1876 humor: “Hyas potlatch”, a newfound gem of a Chinook Jargon text from NW Washington
Do you realize how awesome it is to find specimens of sustained discourse in Chinuk Wawa as early as the 1870s?
Image credit: Stump Ranch Online
We’ve got some familiar names here from northwestern Washington in the “Chinook Jargon invitations to Settler social events” department.
And the Jargon on display here is excellent!
Editor Eldridge Morse’s (1847-1914) Chinook is spontaneous and fluent, and it’s one of the earliest substantial data chunks we have on the Northern Dialect.
Already it’s showing distinctly northern usages, including the word lost, a preference for expressing ‘can’t; impossible’ as wake carta (wík-qʰáta), the use of tolo (túluʔ) for ‘manage to do’ something, some borrowed Coast Salish, and so on.
(I feel that the quoted invitation at the start of today’s article is less fluent, which is also a fact of interest. Even in a short text, it shows grammatical weaknesses and a reliance on published dictionaries that contain words not known in the Northern Dialect. Eldredge’s voluminous response may have been meant partly to shame the invitation writer! See what you think.)
Smack dab in the middle of the frontier period, absolutely no translation into English was needed for the nearly 400 words of Chinuk Wawa that you’re about to read.
For your benefit, I’ll add interpretation afterwards 😁
Hyas Potlatch.
MUCK-A-MUCK CLAMS.
TYEE ELDRIDGE MORSE,
Kla-how-ia Seam: — Nesica ticky mica, pee coneway mica clootchman chaco conamox nesica copa inatie chuck mamook hyas potlatch pee muck-a-muck hyu clams; copa tenas sun elip Sunday.
Close mica lolo tenas opekwan copa sapolill ictas, pee halo icsoot.
Mica Tilicum, Jim Seldon, Ben Miller, Joe Kuhn, Morris Haller.
Marsa, marsa seams, copa mesica close tumtum. Chee nica klap mesika paper, pee nica ticky hyack killipi sum copa mesica.
Nica delate sick tumtum. Wake carta spose nica tolo clatawa copa mesica Potlatch. Mesica cumtux nica. Conaway claxta cumtux nica. Nica tyee copa okoke paper, yaca name STAR; pe coneway claxta copa okoke illihee, delate chaco lost, spose nica chaco halo copa Snohomish, cultus spose copet copa ict Sunday; pe wecht nica halo cloochman, pe nica wake ticky clatawa spoe halo conamox. Clonas mesica tumtum wake cull mamook spose tyee, cockwa nica, tolo clootchman. Clonas mesica halo cumtux yaqua illihee; yaca haluima copa enatie chuck. Close mesica cumtux. Wake hyu clootchman midlite yackwa, clonas mox man copa ict clootchman; pee clonas carta cluska conawa wake tiky nica; nica delate tiky cluska; pee clonas carta cluska wake tiky klap nica wawa. Okoke Tyee Ben yaca tolo ict quanisum, Skookum Clark, Boston Charlie, Close Ike, Cultus Ben, Snohomish George, Sapolil Theron, Tenas Andrew, Close Fred, Elip Tenas Clate, pee ict yaca name copa siwash Kah Kah, cluska tolo coneway clootchman yackwa. Pee okoke medicine man tolo coneway, cultus spose claxta. Clonas mesica cumtux alta carta nica halo tolo clootchman, cultus spose nica lolo ict copa siah, wake consick cluska midlite laly conamox nica Tenas ankutty ict boat, cockway steamer, chaco yakwa, pee hyu delate close clootchman midlite, pee cluska coneway wawa ‘mica hyu mamook copa paper,’ pee cluska quas spose nica halo close-nanage cluska, pee cluska wake ticky nica, cockwa mesica cumtux nica delate clahawya. Ict, ict, nica tumtum, close nica marsh okoke paper, pee nica quas spose coneway cluska mimaloose copa information. Close mesica wawa copa Sockalie Tyee copa nica; hias sick nica tumtum. Clonas alki spose mesica mamook potlatch, nica clatawa copa mesica, pee alta nica ticky midlite close nanich nica tenas paper. Close mesica wake marsh tumtum copa nica. Spose mesica cumtux close clootchman, close mesica mamook cumtux nica, pe nica iscum yaca.
— from the Snohomish City (Washington Territory) Northern Star of July 22, 1876, page 4, column 1
Now, for the promised interpretation, plus a few comments:
Hyas Potlatch.
‘Big Party.’
MUCK-A-MUCK CLAMS.
‘Eat clams.’
TYEE ELDRIDGE MORSE,
‘Boss Eldridge Morse,’
Kla-how-ia Seam: — Nesica ticky mica, pee coneway mica clootchman chaco conamox nesica
‘Hello Sir: — We want you, and all of your wives, coming along with us’
copa inatie chuck mamook hyas potlatch pee muck-a-muck hyu clams; copa tenas sun elip
‘to the other side of the water to make a big party and eat lots of clams; in the morning of the first*’
Sunday.
‘Sunday.’
Close mica lolo tenas opekwan copa sapolill ictas, pee halo icsoot.
‘Please bring a little basket with bread stuff, and don’t hide* it.’
Mica Tilicum, Jim Seldon, Ben Miller, Joe Kuhn, Morris Haller.
‘Your friends, Jim Seldon, Ben Miller, Joe Kuhn, Morris Haller.’
Marsa, marsa seams, copa mesica close tumtum. Chee nica klap mesika paper, pee nica ticky hyack
‘Thanks, thanks Sirs, for your kind sentiments. As soon as I got your letter, I wanted to immediately’
killipi sum copa mesica.
‘write back to you folks.’
Nica delate sick tumtum. Wake carta spose nica tolo clatawa copa mesica Potlatch. Mesica cumtux
‘I’m really sorry. I can’t manage to go to your party. You folks know’
nica. Conaway claxta cumtux nica. Nica tyee copa okoke paper, yaca name STAR; pe coneway claxta
‘me. Everybody knows me. I’m the boss to this paper called the STAR; and everyone’
copa okoke illihee, delate chaco lost, spose nica chaco halo copa Snohomish, cultus spose copet copa
‘in this place would really be lost if I disappeared from Snohomish, even if it was just for’
ict Sunday; pe wecht nica halo cloochman, pe nica wake ticky clatawa spose halo conamox. Clonas
‘one Sunday; and also I have no wife, and I wouldn’t want to go if I had no partner. Maybe’
mesica tumtum wake cull mamook spose tyee, cockwa nica, tolo clootchman. Clonas mesica halo
‘you folks think it’s not hard work for a boss like me to manage to get a wife. Maybe you don’t
cumtux yaqua illihee; yaca haluima copa enatie chuck. Close mesica cumtux. Wake hyu clootchman
‘know this place; it’s different from across the water. You ought to know. There aren’t many women’
midlite yackwa, clonas mox man copa ict clootchman; pee clonas carta cluska conawa wake tiky nica;
‘living here, it’s about two men per one woman; and for some reason they all dislike me;’
nica delate tiky cluska; pee clonas carta cluska wake tiky klap nica wawa. Okoke Tyee Ben yaca tolo ict
‘I sure like them; but somehow they don’t want to take my advice. That Boss Ben manages to get one’
quanisum, Skookum Clark, Boston Charlie, Close Ike, Cultus Ben, Snohomish George, Sapolil Theron,
‘all the time, Strong Clark, American Charlie, Good Ike, No-Good Ben, Snohomish George, Bread Theron,’
Tenas Andrew, Close Fred, Elip Tenas Clate, pee ict yaca name copa siwash Kah Kah, cluska tolo
‘Little Andrew, Good Fred, Littler Clate, and another called Wherever in Indian, they manage to get’
coneway clootchman yackwa. Pee okoke medicine man tolo coneway, cultus spose claxta. Clonas
‘all the women around here. And that medicine man gets ’em all, doesn’t matter who they are. Maybe’
mesica cumtux alta carta nica halo tolo clootchman, cultus spose nica lolo ict copa siah, wake consick
‘you folks understand now how it is I’m not winning myself a wife, even if I imported one, they’d never’
cluska midlite laly conamox nica Tenas ankutty ict boat, cockway steamer, chaco yakwa, pee hyu delate
‘stick around with me for long. A while ago a boat, like a steamer, came here, and there were lots of really’
close clootchman midlite, pee cluska coneway wawa ‘mica hyu mamook copa paper,’ pee cluska quas
‘nice ladies on it, but they all said “You just work and work on that newspaper,” and they were worried’
spose nica halo close-nanage cluska, pee cluska wake ticky nica, cockwa mesica cumtux nica delate
‘I might not take care of them, so they didn’t want me, so you folks know I’m really’
clahawya. Ict, ict, nica tumtum, close nica marsh okoke paper, pee nica quas spose coneway cluska
‘pitiful. Sometimes I’ve thought I should get rid of this newspaper, but I’m afraid they’d all’
mimaloose copa information. Close mesica wawa copa Sockalie Tyee copa nica; hias sick nica tumtum.
‘starve for information here. Please pray to God for me; I’m real sad.’
Clonas alki spose mesica mamook potlatch, nica clatawa copa mesica, pee alta nica ticky midlite close
‘Maybe some day if you have a party, I can go visit you, but now I need to stay and keep’
nanich nica tenas paper. Close mesica wake marsh tumtum copa nica. Spose mesica cumtux close
‘an eye on my little paper. Please don’t forget about me. If you folks know of a nice’
clootchman, close mesica mamook cumtux nica, pe nica iscum yaca.
‘lady, please let me know, and I’ll take her on.’
This is quite good Chinook Jargon. It’s at a high enough level of fluency and clarity that Morse’s sense of humor shines through, which is not something we can say about folks who speak the language less well. As to Morse’s lack of a wife — his spouse Mollie had died about 4 months earlier.
