Thanks to Chief Billy Joe Laboucan for sharing this YouTube video – filmed in 1973 at Chipewyan Lake in Northern Alberta. It reminded him of childhod memories of helping ohkoma and omama making birch syrup in Bison.
It’s still a little early here in Winnipeg for tapping the Manitoba maple, but it seemed like a hint to offer some spring sugaring vocabulary, drawn from the itwêwina online dictionary. It’s a beautiful video: maybe you’ll enjoy watching it with some of the Cree terms in mind.
Thanks to Solomon Ratt (Billy Joe’s old classmate) for providing audio!
| SRO | syllabic | itwêwina dictionary |
|---|---|---|
| kisâkamisikêw | ᑭᓵᑲᒥᓯᑫᐤ | s/he heats water, s/he heats a liquid |
| mêstan | ᒣᐢᑕᐣ | sap, tree sap, edible gummy sap of a tree; inner bark, poplar bast |
| mêstanâpoy | ᒣᐢᑕᓈᐳᐩ | sap, juice of trees |
| mêstaniwiw | ᒣᐢᑕᓂᐏᐤ | it (e.g. tree) is full of sap |
| mêstasow | ᒣᐢᑕᓱᐤ | s/he saps trees, s/he takes the juice of trees by scraping the inner bark |
| mîstasow | ᒦᐢᑕᓱᐤ | s/he gets sap, s/he taps a tree for sap |
| nipiy | ᓂᐱᐩ | sap of maple or birch |
| ohcikawin | ᐅᐦᒋᑲᐏᐣ | it drips, it leaks out, it trickles out (e.g. sap from tree) |
| sîsipâskwat | ᓰᓯᐹᐢᑿᐟ | maple sugar, soft sugar |
| sîsipâskwatihkahtêw | ᓰᓯᐹᐢᑿᑎᐦᑲᐦᑌᐤ | it is baked with maple sugar as sweetener, it is sweetened with maple sugar |
| sîsipâskwatihkêw | ᓰᓯᐹᐢᑿᑎᐦᑫᐤ | s/he makes maple sugar |
| sîsipâskwatwâhtikwâpoy | ᓰᓯᐹᐢᑿᑤᐦᑎᒁᐳᐩ | sugar maple sap, maple syrup |
| sîsipâskwatwâpoy | ᓰᓯᐹᐢᑿᑤᐳᐩ | sugar maple sap, maple syrup |
| sîwâkamisikan | ᓰᐚᑲᒥᓯᑲᐣ | birch tree syrup |
| sîwâkamisikêw | ᓰᐚᑲᒥᓯᑫᐤ | s/he makes birch tree syrup, s/he makes sweetened water |
| sôkâwâhtik | ᓲᑳᐚᐦᑎᐠ | sugar maple tree |
| waskwayâpoy | ᐘᐢᑿᔮᐳᐩ | birch sap |
| ohcikawipêhikêw | ᐅᐦᒋᑲᐏᐯᐦᐃᑫᐤ | s/he taps trees, s/he causes the liquid (e.g. sap) to run |
