French expressions that remind me of Chinook Jargon (Part 1)
I do a good deal of research work on Father JMR Le Jeune’s notebooks. They’re mostly in his first language, European French (from Brittany).
Image credit: The Perfect French
Le Jeune was of course a supremely fluent speaker of Northern-Dialect Chinook Jargon, and the creator of the CJ newspaper Kamloops Wawa (1891-1918, let’s say).
Engaging with both of these languages that Le Jeune thought in, I find that a number of recurring expressions strongly resonate between the two.
Today’s example:
- vers/environ 60 communions ‘about 60 communions’ —
- French vers is ‘towards’, in a physical sense.
- JMRLJ says weik-saiyaa ‘almost; not far’ in CJ for ‘about’ as well as the usual meaning ‘almost’.
