Ararahih'urípih
A Dictionary and Text Corpus of the Karuk Language

Karuk Dictionary

by William Bright and Susan Gehr (© Karuk Tribe)

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kêemish / keemisha- something supernaturally dangerous, a devil, a monster; poison; a wild animal

Dictionary Entry
lexicon ID #3794 | revised Oct 31 2014

kêemish / keemisha- N • something supernaturally dangerous, a devil, a monster; poison; a wild animal

Derivatives (4)
kêemish "deceased person"
keemisháaxiich "halfbreed child (obsolete term)"
kêemishaha "to be poisonous"
keemishatunvêech "little wild animals"

Source: WB 868.3, p.360

  • pakôokaninay vúra vakêemishas îin kunípaanik ... The Savage Ones of every place used to say ... [Reference: TK 255.14]
  • kêemish kun'ákihanik. They fed him poison. [Reference: WB T93. Violet's dog. 012]


Short recording (1) | Sentence examples (8)

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  1. I have to be like   fâat   kuma-kêemish   p-oo-'iithvú-tih-anik   fâatva  
    I have to be like   what   3sPOSS-something.dangerous   ITER-3s(>3)-pack-DUR-ANC   something  
    I'll be like ... some kind of animal to pack them, something ...
    Source: Violet Super, Grace Davis, Madeline Davis, Conversation: Weaving (GD-MD-VSu-01) | read full text
    Spoken by Violet Super | Download | Play
  2. káru   hôoy   akâayva   'îin   kun   kêemish   kun-'áki-hanik   kéemish   u-'áv-anik  
    also   where   anyone   TOPIC   3pl(>3s)   something.dangerous   3pl(>3s)-give.(things).to-ANC   something.dangerous   3s(>3)-eat-ANC  
    "And somewhere, someone, they ... they fed him poison, he ate poison."
    Source: Violet Super, Violet's Dog (VSu-03) | read full text
  3. vaa   kumá'ii   pa-xáas   t-u-'iv   pu-'uum   vúra   fâat   kuma-kêemish   áam-tih-an  
    so   because.of   NOMZ-almost   PERF-3s(>3)-die   NEG-3.SG   Intensive   what   3sPOSS-something.dangerous   eat-DUR-Participial  
    "That's why he almost died, he didn’t eat any kind of poison."
    Source: Violet Super, Violet's Dog (VSu-03) | read full text
  4. xás   ú-peen-ti   îim   ôok   keemisha-'îin   i-'áv-eesh-ap  
    then   3s(>3)-say.to-DUR   outdoors   here   something.dangerous-TOPIC   2s(>3)-eat-FUT-INV  
    And he told (the person sweating), "A monster outside here is going to eat you."
    Source: Chester Pepper, "Coyote's Journey" (WB_KL-03) | read full text
  5. koovúra   pa-keemisha-tunvêech-as   kun-piip   xâatik   yíchaach   nu-'êerahi-ti  
    all   the-something.dangerous-small.(pl.)-PL   3pl(>3s)-say   it's.better   together   1pl(>3)-store.food-DUR  
    All the little wild animals said, "Let's store our food together."
    Source: Mamie Offield, "The Story of Slug" (WB_KL-38) | read full text
  6. ta'ítam   koovúra   pa-keemisha-tunvêech-as   kun-ikyáviichvu-naa   yukún   vaa   káan   kun-pávyiihm-eesh   pa-t-u-píshyaavpa  
    so   all   the-something.dangerous-small.(pl.)-PL   3pl(>3s)-work-PL   you.see   that   there   3pl(>3s)-go.back.to.(pl.)-FUT   NOMZ-PERF-3s(>3)-be.winter  
    So all the little wild animals worked, you see they were going to come back there when it was winter.
    Source: Mamie Offield, "The Story of Slug" (WB_KL-38) | read full text
  7. kin-ípeen-ti   kêemish   pa-'apxantínihich-as  
    3pl>3pl-say.to-DUR   something.dangerous   the-white.man-PL  
    They were told that the white men were devils.
    Source: Nettie Ruben, "The White Man's Gifts" (WB_KL-65) | read full text