living in it, lightning likes to strike the tree and get them during a storm.