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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I am hoping that someone on this list might be able
to help translate some Chinook words for me.... I am having some old
letters translated from German. They were written by my great
grandparents who settled in the Satsop Valley in 1871. One of the
letters has some Chinook jargon in it. I went online and sifted
through the online Chinook dictionaries over and over, but I am hoping that
some one will have more success than I..... It really is a fun
puzzle. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Below you will find an excerpt from the letter
which was written by my great grandmother to her recently married
daughter. Hyasman was a Quinalt Indian who homesteaded nearby.
It appears that the Chinook comments were made by Hyasman's
wife. Another letter mentions the wedding at the
Hyasman's....over 100 Indians attended. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>"Now you could be at Heiesmän Gärk's wedding next week. They sure were
surprised to hear that you were<BR>already married! Klutsch said
(Heiesmäns) kawaneike dum Dum, bos ammak kkuk Shie kod neke wauman.Komber Deneds
Klumschemän, be kanisem wouwaure heller Iskum Män nike. "</DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>So from the dictionary....perhaps kawaneike dum Dum is really
<STRONG>Kahkwa nika tumtum, <I>so I think </I>(literally, <I>such
</I>[<I>is</I>]</STRONG><EM><STRONG> my heart</STRONG>.
</EM>Am not so sure about the rest..... Deneds might be "Dennis", an
unmarried son. be kanisem could be "by canoe".
Iskum means "<STRONG>to take hold of</STRONG>"....hmmmm.....no, it can't be
"gets man by canoe"....maybe someone on this list more familiar with the words
can fill in the blanks. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My great grandmother was not an educated woman and she spelled everything
phonetically (accented with a Plattdeutsch dialect from Cologne).</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Am also curious about the name Hyasman Gärk. Sometimes I see names in
German with the surname in the front, but I wonder if this was common with the
Indians....and is Gärk a name for a man or a woman? ...and when Indians
married...were the festivities at the groom's place or the bride's? (grn....this
is probably way off topic)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I appreciate any help you can provide. </DIV>
<DIV>Many thanks,</DIV>
<DIV>Sue</DIV>
<DIV><EM></EM> </DIV>
<DIV><EM></EM> </DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>