Customer Reviews

Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe

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John Nichols and Earl Nyholm are two of the top linguistic experts on the Ojibwe language, and this dictionary is a collaboration between the two of them. It contains many words for parts of modern life (bemisemagak, "airplane," wiisiniwigamig, "restaurant," odaabaan, "car"), but also a wealth of terms for traditional aspects of Ojibwe life (zibaaska'iganagooday, "jingle dress," bagida'waa, "fish with a net," wiigwaasi-makak, "birch-bark basket"). It may not have 100,000 words like large dictionaries of well-studied languages like English, but it does have over 7,000 (which, for a language like Ojibwe, which has only recieved a lot of serious scholarship relatively recently, is quite impressive). Which may not sound like a lot, but I've found that, whenever I need to look something up, it's almost certain to be in there. The first few pages offer a (very brief) sketch of the phonology and a quick overview of some aspects of the grammar, although only enough to be used as a starting point for more detailed study using other resources. The book does not purport to be a grammar, however, but merely a dictionary, and a "concise" one at that. For a "concise" dictionary to nearly always have the word I'm looking up (I've been using it for about a year now, and there are still only a few words I've tried looking up that I haven't found) is a fairly impressive feat, at least in my mind. I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in the Ojibwe people or the language.

Given the price, I was not expecting this dictionary to be as long or as detailed as it is. Both the English-Ojibwe and the Ojibwe-English sections have multiple examples and word forms for each entry. There are 7000 words included here. I've bought $75 dictionaries with less material than this. An excellent value. Includes a pronunciation guide and a basic grammatical overview.

I realy liked this book, because I use it for my Ojibwe Language Class and I had one copy but I sent it to my nephew in Kansas

Great book, has everything. Used this for my college Ojib class and I still use it all the time to look up things. If you're trying to learn our native language or just want to know the ojib words for things this is a great book.

As I am researching the Ojibwa peoples currently, I find myself pulling this book out 3-4 times a day, and it has not failed me yet. The vocabulary covered in this book is simply enormous, and if you're tired of looking at online dictionaries, pick up this book--well worth the cover price.

My only complaint is that Ojibwe, being a 'verb-based' language rather than a noun-based like our own, is very hard to piece together in sentances. There is a tiny chapter at the beginning of this trying to explain it, but it doesn't do a very good job. Thus it's frustrating to look up one word and find 4 different spellings for it.

This book lists english-ojibwe and ojibwe-english in two separate sections. It was an invaluable aid wheen I wrote Neitherworld, a science thriller featuring an Ojibwe girl and her family and ancestors. However, I found myself frustrated because the book was TOO concise and it was hard to make full ojibwe sentences without resorting to other sources.