Help with translation?

[Scott Tyler]

I agree it is nice bit of jargon.

The pronoun at the end of a sentence occurs commonly in NW Indian languages--eg Makah
    dadook atl ss  =  sing now I   =  English   Now I sing
    dadook atl id   =   sing  now we =  now we sing

My guess is that speakers of Native languages would bend their jargon the fit the syntax 
of their own tongue.  

Agree Hayas man could be a Chief or head of a family in the village he came from, perhaps a tough guy no one messed with.

kawaneike dum Dum, bos ammak kkuk Shie kod neke wauman.Komber Deneds Klumschemän, be kanisem wouwaure heller Iskum Män nike.  "

?  komber = koopa  ?  
 kakwa nika tomtom,                 spoos makuk okeoke chakoo nika woman            
as thought/heart I   = I thought     possibly trade/sell  that become me woman 

  ????    I thought that I might be traded/sold when I became a woman  ?? 
   
another possibility     amma  =  abba = very well, very good

kakwa nika tomtom  spoos abba okok chakoo nika woman
I think  it was very good that  became I woman  =  I think it was very good that I became a woman

It was common that marriages were arranged, by family parents, etc.--a deal could be made with exchange of material goods, 
perhaps a potlatch arranged.  This is a thought.   

 koopa tenes kloochman pi kwansim wawa hiloo iskum man nika
 that girl and always said no get man I  =  that girl always said I would not get married.

Scott

From: Sue Schafer 
  To: CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG 
  Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2002 8:16 PM
  Subject: Help with translation?


  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.  

  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.   

  "Now you could be at Heiesmän Gärk's wedding next week. They sure were surprised to hear that you were
  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.  "

  So from the dictionary....perhaps kawaneike dum Dum is really Kahkwa nika tumtum, so I think (literally, such [is] my heart.    Am not so sure about the rest.....   Deneds might be "Dennis", an unmarried son.    be kanisem could be "by canoe".   Iskum means "to take hold of"....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.   

  My great grandmother was not an educated woman and she spelled everything phonetically (accented with a Plattdeutsch dialect from Cologne).

  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)

  I appreciate any help you can provide.   
  Many thanks,
  Sue


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