"Iht tanas man kopa Kwawt" translated into English

[Mike Cleven]

ddr11 at COLUMBIA.EDU wrote:
>
> Howdy,
>
> Here's a translation from the Chinook Jargon of that excerpt I posted last
> week.  Is Kwawt in Shuswap country?  --  Dave
>
> "Iht tanas man kopa Kwawt, iaka nim Mishel Toma, iaka skukum haws tanas,
> ankati, kopa Wesminster [sic].
> [A boy from Kwawt, named Michel Thomas, was formerly a prison boy* at (New)
> Westminster (BC).]

Rather than "formerly a prison boy", I read the use of tanas there as
referring to "a little while".
>
> "Kopa Krismas, iaka kopit skukum haws; pi iaka tilikom mash chikmin kopa
> iaka, pus iaka kilapai kopa iaka ilihi.
> [At Christmastime, he quit the prison; and his folks sent him money, for
> him to return to his [own] country.]

"he ended his time".  You can't quit a prison....('quit' implies
voluntarily, of one's own free will, even in the archaic sense I think
you meant here)
>
> "Pi dret iaka tlap ukuk chikmin, pi ilo iaka kilapai kopa iaka ilihi.
> [And he really did get that money, but he didn't return to his country at
> all.]
>
> "Klunas kah iaka klatwa.
> [He may have gone anywhere.]

Who knows where he went.  Probably meant as a question.
>
> "Iaka tilikom ayu sik tomtom kopa iaka.
> [His folks are very worried about him.]
>
> "Pus klaksta man iaka nanich iaka, tlus iaka aiak mamuk komtaks kopa
> nsaika."
> [If any one sees him, they should let us know.]
>
> *(I inserted commas for readability; I'm reading this as 'iaka skukum haws
> tanas, ankati' ["prison boy (=worker?)], formerly".  Alternatively we might
> read 'iaka skukum haws tanas ankati', a slightly strange way of saying "he
> was [in] prison a little while back".)  Comments?

as noted "fora little while" rather than any reference to him as a boy.
he (was at) the prison (for a) small (time), in the past (i.e. this
qualifies that he's not there now).

MC