1858, OR: Origin of Oregon Jargon — mischievous trappers?
Here’s a slightly different bit of Pacific NW folklore about where Chinuk Wawa came from!
Here’s a novel hypothesis about why Chinook Jargon sounds odd to a lot of folks:
ORIGIN OF OREGON JARGON. — Long ago, says
the Placerville Index, when the Hudson Bay trap-
pers commenced operations in the wilds of Ore-
gon, the Indians used to crowd about their camps
and trading posts for the purpose of bartering
peltry, hawks [?! do they mean “hawk bells”?], beads, and such other trinkets as
the Fur Company kept for that purpose. The
savages were very inquisitive, and were eternal-
ly asking questions about the white men. Out
of sheer deviltry, the mischievous trappers would
give the poor Indians the most rediculous [SIC] an-
swers to such queries, little dreaming that their
jokes and fun would ultimately establish a lan-
guage among men. Such, however is verily the
case. These mongrel slang phrases and names,
were never forgotten by the Indians, but have
been formed into a conventional tongue, which
like the Latin among civilized men, is now un-
derstood and spoken by the various tribes, for
hundreds of miles around. If you address any
Indian, from Shasta to the Dalles, or even to
Washington Territory, in the Oregon jargon he
will as readily understand it as in his own ver-
nacular.
— from the Oregon City (Oregon Territory) Oregon Statesman of July 20, 1858, page 2, column 2
I need to make sure you know — this idea itself is ridiculous. No known language (outside of some modern “conlangs”) has ever been concocted as a joke on someone.
I need to reinforce my point — there are indeed real languages that are traditionally used, and that probably originated, as “secret” languages. That, however, is not the same thing as playing pranks on unsuspecting outsiders.
Bonus fact:
The same page gives news of the Frasier (i.e. Fraser) River gold excitement, which is said to be a possible new Colville! This is important stuff for students of Chinook Jargon. Both of those gold rushes, but especially the Fraser, led immense numbers of newcomers to suddenly overtake southern British Columbia, bringing CJ with them.
There’s also a fascinating article about “Colored People at Vancouver Island”, African-Americans being received graciously by Sir James Douglas. Great reading here, folks.
