cama’i

Alutiiq

Etymology

From Proto-Yupik *cama-i- (“greeting, welcome”) historically said as speaker looks down at own hands while shaking another’s, thus likely from Proto-Eskimo *cam- demonstrative base, “down, down toward”

Interjection

cama’i

1. hi, hello

References

• Fortescue, Michael, Steven Jacobson, and Lawrence Kaplan. 2010. Comparative Eskimo Dictionary with Aleut Cognates. Alaska Native Language Center.
• Leer, Jeff. Classroom Grammar of Koniag Alutiiq, Kodiak Island Dialect, Volume 1, Alaska Native Language Center, 1990