A Stem Vocabulary of the Navaho Language [2 Volume Set]: Navaho-English 1950; English-Navaho 1951 [Navajo]

Haile, Berard O.F.M.

Published by St. Michaels Press, 1950

About this Item

First Printing of the first Navaho dictionary. Complete in two volumes. Vol. 1: xiii, 339; Vol. 2: xlvi [2] 327 pp. Sewn binding in plain printed wraps. Wrappers show some wear and smudges, a bit thumbed, typed table of contents inlaid to vol. 1, sound and unmarked otherwise. Haile was a Franciscan missionary, linguist, and anthropologist. Worked extensively with the Navajo at Lukachukai and St. Michaels Missions in Arizona and wrote several works on Navajo ceremonials, language and grammar. Haile was the primary deviser of the Navajo written language and alphabet, writing the first Grammar of the language in 1926. His 'Stem Vocabulary,' a compendious dictionary of the language, is particularly distinguished by lengthy entries on words and phrases unique to Navajo culture and ceremony. 'For more than fifty years Father Berard worked as a missionary on the reservation, most of the time at St. Michaels, but for a period in the mission chapel in the remote and beautiful mountains of Lukachukai. His sympathy and deep interest in the Navajo way of life brought him the affection and trust of a proud people. From his first days at St. Michaels, Father Berard set about to con quer the language barrier to communication. He studied Navajo, or as he prefers to write it 'Navaho.' He mastered its formidable intricacies, its baffling pronunciation in which a slight change in the sound of a letter can change the whole meaning of a phrase. He lived among the Navajo, and he almost became as one of them. He attended their ceremonies, learning them as a necessary key to the understanding of the Navajo mind. Then he began to write them down, and in the end he developed for the Navajo a written language in which their way of life could be recorded.' (Donald M. Powel, A Preliminary Bibliography of the Published Writings of Berard Haile, O.F.M.).

Seller Inventory # 507234

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Stem Vocabulary of the Navaho Language [2 Volume Set]: Navaho-English 1950; English-Navaho 1951 [Navajo]
• Publisher: St. Michaels Press
• Publication Date: 1950
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: GOOD
• Seller catalogs:
  • Foreign Language