The Birth of Christ, in Chinook Jargon (part 4)

(View & hear Dale McCreery reading parts 1-6 aloud!)

(Back to: Part 1.  Part 2.  Part 3.)

nativity

the Baptist.>

SShB shako tanas.
John the Baptist is born.

Iaka k’o iaka son pus
There arrived the day for

Chon baptist chako tanas kopa ilihi
John the Baptist to be born on this earth

pi pus iaka tlap son iaka
and when he got to be 8 days old his

tilikom chako kopa Ilisabit iaka haws
relatives came to Elizabeth’s house

pus [SIC] patlach iht nim pi sirkomsishan
to give a name and a circumcision

kopa iaka. Klaska mamuk tomtom
to him.  They decided

pus Sakari iaka nim alki, kakwa
that Zachary was going to be his name, like

iaka papa.
his father.

[…some text is missing…] Page 108 

kakwa Shosip pi Mari klatwa
so Joseph and Mary went

kopa Bitliim pus patlach klaska
to Bethlehem to give their

nim kopa taii iaka wash man
names to the ruler’s guardsmen..

[SIC] Pus klaska k’o kopa ukuk
When they arrived at that

tawn, klaska nanish ayu tilikom
town, they saw a lot of people

chako, kakwa klaska, pus patlach
had come, like them, to give

klaska nim kopa taii.
their names to the leader.

Wik kata pus Shosip pi Mari
Joseph and Mary couldn’t

tlap iht haws kopa tawn, pus
find a house in town, to

klaska slip. Klaska klatwa
sleep [in].  They went

kopa iht kaltash musmus haws
to a run-down stable

mitlait klahani kopa tawn.
that was outside the town.

Iawa klaska mitlait pulakli
There they stayed the night

pi Mari chako tlap iaka tanas
and Mary went into labor

pi wik iaka sik: yutl iaka tomtom
but she wasn’t upset: she was glad[.]

Iaka iskom iaka tanas, iaka
She had her child, she

mamuk ipsut iaka itluil kopa
covered its body with

tanas sil pi iaka iskom
a small cloth and she took

drai tipso pus [SIC] mamuk iaka bid
some hay to make his bed

kopa kah musmus pi kyutan iskom
where the cows and horses got

klaska makmak. Mari klatwa
their food.  Mary went

ashnu kopa iaka tanas,
to kneel to her child,

iaka komtaks pus ST iaka.
she knew he was God.

— Kamloops Wawa #117 (June 1894), pages 103-110

 (On to: Part 5.  Part 6.  Part 7.)
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