3. First Words

What You’ll Learn

This lesson gives you starter words in five groups:

• people and things;
• nature and water;
• body words;
• motion words;
• time and direction words.

These words come from the Early Hick lexicon. Learn them as building blocks, not as a complete dictionary.

People and Things

Early Hick	English
'al	person
etil	thing
aniko	animal
duwes	food
ger	metal

More Than One

The prefix ma- can mean “more than one.” It works on ordinary nouns and on person words.

Early Hick	English
ma-mater	boats
ma'alis	these people
ma'altan	those people

Nature and Water

Early Hick	English
ai	water
mal	pool, standing water
gar	stone
gral	earth, soil
kel	sky; also source for “blue”
bres	wind
bramis	sea mist, coastal fog

Body Words

Early Hick	English
mes	heart
mar	blood; also source for red
kar	nose
kost	foot
kol	neck

Motion and Action Words

Early Hick	English
barak	walk
'ir	motion, movement
'irek	stand, firmness
ward	guide, direct
haran	split, separate
hilis	sight, active seeing

Time and Direction Words

Early Hick	English
mur	night
branum	past
branrum	far past
mulsum	future
eldul	north
kethul	east

Try It

Match each Early Hick word with its English meaning.

1. ai
2. barak
3. mes
4. mur
5. rismater

Meanings: heart, water, reed boat, night, walk.

Pop quizAnswers

1. ai: water
2. barak: walk
3. mes: heart
4. mur: night
5. rismater: reed boat

Reference Note

For the full word list, see the Early Hick lexicon. The vocabulary here was chosen from fields such as Basic Terms, Natural World, Water Features, Body Terms, Motion Terms, Time Terms, and Directional Terms.