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[Theresa Kishkan]

Mike Cleven has sent me this information about the motto translation and I
am passing it along.

Theresa K.

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Direct translation of a phrase like 'feeding our spirits' doesn't work
well; it's the ideom, the concept, that has to be rendered, not the
words translated.  "Feeding" anyway is "potlatch muckamuck" not "ticky
muckamuck" (want to eat; "olo muckamuck" is "to be hungry").
'Tamahnous' doesn't mean "spirit" in the sense that is meant in the
motto; the word for that would be "tumtum".  The direct literal
translation would be "potlatch muckamuck [nesaika] tumtum"; "growing our
spirits" would be "chako hyas [nesaika] tumtum".  The square brackets
are a reminder that the personal possessive pronoun is NOT required,
especially in something like a motto that's supposed to fit on a
t-shirt.  e.g. "kloshe nanitch".  You'd only use the pronoun here for
emphasis, i.e. "ours and ours alone" or another emphatic context.

I'd recommend "chako skookum tumtum", which would mean "become strong
heart/spirit" or "become brave/bold", and to me expresses what we mean
in English "feeding our spirits" rather well.  "Chako kloshe tumtum"
could also work; it's more like "be happy" or "be well", though.
Theresa Kishkan
RR1 Site 20 C11
Madeira Park, B.C.
V0N 2H0
(604)883-2377
Red Laredo Boots (1996); Sisters of Grass (2000); Inishbream (2001)

"Our mark on the map might be rough trails or roads, open pastures, a wild
cartography of longing."