FAQ - Chief Seattle speech

[lilandbr at scn.org]

>On Fri, 17 Jul 1998, Mike Cleven wrote:
>>=20
>> Even the Jargon term for "God", by the way - Saghalie Tyee - is
>> thought to be a term invented by missionaries as a reference to the
>> Christian deity, and it would be difficult to refer another deity in
>> the Jargon.  Natives of the region did have an idea of a supreme or
>> omnipotent over-deity prior to Christianization, but I doubt the
>> converted Seatlh would (or could) have made such a comment.
>>=20
>....It seems to me that Jay Miller, in his prefatory notes to "Coyote
>Stories" by Mourning Dove (Bison Books) states that the natives of the
>Pacific NW region did have a concept of a supreme "chief" spirit.  (I
>can't seem to find this comment in the book right now, though.) =20
>
>Personally I suspect that saXali tayi could easily be a Christian term.
>Indians whom I've heard talk have never referred to a "sky chief" or any
>such!  Terms like "creator" seem much more prevalent.  Anybody else have=
 a
>notion?

Personally, I always figured "Saghalie Tyee" was a sneaky attempt=20
(whether by missionaries or "Siwash" seems not terribly relevant)=20
to preempt a Texaco trademark.

It seems just possible that terms themselves might be culturally neutral,=
=20
and that NW Indians might have had a concept of a supreme "chief" spirit=20
indeed--just as Christians had a concept of a "Creator".  It's even=20
conceivable (in my opinion, conceivable from either an Indian or a Boston=
=20
perspective) that despite differences of conception and description, the=20
underlying referent of "Saghalie Tyee", "God", "Creator", etc. might be=20
One and the Same.  Of course, conceivability don't necessarily make it=20
so.  After all, the English word "God", the Latin "Deus", and the Greek=20
"Theos" are all of pagan polytheistic origin, no matter how =
monotheistically
Judeo-Christian some particular person's concept for which he or she uses=
=20
one of those terms may be.

In Vi Hilbert's _Coyote and Rock_ audiotape of Lushootseed stories,=20
incidentally a collection that could well be translated into Chinuk Wawa,=
=20
one of the stories deals with the Creator's distribution of languages and=
=20
with the people's efforts to raise the (fallen) sky to its rightful=20
altitude, a story which bears comparison with the Biblical Tower of Babel=
=20
story, and which makes me wonder whether the Lushootseed story is in some=
=20
way reflective of Babel or whether it is wholly independent (it's=20
certainly not wholly *dependent*, I just wonder if the Bible is part of=20
its cultural background or something I brought to it as listener)...

Liland

--
 Liland Brajant Ros' * UEA-D, Seatlo Usono * FD Baptismo, AA, US-lit-ro
 204 N 39th St / Seattle WA 98103 Usono | tel 206-633-2434  /  Lernu la=20
    anglan -- la mikrosofta lingvo!  Cxiu jam parolas gxin!  / ;-{
Vizitu La Lilandejon : http://www.scn.org/~lilandbr/ (some English,too!)