Myron Eells’s hymn book (Part 4 “Whiskey” [A])
Song #4 from Myron Eells’s little book, “Hymns in the Chinook Jargon Language“, 2nd (expanded!) edition (Portland, OR: David Steel, 1889)…
(Here’s a link to all installments in this mini-series.)
What do Marlboros & whiskey & Chinuk Wawa have in common? (Image credit: Wikipedia)
There are two songs called “Whiskey” on the same page. Here’s the first one, and it’s a very well-known one that we have audio of elders singing.
It’s to a tune that I grew up knowing as “The Bear Went over the Mountain”, which you might know as “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” or “Marlborough s’en va-t-en guerre“.
Below, I’ll show the northern-dialect Chinuk Wawa pronunciation of the elder whose recording I have, but that person seemed to remember only verses #1 and #3:
1. Ahnkuttie nika tikegh whiskey,
ánqati nayka tíki wíski,
‘I used to like booze,’
Repeat twice. [For a total of 3 times singing the above line.]
Pe alta nika mash —
pi álta nayka másh Ø —
‘but now I’ve left it — ‘
Alta nika mash.
álta nayka másh Ø.
‘now I’ve left it.’
Repeat.
Ahnkuttie nika tikegh whiskey,
ánqati nayka tíki wíski,
Repeat twice.
Pe alta nika mash.
pi álta nayka másh Ø.2. Whiskey hias cultus,
wíski hayas-kʰə́ltəs,
‘Booze is very worthless,’
Pe alta, etc.
pi álta …3. Whiskey mimoluse tillikums,
wíski míməlus tílixam-s,
‘Booze kills people,’
Pe alta, etc.
pi álta …4. Cultus klaska muckamuck,
kʰə́ltəs ɬaska mə́kʰmək Ø,
‘For no good purpose is it drunk (by people),’
Pe alta, etc.
pi álta ...
Here’s how Eells himself translates the above into English:
1. Formerly I loved whiskey,
But now I throw it away —
Now I throw it away.2. Whiskey is good for nothing,
And now I, etc.3. Whiskey kills people,
And now, etc.4. They that drink it, drink what is worthless,
And now, etc.
Again, there are no enormous differences between my rendition of what the Jargon lyrics say & what Eells says they say.
And it looks like he was wise, in a sense, to keep his lyrics simple: they’re typically nice, fluent Chinook.
Bonus fact:
One point: Reverend Eells didn’t bother translating existing Euro-American hymns, nor material from the Bible.
Why not? He spent a lot of time preaching about social morals, by the standards of White Settlers.
But did he believe Native people were capable of grasping what the Bible actually says?
