1914: LBDB’s “Chinook-English Songs”, part 10 of 15 “Ole Chuch Illahee”
I appreciate Laura Belle Downey-Bartlett calling a church a church. Does that mean the War on Churches is over?!
My non-USA readers might not pick up on that political/holiday reference, so I’ll drop it right now.
Image credit: Etsy
(A link to all installments in this mini-series.)
What I’m talking about is the fact that LBDB, in her lyrics to today’s song, uses the less well documented Jargon word chách from English, rather than the more popular Southern-dialect sánti-háws (‘Sunday-house’) or Northern-dialect st’iwi’etl-hous ‘prayer-house’.
(I’ve hinted elsewhere that I believe the coastal British Columbia place name, Church House, was originally Chinuk Wawa.)
Speaking of dialects, Ms Downey-Bartlett arrived early enough in the history of our region (1853) that her Jargon is properly called Central Dialect — the form of speech centered on Fort Vancouver, and spoken before the Southern or Northern ones existed.
This brings us to pages 30 & 31 of LBDB’s book, “Chinook-English Songs” (Portland, OR: Kubli-Miller, 1914).
As I so often warn my readers, even though LBDB knew all kinds of fluent genuine Jargon stuff, such as “silent kopa” — leaving out prepositions, that is — please don’t talk Chinuk Wawa like the following. It’s overly literary, which means she veered into being ungrammatical.
I’ll show ‘in single quotation marks’ the actual meaning of LBDB’s Jargon wording…
Know this, I had to refer to the English original lyrics to make any sense out of some of hers!
Which goes to show, LBDB’s peers might have “understood” her words, but that would only be due to their already knowing these songs in English & recognizing the shadow of them in her rusty Jargon.
TRANSLATION IS EXTREMELY HARD! The English language and Chinuk Wawa have very different cultures.
30
CHINOOK – ENGLISH SONGS
OLE CHUCH ILLAHEE.
Literally: ‘The Old Church Place.’Ict.
‘One.’Nah: chaco kah-kwa nika, kopa ole chuch illahee,
‘Hey: come like I do, to the old church place,’Nika kumtux o’e’hut, mitlite pe’chgh’ tupso,
‘I know the way, there’s green grass,’Tellicum moosum mitlite, nesika tikegh klosh tum-tum,
‘People who are sleeping are there, we want good hearts,’Nesika nanich nem, mitlite [Ø] ole chuch illahee.
‘We see the names that are at the old church place.’Nah: mika kopet cly, yah-ka tum-tum halo sick,
‘Hey: you(,) stop crying, she/he isn’t upset,’Wake mika cly, yah-ka copet cly,
‘Don’t you cry, she/he is done crying,’Kee-kwilla yah-ka moosum, kegh-techie cold pee kull,
‘Down below, she/he is sleeping, although it’s cold and hard,’Yah-ka bed konaway kah-kwa mitlite [Ø] ole chuch illahee.
‘Her/his bed is all the same(;) it’s at the old church place.’Mox.
‘Two.’Nika tum-tum kah-kwa peelton, konsi tellicum mamoloos,
‘My heart is like a crazy person, when people die,’Pee mamook klosh wau-wau, spose tum-tum sick,
‘And make good words, if the heart is hurting,’Nika tum-tum hy-iu hee-hee, klatawa konsi kah,
‘My heart laughs heartily, going to so many places,’Konsi nesika tellicum klatawa, kopa ole chuch illahee,
‘When our people go to the old church place,’Spose nika moosum kee-kwilla, kopa okoke stick,
‘If I sleep down below, in those woods,’Kartah mika kly, klosh tellicum pee nika,
‘How is it that you’ll cry, good people and I,’Nika till, tum-tum sick, kartah nika winapie,
‘I’m tired, downhearted, what am I going to do,’Klosh klatawa, wake mamook, mitlite [Ø] ole chuch illahee.
‘Just go, don’t put it* in the old church place.’Klone.
‘Three.’Nika tellicum kwanisum mitlite delate t’see moosum,
‘My people always have really sweet sex,’Si-yah kopa illahee, kah sick tum-tum, [Ø] me-sah-shie mitlite,
‘Away in the place where sadness (and) evil are,’Konsi wake tikegh, wake mamook mitlite klosh tellicum,
‘When* not wanting, not putting good people (there),’Mitlite wake mamook t’see ole chuch illahee.
‘It sits there not working, the sweet old church place.’Pee wake nika mamook, alki chaco te’wagh sun,
‘And I’m not working (until) bright sunrise,’Konsi toketee chaco pee skookum house illahee,
‘When* a pretty thing* comes and it’s a jail,’Konsi tah-manawis chaco wau-wau tin-tin Sahale Tyee,
‘When* a guardian spirit comes to talk about bells (to*) the Creator,’Mamock kum-tux yah-ka mamoloos mitlite [Ø] ole chuck illahee.
‘Informing that its dead ones are at the old church place.’Lockit.
‘Four.’Nah: kopet cly mika, nika tikegh klatawa,
‘Hey: all you do is cry; I want to leave,’Kopa halo mamook illahee, kah see-owist chuck wake chaco;
‘For a no-work place, where tears don’t come;’Wake nika kwass, klatawa mitlite [Ø] klale house;
‘I’m not afraid to go be in a black house;’Alki nika klatawa sahale, copet chuch illahee:
‘I’m going to go up, the church place is finished;’Nah-witka, tenas alki nika klatawa [Ø] sahale tellicum
‘Yes, in a while I’ll go to the sky people’Kah hy-as klosh tah-manawis kopa Sahale Papa le-mah;
‘Where there’s a really good guardian spirit at the Sky Father(‘s) hand;’Kwanisum konaway mitlite kopa okoke te’wagh house sahale
‘Always all are in that bright house up there’Yaka mamook kopa tah-manawis kopet ole chuch illahee.
‘(S)he/they work with the guardian spirit(,) the old church place is finished.’
And the original English title & lyrics:
CHINOOK – ENGLISH SONGS
31
1
Oh come, come with me, to the old church yard,
I well know the path through the soft green sward;
Friends slumber there, we were want [wont] to regard,
We’ll trace out their names, in the old church yard.
Oh mourn not for them, their grief is o’er,
Weep not for them, they weep no more,
For deep is their sleep, though cold and hard .
Their pillow may be in the old church yard.2
I know it seems vain when friends depart,
To breathe kind words to the broken heart;
I know that the joys of life seem marred,
When we follow our friends to the old church yard;
But were I at rest beneath yon tree,
Why should you weep, dear friends for me?
I’m wayworn and sad, Oh why then retard
The rest that I seek in the old church yard3
Our friends linger there in the sweetest repose,
Released from the world’s sad bereavements and vices;
And who would not rest with the friends they regard,
In quietude sweet in the old church yard?
We’ll rest in the hope of that bright day,
When beauty shall spring from the prison of clay,
When Gabriel’s voice, and the trump of the Lord,
Shall awaken the dead in the old church yard.4
Oh! weep not for me, I am anxious to go
To that haven of rest, where tears never flow;
I fear not, to enter that dark lonely ward;
For soon shall I rise from the old church yard;
Yes, soon shall I join that heavenly band
Of glorified souls at my Saviour’s right hand:
Forever to dwell in bright mansions, prepared
For the saints, who shall rise from the old church yard.
