Death, thy victory,
Death, thy victory . . .
The rubber plant is free.
Thou sinister albatross.
(The rubber plant is free . . . .)
Death thy victory.
I count the nights, the sistrum sounds,
The hoopoe awaits me,
And the linden trees quiver.
~Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum
Note on the Zuni language:
| Verbs | Present | Past | Future |
| ends w/ consonant | -'a, -e | -kya | -anna, -wa |
| ends w/ vowel | -'ya, -ye | -kya | -nna, -wa |
| Verbs | Present | Past | Future |
| "ido-" (to eat) | ido'ya | idokya | idonna |
| "ahh(a)-" (to take) | ahh'a | ahkya | ahhanna |
| Possessive | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| add suffix: | "-a:ni" | "-a:chi" | "-a:wan" |
| Plural | Nouns | Adj. | Verbs |
| add suffix/prefix: | "-we" | "a-" | "a-" or "i-" |
Important to Note:
- There are no words for 'he', 'she', 'they', or 'them' (see below)
- If a singular verb is spoken without a subject, it is assumed the subject is 'he' or 'she'
- If a plural verb is spoken without a subject, it is assumed the subject is 'they'
- To make words for people plural add the prefix 'a-' instead of adding the suffix '-we'
- There are no words for 'a', 'an', or 'the'
- Zuni nouns sometimes precede their adjectives
See the English-Zuni dictionary or the Zuni-English dictionary
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