a'kü

See also: aku, akū, Aku, Akụ, āku, and āķu

Ye'kwana

Variant orthographies

ALIV	a'kü
Brazilian standard	a'kö
New Tribes	a'cö

Etymology

From Proto-Cariban *arokɨ (“tail, penis”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [aʔkɨ]

Noun

a'kü (possessed a'küdü)

1. tail
2. person who walks behind others on a path, follower
3. person who follows another’s lead more broadly, follower

References

• Cáceres, Natalia (2011) “a'kü”, in Grammaire Fonctionnelle-Typologique du Ye’kwana‎^[1], Lyon
• Hall, Katherine Lee (1988) The morphosyntax of discourse in De'kwana Carib, volumes I and II, Saint Louis, Missouri: PhD Thesis, Washington University, page 387: “da:'küdü - tail”
• Hall, Katherine (2007) “dāʔkɨdɨ”, in Mary Ritchie Key & Bernard Comrie, editors, The Intercontinental Dictionary Series‎^[2], Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, published 2021
• Briceño, Luis García (2024) Walking with Jesus in indigenous Amazonia: for an anthropology of paths‎^[3], London: London School of Economics and Political Science, pages 80, 204:

  Another expression still that I registered was that, on a path, one is “the tail” of those walking ahead – Yk. dhacödö. […] the music of blocks is a flow that might “go up” or “go down”, and that the leader of the group is the “master” or “owner” – Yk. adhaajä – who “commands” – Yk. e’se’tadö – the rest of the group –, again, their “servants” or “followers” – who are following him or at “his tail” – Yk. dhacodöje.