411 REFERENCE · Wiktionary
-gamaa
Reference material by Wiktionary contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
Ojibwe
Etymology
oj -gam- + oj -aa
Final
oj final
lake
Usage notes
-gamaa is not a word in Ojibwe, nor a single morpheme. It is made up of the medial oj -gam- (body of water) and the final oj -aa (to be - for something inanimate) and so together is often glossed to mean lake in English. In Ojibwe, it is preceded by an initial (root) that acts like an adjective in English. For example:
ginoogamaa — the lake is long
mangigamaa — the lake is large
See also
oj gichigami
oj zaaga'igan