th’ístels te smúsmes

Th’ístels te smúsmes means “cow’s horn, horn of a cow”

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling

Structure and Vocabulary

This phrase has the following structure:

Vocabulary:

• th’ístel – horn (of animal), antler
• te -you can use this for both a and the (the language does not distinguish)
• músmes – cow – Here Elizabeth adds an s– to the start of the word. The s– prefix is a general noun marker, and speakers often vary in having it (or not) at the start of certain words.

You can translate the -s ending on th’ístel here as ‘of‘. Technically, it marks that there is a ‘third person’ (neither you nor me) who possesses the horn—in this case, the third person possessor is the cow.