Another example of PNW-izing the Bible: bannock and miner’s lettuce
Here’s the Northern Chinook version, totally understandable to Southern Dialect speakers too:
Image credit: BC Mag
Pi masaika mukmuk yaka okok polakli
‘And you will eat it [the slaughtered sheep] that night’kanamokwst dleit saplell pi waiyal letis.
‘along with straight bread and wild lettuce.’
— as found in Kamloops Wawa #202 (September 1902), page 156
Now here’s one standard English-language version of the same bible passage (Exodus 12:8) —
And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire;
and with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Image credit: Kekuli Cafe Kamloops
To my ears as a Chinooker, dleit saplell of 1902 Indigenous British Columbians who were the audience of this was likely to be bannock a.k.a. frybread.
And waiyal letis, from locally spoken English, makes me think of the delicate miner’s lettuce that grows under a giant conifer in my back yard.
𛰅𛱁𛰃𛱂 𛰙𛱁𛱆𛰅𛱁 𛰃𛱄𛰙𛰃𛱄𛰙? qʰáta mayka tə́mtəm?
kata maika tumtum? Qu’en penses-tu?
What do you think?
And can you say it in Chinuk Wawa?
Hey! Free stuff! Teach Yourself northern-dialect Chinook Jargon! It’s free!
And join free Zoom sessions…
Contact me for the Zoom link.
–and–


