Ak-hvsē

July 7, 2024

Ak-hvsē: pond

Martin, Jack B., and Margaret McKane Mauldin. 2023. A Dictionary of Creek/Muskogee. Webonary.org. SIL International. Retrieved July 7, 2024, from https://www.webonary.org/muscogee/g3eb685db-22bd-446a-a094-08fe20aba8ce/.

"Sun in the ground" ’svm momēt ok' yv onvkv 'sem vnvcecēs.

When I first heard the word and learned it meant "pond", I tried to reconcile the image of 'sun in the ground' with the definition of pond. I remembered one time hunting over a pond as the sun was coming up. The sun was reflecting off the water and it was blindlingly bright. That's the imagery that came to mind when I first learned 'akhvsē'.

Loughridge and Hodge's dictionary gives a different definition for ak-hvsē, but it lists this only in the English-to-Mvskoke section.

Sunset: ak-hvsē

Rev. R. M. Loughridge, D.D. and Elder David M. Hodge. 1890. English and Muskokee Dictionary.

This new (to me) meaning of ak-hvsē was also fitting. It matches what the word sounds like to me: sun in the ground. I didn't even need a personal memory in order to see it in my mind. It just made sense.

Even as Loughridge and Hodge's dictionary says 'ak-hvsē' means 'sunset' in the English-to-Mvskoke section, its word for 'Pond' looks close to Martin & Mauldin's 'akhvsē':

Ak-hvsse: a lake, a pond.

Pond: ak-hvssē.

Rev. R. M. Loughridge, D.D. and Elder David M. Hodge. 1890. English and Muskokee Dictionary.

It's close, but still it looked just different enough to keep me curious.

I spent some time in the dictionaries looking for "hvssē", but none mentioned it directly. I did come across somewhat similar looking words: "hosē" and "hosetv", which mean "lost, forgotten" and "to forget, err, lose" respectively.

Some short time later, I was reading through the words that start with 'ue' (as in 'uewv', or 'water'), and that's when I happened on ue-hvsse:

Ue-hvssē: pond, lake, i.e. lost water

Rev. R. M. Loughridge, D.D. and Elder David M. Hodge. 1890. English and Muskokee Dictionary.

Learning of that word was really exciting for me. It felt like I had found a missing piece for what was puzzling me about "akhvsē".

Thinking about oxbow lakes, I can see how a pond would be seen as a "lost" or "forgotten" part of a river. A river meanders over time, leaving behind ponds that were once part of the river.

In the winter little "vernal" pools or ponds form in low wet areas and they stay there until late spring.

Similarly, beaver dams can create ponds that are "lost" from a creek or river. They divert its course, and that dammed water is lost from its flow.

Lost water makes sense.

So all together we have a few words with a few different meanings:

Ak-hvsē: pond

Ue-hvssē: pond, lake, i.e. lost water

Ak-hvsse: a lake, a pond.

Sunset: ak-hvsē

It's a really interesting cluster of words. At first I wondered which one is right, but I'm wondering now if they both are. "One being right doesn't make the others wrong."

Here's a video I recorded on the morning I mentioned, where I was hunting over a pond as the sun was coming up.

Hvsossv fvccv vhecet, ak-hvsē hecēs ('sun in the ground' hvyayvkē vhakes). Looking toward the east, we see a pond (looking bright as a sun in the ground).

Kvsappv fvccv afolotket, ue-hvssē hecēs ('lost water' vhakes). Turning toward the north, we see a pond (a vernal pool, looking like lost water).

MVTO