AHVAVA!
Wild Word Friday!
Okay let’s learn a word very important in the Aleut language – AHVAVA. Ah-Va-what?
On one of our research trips to Alaska for my books, my husband and I stayed with a wonderful Aleut family on the island of St. George in the Pribilof Islands of the Bering Sea. The month of our visit was October and the weather was . . . well– English just doesn’t have a word for that cold, wet weather that chills you right down to the bone, but the Aleut children do .
When my friend’s four-year-old daughter – mittened and jacketed – wanted to let her mama know she was still cold, she said, “AHVAVA, Mama. AHVAVA!” I asked my friend what the word meant. Bonnie speaks Aleut and was teaching the language in the St. George school system. She told me that AHVAVA is onomatopoeic, just exactly what you utter when your teeth chatter. Try it. You’ll find that Bonnie was right!
So next time you’re really, really cold, chatter out a little Aleut and say, “AHVAVA.” It’s the perfect word to make you feel just a little bit warmer!
Blessings, Sue