1899, Yakima, WA: Hiyas … hops
Untranslated Chinook Jargon, even well into the post-frontier era, meant that local readers understood the message already.
Three unidentified Native hop pickers, Yakima Valley, Washington state, circa 1890s
(image credit: Washington Rural Heritage)
So, I bet they also spotted the misspellings in the Chinuk Wawa below…
…Picking will commence about the 10th
of September in some yards, and by the
18th or 20th everything will be in full
blast. You can then hear the laughing
and singing of the pickers and crying of
babies, and once in a while a mix up in
the hop yards. At night the Indians
will gamble with the bone game, have
their “cultus potlach and mamok toma-
mus” and a “hiyas kloshe me, me copa
hop time.” JOS N. FERNANDEZ.
— from the Yakima (WA) Herald of September 14, 1899, page 10, column 2
- cultus potlatch
= kʰə́ltəs pá(t)lach
= ‘freely give; give presents; have a potlatch’ - mamok tomamus
= mámuk t’əmánəwas
= ‘do medicine-powers’ - hiyas kloshe me, me copa hop time
= hayas-łúsh híhi kʰupa háp-tʰáym
= ‘very good fun at hops time’
