1868: S. Crease’s personal notes on early Northern Dialect
Sometimes we find a new, important document of Chinook Jargon inside an item that we already knew of!
One of the published dictionaries that I’ve gotten the least use out of, because it heavily plagiarized someone else’s work, is the “Dictionary of Indian Tongues” (1865) from Hibben & Carswell, Victoria, BC.
The publishers of a well-known, ripped-off, Chinuk Wawa dictionary. At least this ad was original!
It’s only by chance that a Google search for “yakolla” (see below) got me looking at one online copy of that book — and I realized something that startled me.
There’s a pasted-in book plate that gives the owner’s name, “S. Crease, Aug[ust] [18]68”. That’s a nice, personal touch.
But the part that really stopped me in my tracks was seeing that “S. Crease” had apparently marked, in pencil, words that (s)he actually experienced in real-world use.
This is wonderful.
A giant problem with all the Jargon dictionaries copying each other’s content is that they preserve words that had fallen out of use.
And we know that the Northern Dialect, spoken in Victoria and the rest of BC, had lost a whole lot of words that had been in the older, Southern Dialect.
Here we have S. Crease’s own frontier-era partial confirmation of these facts.
Partial, because we only find Crease’s marks on about a page and a half of the dictionary. But the pattern is very clear to my eyes — only words that we know were actually in use in Northern Dialect are marked — and the words that we’ve known to be absent from Northern Dialect remain unmarked.
The Chinook note-taker? (Image credit: Wikipedia)
Maybe one of my readers will research further, but I suspect “S. Crease” is the British immigrant (1859) artist and diarist, Lady Sarah Lindley (Mrs. Henry) Crease (1826-1922). Being upper-class would explain her personally owning books. If so, another wonderful aspect of today’s find is that it adds to our knowledge of women’s use of Chinook Jargon! [More about her.]
Take a look at these 4 pages from Crease’s copy of the dictionary, where I’ve transcribed the owner’s handwritten marks in orange (mostly they’re dashes of apparent recognition of a word in local use):
CHINOOK.
– Nika … I
– Mika … You
– Klasker … They
– Mesika … You (plural)
– Nesika … We
– Yaka … He or she
– Tenass man … A Boy
– Chaco …. Come
– Momook … Work
– Klatawa … Go
– Kar …. Where
– Yawa … Here
– Alta … At present
– Alke … Afterwards
– lllihe … Land
– Hyack … Quick
– Siya … Distance
– Klackster … Who
– Klosh … Good
– Laport … Door
– Konaway … All
– Sun … Day
– Poolakly … Night
– Tenas sun … Morning
– Sitkum sun … Noon
– Kock wa … The same
– Yoolkut … Long
– Hy-you … Plenty
– Hyas … Large
– Socally … High
Pilton … Fool
– Tekhope … White
– Pil … Red
– Klayl … Black
La tate … Mouth
La boosh … Mouth
La da … Teeth
Le lang … Tongue
– Seeah house … FaceLa ma … Hand
Yaksoot … Hair
La reh … Barley
La poah … Peas
Wapito … Potatoes
La novow … Turnips
La karrot … Carrots
La onion … Onion
Cabbage … Cabbage
Klapite … Thread
Moola … Sawmill
Percise … Blanket
Kamoosac … Beads
Poolally …. Powder
Kulla-kulla … Birds
Musket … Gun
Ninamox … Otter
Ena …. Beaver
Quanice … Whale
Yuiceco … Porpoise
Oluck … Snake
Soolee … Mouse
Skad … Mole
La loe … Wolf
Pish-pish … Cat
Kuitan … Horse
Moos-moos … Cow
La mouto … Sheep
Carmox … Dog
Kushaw … Hog
– Kimta … Behind
Shetsham … Swim
Seeapoose … Cap
La shawl … Shawl
– Pe … And
– Wechat … Also
Dly tupso … Hay
Dly … Dry
Tum-tum … Heart
[2]
Comb … Comb
Koory … Run
Pil-pil … Blood
Les eff … Egg
La pole … Hen
La chuck … Rooster
La pell … Shovel
La push … Hoe
La clew … Nail
Lake … Lake
La chaise … Chair
Kettle … Pot
Oskan … Cup
Lope … Rope
– Silux … Angry
Shanty … Sing
– Marcie … Thanks
Kinoose … Tobacco
– Chee … New
Sunday … Sunday
Pooh … Shoot
– Lolo … To carry
– Klawa … Slow
– Wagh … To spill
Inti … Across
La prate … Priest
La yob … Devil
Kapo … A relation
La pied … Foot
Tee-owitt … Leg
Yachoot … Belly
– Spose … If
Delate … Truth or straight
Seepy … Crooked
Tolo … Win
Kow … Tie
Klack … Untie
Man … Man
Klootchman … Woman
Lum … Rum
Patle … Full
Patlamb …. Drunk
Boston … American
Pesioux … French
King George … English, Scotch, Irish
– Chuck … Water
Oihe … Sandwich Islander
– Halo … None
Musatchy … Bad
Tyhee … Chief
Elitee … Slave
– Ou … Brother
– Ats … Sister
– Kapswalla … Steal
– Ipsoot … Secret
– Potlach … Give
– Iscum … Take
– Wake … No
– Nowitka … Yes
– Scokum … Strong
– Six … Friend
– Ikta … What
Pechuck … Green
Lemoro … Wild
La selle … Saddle
Sitlii … Spurs
La sibro ..
Kolan … Ear
– Klapp … To find
Kull … Tough, hard
Sapalel … Flour or wheat
Pire sapalel … Bread
La biscuit … Biscuit
La ween … Oats
Lice … Rice
Sagwa … Sugar
Soap … Soap
Molass … Molasses
Stick-shoes … Shoes
Skin-shoes … Moccasins
Gleece Pire … Candle
Skullapen … Rifle
Memoloose … Kill
Actshot … Bear
Mowitch … Deer
Cuitchady … Rabbit
Skubbyyou … Skunk
Olikhiyou … Seal
Yakolla … Eagle
Waugh-waugh … Owl
Skakairk … Hawk
Mauk … Duck
Smockmock … Grouse
Malaekua … Musquito
Swaawa … Panther
Skudzo … Squirrel
Enpooy … Lice
La sway … Silk
Lalopa or coat … Coat
Sickilox … Pantaloons
Shirt … Shirt
Aekik … Fish-hook
Tootosh … Milk
Snass … Rain
Pithick … Think [SIC!]
My point here, to be precise about what I claim, is that S. Crease checked off only words that we know to have been in common use in the Northern Dialect. The only 3 doubts I have are:
- yoolkut ‘long’ and ats ‘sister’, which I’m not quite sure I’ve ever seen in the North (being replaced by lon(g) by the 1890s and sista by the 1880s), and
- six ‘friend’, which got replaced by tilihum by the 1880s and probably earlier.
Having said this, I’ll add that I suspect what we have in Crease’s checklist is a precious document of an in-between stage in the growth of the Northern Dialect. We have very few substantial records of how folks talked Jargon in the North prior to the emergence of the “Chinuk Pipa” literacy and the “Kamloops Wawa” newspaper in 1891. So this circa-1868 list seemingly preserves a snapshot of a stage somewhat after the mass importation of Chinuk Wawa into British Columbia (1858) and that later flowering.
Crease did not check off all of the words used in the North that appear in the Hibben & Carswell vocabulary, such as snass ‘rain’, mowitch ‘deer’, and kla how ya ‘how are you, or poor’.
And it appears Crease gave up making the checklist after the 2nd page of words.
I won’t fully transcribe the last 2 pages, because they don’t contain any marks by S. Crease. But I will show you the pages images, and I’ll highlight any potential full clauses (~sentences) in them that I haven’t previously published here in my series of “Didactic Dialogues in Dictionaries of Chinuk Wawa“:
[3]
…
Wake nika kumtux … I do not understand
..,
Halluck la port … Open the door
Ech-poy la port … Shut the door
…
Ikta mika tikke … What do you want
…
Wake ikta nika tikke … I do not want anything
…
Ko-pet wawa … Hold your tongue
…
[4]
…
Zum seeah-hoose … Paint the face
…
Hee-hee la ma … Gamble
…
Sun chacko … East
Sun midlight … West
One of Sarah Lindley Crease’s paintings,
“Bridge Leading To Red Government Buildings From The Top Of Which This View Is Taken – No. 8 (1860)”
(image credit: Wikipedia)
Won’t it be nice to read through her “detailed diaries which depicted the complexities of daily life in British Columbia“! If you want to get to them before I do, they’re in Victoria in the BC Archives, Royal BC Museum, part of Series MS-2879 — the Crease family collection.
