Some English glosses in Kamloops Wawa

[David Robertson]

Tlus son = kloshe sun = Lush san,

These might be fun to look at.  In KW #34, 10 July 1892, pages "1" and
following, is a 'History of the Old Testament / Age 1'.  There are a
number of places where Father Le Jeune wrote in English glosses for the
shorthand Chinook words.

Many of these words will be found in Le Jeune's 1924 "Chinook Rudiments"
in the list of words not used around Kamloops.  He probably got some of
these from published dictionaries.

Since most of his readers were probably not (very) literate or fluent in
English, Le Jeune may have gotten some negative reactions to this piece.
("What the hell, padre?!")  After 1892 he didn't bother much with looking
up 'foreign' Jargon words; instead, he relied on the resources of CJ as
used in Kamloops country to express whatever ideas he had in mind.

Some of these words, particularly at the beginning of the list, probably
were in actual use at Kamloops.  Maybe Le Jeune included the English
translations of these ones for the benefit of his non-Indian readers.

Here's the lot of them...


tlxop chok  (or maybe tlxwap chok)  "springs" [of water]

tanas kuli chok  "brooks"

kotin  "animals"  (maybe from Shuswap Salish--I'm not finding a source for
it very easily in Kuipers' 1974 grammar)

mamuk tlap  "[he] redeemed"

itlinwil  "ribs"

kaltash stik  "bushes"

mash ayu chok  "[to] sweat"

mamuk tsax ilihi  "[to] plow"

kwan  "mild"

chaku stux  (or maybe stawx)  "/mash/ forgiven"  (yes, a Jargon word + an
English word)

klaska chako komtaks  "were known"

tanas kopa tanas  "little by little"

mamuk lapola  "[they] feasted"

kwan  "tame"

kwanisim mitlait sahali ilihi  "eternal life"

kaw [sign of the cross] wawa  "covenant"

kapho  "elder brother"

Isia  "Asia"

Afrika  "Africa"

Yurop  "Europe"

Patriark  "Patriarchs"


--Dave R.

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