1919: A Chinuk Wawa song nobody’s ever heard, but it sounds naughty to me
In a pretty cryptic note on the editor’s gossip page, we’re treated to the suggested lyrics for a Jargon ditty.
My devoted readers will have realized that I’m a pretty maniacal collector of Chinuk Wawa songs.
The funny thing about today’s is, for a literary creation, it’s pretty okay Chinook!
Particularly I’d draw your attention to the word < play >, which we really do find in British Columbia Chinuk Wawa.
Who was this reader, E.C. St. Claire (from the Google Books search results I’m guessing the last “e” could be a typo), writing from Oceano, California. Was he a western Canadian?
One other weird point — something about this proposed lyric reminds me of the racy “Seattle Illahee” song 🙂 I bet you just about no readers of this post-frontier national magazine caught that sly allusion. Maybe we could try singing these words to that tune…
…I’ve got an ancient mule of the Spanish breed. Some say she is a jennet. But if she is, Pegasus must have been her sire, so if our comrade of the long trail comes, we may sing. HIACK CLATTAWA, COPHA SIAH; CAR SALMON MAMOOK PLAY. NISIKA ISCUM TENAS CUETINS PE, OKOKSUN CLATTAWA SIAH. (Chinook).
Translated:
Harry go far away
Where the salmon play
And we’ll have few ponies
When the daylight fades away.
— from page 177 of “The Camp-Fire: A Meeting-Place for Readers, Writers, and Adventurers”, Adventure magazine, volume 22, number 4 (August 18, 1919)
In Grand Ronde-style writing, those Settler-inflected words might be:
háyáq łátwa, kʰupa sáyá; qʰá sámən mamuk-pʰléy. nsayka ískam tənəs-kʰíyutən(s) pi(,) úkuk sán łátwa-sáyá.
A somewhat more literal translation, incidentally, might be:
‘Hurry off, to a far-away place; where the salmon play. We’ll get ponies and today ride away.’
(“Harry” is a misprint for “hurry”, eh.)
In my BC Jargon writing style, I’d put the lyrics as:
Haiyak tlatwa, kopa saiyaa; ka samin mamook-pley. Nisaika iskam tenas-kiyootan(s) pi okok sun tlatwa-sayaa.
