1897, BC: Awesome background on lakamín, in French, with humor!
Here’s a funny, maybe true, story from British Columbia’s frontier era that’s focused on lakamín, a cultural trait and a word that are important to Chinook Jargon.
The following is just my first pass through, translating from shorthand French, which I’ve transliterated into a kind of standard-French-oriented representation of the phonemic Duployé shorthand you see below.
Anyone reading this & having suggestions about the translation is invited to leave Comments after this article! Words with an asterisk* at* the* end* are ones I have questions about.
A brief note before we dive in. Father JMR Le Jeune of the Kamloops Wawa newspaper pretty clearly keeps referring to < (la) kaminn >, with a “K”. That indicates how, despite knowing this as a local Métis/Canadian word (typical for him, he says “Hudsons Bay”), he doesn’t know the etymology that I’ve demonstrated: la gamine.
Now, “Anecdotes” of frontier-era misunderstandings between cultures, a favorite early PNW folk genre:
<Anecdotes.> Il i ore de chos
‘There would seem to be rather curious’
ase kurieus a rakonte sur le prmie tan d la
‘things to tell about early times in the’
kolonisasion d s pei.
‘colonization of this region.’L prmie magasin d marchandis sur la rivier
‘The first general store on the Fraser’
Freser fu etabli a <Fort Langley>, a
‘River was established at Fort Langley,’
<30> mil environ d lanbouchur du <Fraser>.
‘30 miles or so from the mouth of the Fraser.’Eun sovaj vin o magasin pour achte d la farinn.
‘A Native man came to the store to buy some flour.’
Il ave vu dotr sovaj fer unn espes d
‘He had seen other Natives making a type of’
soup ou d bouion delitan* k le komodieu* d la konpagni d
‘delicious* soup or broth that the employees* of the Hudsons’
la be dEudsin aple d la kaminn. Pour fer la
‘Bay Company called “lakamin”. To make’
kaminn la farinn grosier ete osi bonn k la farinn finn.
‘lakamin, coarse flour was as good as fine flour.’
Notr sovaj san ale donk o magasin cherche d
‘So our Native headed to the store looking for’
kwa fer sa soup. Il mi la min sur eun sak
‘things to make soup with. He touched a sack’
d sukr: = Haw meuch oukouk saplil?
‘of sugar: “How much ukuk saplil?”’
Konbiin set farin? dmanda til o marchan. =
‘(How much this flour?) he asked the merchant.’
<20> dolar; <100> fran, lui futil repondu.
‘ “Twenty dollars” (100 francs), came the answer.’
= Sete tro cher pour lui. = Il mi alor la
‘This was too expensive for him. He then touched’
min sur eun sak d farinn ordiner. = Pi haw
‘a sack of ordinary flour. “Pi how’
meuch oukouk saplil? = E pui konbiin set otr
‘much ukuk saplil?” (So then how much this other’
farin? = <60> fran, <12> dolar. = Il san
‘flour?” “Sixty francs” (12 dollars). He’
vin* an trwasiem* lieu* a eun sak d sel.
‘came to a third spot, to a sack of salt.’= Haw meuch oukouk saplil? = Konbiin ssi farinn,
‘ “How much ukuk saplil?” (How much this flour?)’
fitil pour la trwasiem fwa? = <6> tala, <30> fran
‘said he a third time. “6 tala” (30 francs)’
di l marchan. = Se bon s pri s sak.
‘said the merchant. “This good this price this sack.” ’
L marchan lui fi biin observe, s nete pa d la farin,
‘The merchant took pains to make him know this wasn’t flour,’
k sa n fre pa d bonn kaminn*: = Peutetr pa bon
‘and it wouldn’t make good lakamin. “Maybe’
pour de blan di l sovaj, me pour de sovaj
‘not good for White,” said the Native, “but for Native’
aias tlous, tre bon. = E il porta son sak
‘aias tlus” (very good). And he took his sack’
d sel apre avwar peie se <30> fran.
‘of salt after paying his 30 francs.’Arive che lui il neu riin d plu presan k d
‘Back at home, he had nothing more urgent to do than to’
fer sa kaminn. Il mi plusieur pwagne d sel
‘make his lakamin. He put several handfuls of salt’
dan sa ptit marmit, anverse d lo la dsu
‘in his little cooking pot, poured some water on top,’
e mi l po an o feu. Apre avwar fe bouiur un tan
‘and put the pot over the fire. Having boiled it for a pretty considerable’
ase konsiderable, il voule goute sa soup.
‘time, he wanted to taste his soup.’Modi*! Sa n goute pa tre bon. = S ne pa
‘Dang*! It didn’t taste very good. “It’s not’
ankor kui, s di l sovaj, e il kontinue a fer
‘done yet,” thought the Native man, and kept feeding’
du feu e a fer bouier sa soup, la goutan d
‘the fire and boiling his soup, tasting it from’
tan an tan, jusko moman, ou tout lo sete
‘time to time, to the point where all of the water had’
evapore il n lui resta plu keun peu d sel o fon
‘evaporated; nothing was left but a bit of salt in the bottom’
d sa marmit.
‘of his cooking pot.’
—
— from Kamloops Wawa #154 (July 1897), page 102 “Our French Page”, “Anecdotes”
