1892, OR: A Chinook Jargon inscription in an autograph album
Colleen Bayley Harrington, in the Facebook “Chinook Jargon” group, posted this treasure and let me write about it here:
Hello! I found this entry in what I assume is Chinook Jargon in an 1890s autograph book from Hebon/Woods, Oregon and thought I’d share an image.
Nica Mamook Chim Capa
nayka mamuk-t’sə́m kʰapa
‘I’m writing for’Mica Papa(;) Spose Mica Nanage
mayka pápa; spus mayka nánich
‘your father; when you see’Ocoke Chim Mica Cumtux
úkuk t’sə́m mayka kə́mtəks
‘this writing you’ll know’
Mica Six Mamook Chim Ocoke
mayka síks mamuk-t’sə́m úkuk
‘your friend wrote this.’Gnofink.* M. Whug*
Clone Moon(,) Ict Sun(,) wake siah
ɬún mún, íxt sán, wík-sáyá
‘ Third month, first day, near’polacla Jaean* Dindy 1892
púlakʰli
‘evening.’
The reason I find this Chinuk Wawa so compelling is triple.
First, it’s pretty substantial, not just a couple of words.
Second, it’s written in idiosyncratic spellings that you don’t find in the old popular published dictionaries, so we can take it as reflecting someone’s real acquaintance with the Jargon. We’re told the owner of the autograph book was Laur[i]a Kennedy (daughter of William Rhoades), so there’s a clue about its provenance.
Third, at least one pronunciation implied by these spellings, capa, matches what we know of typically Grand Ronde Indian Reservation usage: kʰapa.
Colleen also shared the above image of an English-language inscription that’s in the same album. It places the locale as Hebo, Tillamook County, in northwestern Oregon.
