Natchez Analytical Dictionary

Geoffrey Kimball is a research associate in the Department of Anthropology at Indiana University. He is the author of YukhÍti KÓy: A Reference Grammar of the Atakapa Language (Nebraska, 2022), Koasati Traditional Narratives (Nebraska, 2010), Koasati Dictionary (Nebraska, 1994), and Koasati Grammar (Nebraska, 1991). Watt Sam (c. 1877–1944), a member of the Cherokee Nation, was one of the last remaining speakers of the Natchez language. He worked extensively with Mary R. Haas and other linguists to record vocabulary, grammar, and more than seventy traditional narratives. Nancy Raven (c. 1874–1957), a member of the Cherokee Nation, was upon her death the last known speaker of Natchez. She worked extensively with Mary R. Haas to record vocabulary, grammar, and fourteen literary narratives.

“This dictionary will be a boon not only to language learners but also to the fields of linguistics, anthropology, ethnography, and Indigenous Studies, helping us understand more about these people of the great Mississippian culture of North America.”-David V. Kaufman, author of Clues to Lower Mississippi Valley Histories: Language, Archaeology, and Ethnography “Natchez is not for the faint of heart, and Geoffrey Kimball not only shows mastery of the complexities but has managed to explain things cleanly and clearly. He has made sense of all historical layers of documentation, not a simple task, in light of what can be learned from the careful work of Mary R. Haas, and it is wonderful to see all of these facts assembled clearly in one place.”-Marianne Mithun, author of The Languages of Native North America

• List of IllustrationsPrefaceAcknowledgments IntroductionThe Natchez Speakers and the Linguists Who Worked with ThemIsalaktiAlbert S. GallatinAnonymousAlbert PikeJohn LaslieAnn Eliza Worcester RobertsonAlbert Samuel GatschetCreek SamCharlie JumperWatt SamNancy RavenPeggy LeafJohn Reed SwantonVictor RisteMary Rosamond HaasDiscussion of Dictionary EntriesWord ClassesAlphabetical OrderPronunciationWord DivisionIndication of Data SourcesExample SentencesDiachronic and Idiolectal VariationNotesReferences Natchez–English DictionaryAffixesAuxiliary Elements English–Natchez Glossary