Divehi to Inuinnaqtun: younger sibling depends on whose family relationship is meant
The source age relationship does not settle every target term
Fritz’s Divehi noun discussion gives kokkō with a meaning covering younger brother or sister. The source expression establishes relative age while leaving the sibling’s sex to other information where relevant. An Inuinnaqtun term may require a more specific relationship than that isolated source word supplies.
The Nunavut Arctic College dictionary gives nukaq as a younger brother of a male or a younger sister of a female. Its definition depends on the relationship between the two siblings, not simply the sex of the younger person. The same target word can occur in a brother-brother or sister-sister relationship.
For an original Divehi account in which a man mentions his younger brother, that same-sex relationship supports a different reading from a woman mentioning her younger brother. The younger person is male in both cases, but the person whose sibling he is differs. Identifying only the younger sibling’s sex would not resolve the target choice.
The dictionary separately gives aqqaluaq for a younger brother of a female. An original source statement about a woman’s younger brother should therefore not be translated by selecting a term solely because its short English gloss somewhere says brother. The full dictionary definition supplies the relevant contrast.
If the Divehi passage names only a younger sibling and leaves the relationship’s sexes unclear, the target distinction remains unresolved. Do not infer a male relative from the ending of kokkō or from the narrator’s own sex. The narrator may be describing someone else’s family.
The possessor identifies the reference point for the kin term
For a younger sister of a male, the Inuinnaqtun dictionary gives najak, whereas a younger sister of a female belongs within its definition of nukaq. These definitions show that the target family relation must be evaluated from the person whose sibling is being identified.
Fritz describes Divehi possession through genitives of personal pronouns. A source phrase identifying her younger sibling therefore contains a possessive link that matters to the lexical choice. The owner expression is not dispensable just because the following kinship noun already looks familiar.
For an original source narrative about a mother describing her son’s younger sister, determine that the son supplies the sibling reference point. Choosing the term as though the girl were the mother’s younger sister would change the family tree. The sex of the speaker is not automatically the relevant parameter.
The Inuinnaqtun dictionary was developed with local speakers and elders for the Cambridge Bay-area variety described in its introduction. Its documented terms should not be treated as proof that every neighbouring Inuit variety uses an identical spelling and lexical division. Keep the selected target variety in view.
The exact-direction decision is consequently relational: establish which person the Divehi possessive identifies, retain the younger-age relationship and recover the sexes where the target term requires them. Then select the Inuinnaqtun kin word from its full definition. A generic brother-or-sister gloss cannot replace those connected pieces of meaning.
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