Emory Sekaquaptewa, Research Anthropologist
(J.D. Arizona 1970)

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Hopi Culture has long received considerable attention from the outside world, but the Hopi language has remained less well known. This is the first true dictionary of Hopi, containing approximately 30,000 entries. The dictionary is based on the dialect spoken today in villages on Third Mesa and was compiled in consultation with a large team of elder Hopi speakers. Its preparation has involved a comprehensive survey of the ethnographic and linguistic literature to identify Hopi vocabulary, and each item found has been checked against existing Third Mesa knowledge of Hopi.

This dictionary is valuable not only for the number of its entries but also for its many illustrative sentences and abundance of information on aspects of Hopi Culture, such as expressions concerning time and space that are often misunderstood. Main entries, presented for the simplest and most common forms of words, containing full information of inflection in addition to definitions and examples. Cross-references are made for inflected forms that are not easily predictable, such as plurals, less common variants, and combining forms. Many definitions are illustrated with line drawings. The volume also features an English-Hopi word-finder list and a sketch of Hopi grammar, which makes it possible for the user to determine the structure of almost any Hopi sentence.

An invaluable reference in Uto-Aztecan languages, this dictionary permits informed reading of Hopi texts. It is a definitive source for understanding not only a language but also a way of life.

Royalties from the sale of this dictionary go to the Hopi Foundation and to the Hopi Tribe.

The Hopi Dictionary Project was funded in large part by the National Endowment for the Humanities (grants RT-20713-86 and RT-21344). Several foundations and individuals also generously supported the Project. Principal among them are: Elizabeth Mitchell, the Southwestern Foundation, the Armstrong McDonald Foundation, the Arizona Humanities Council, Arnold and Sara Hermann, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Ann Fallon, the Evenor Armington Fund, the Frost Foundation, Gordon Krutz, The Schwei bfurth-Stiftung (Munich), Horst Antes (Berlin), Bodo Schintzel (Braunschweig), the Stocker Foundation, the Wilder Foundation, the Gannett Foundation, Watson and Lucy Smith, the Adolph Coors Company, the IBM Corportation, the Verein Zukunft fur Kinder e.V. (Futures for Children) (Karlsruhe), and Frederick Dockstader. This work was also supported by the Organized Research Program at Northern Arizona University through the office of Henry O. Hooper, Associate Provost for Research and Graduate Studies.

The Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology at the University of Arizona provided a home and financial support for the project. The former Director, Carlos G. Vélez-Ibánez, was instrumental in getting the Project started; the present Director, Timothy J. Finan, helped immensely with fund-raising. Hermann Bleibtreu of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arizona was especially helpful in locating sources of funding.

The primary researchers of the Hopi Dictionary Project include Kenneth C. Hill (Project Director and Editor-in-Chief), Emory Sekaquaptewa (Cultural Editor), Mary E. Black (Associate Editor), Ekkehart Malotki (Contributing Editor), and Michael Lomatuway’ma (Contributing Editor).

The Project is indebted to the cooperation of Leigh Jenkins Kuwanwisiwma, Director of the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, who organized an excellent panel of consultants and personally contributed informal commentary on perhaps a few hundred words, and to the former and present Hopi Tribal Chairmen Abbott Sekaquaptewa, Vernon Masayesva, Ferrell Secakuku, and Wayne Taylor, Jr., for their support of the Project and of Hopi language revitalization efforts in general.

And much of the success of the Project is due to the enthusiastic and interested participation of the several Hopi speakers who worked with it as consultants.

Remembrances | Curriculum Vitae | Photo gallery