James Teit writing in CJ

[David Robertson]

Here's a challenge for all of you: some Chinook to try & translate.

Thanks to Dr. Wendy Wickwire for passing along an article by Roy
Gronneberg, "James Teit--friend of the Indians" that appeared in the "New
Shetlander", no. 126 (Yule number) 1978, pages 28-29.  I'd never heard of
this piece!

It includes a bit of a letter dated Dec. 20, 1902 from Teit to his friend
Haldane Burgess.  The letter accompanied a Chinook dictionary, so Teit
wrote a paragraph in CJ for his friend to practice translating.  The part
that's in CJ goes like this (apostrophes = accent marks; square-bracketed
stuff = Teit's own translation of a word):

"Tena's a'nkotte na'ika tlap pe'pa ko'pa na'ika tellekom Magnus Jamieson
kla'sla [WHO] me'tlait ko'pa Levenwik, pe ya'ka wa'wa kopa naika: 'Hai'as
tloos poos na'ika cha'ko kopa ya'ka o'kook kool, pe me'tlait konamokst.'
Tena's a'nkotte ya'ka me'maloost ight mo'osmoos pe ya'ka huihui haiyu' dlai
pish, ka'kwa yaka stop [HAS] haiyu' mo'kamok, pe ya'ka te'ke na'ika
ko'namokst ya'ka mo'kamok ko'nawe.  Ya'ka ma'mook pish ko'nawe o'kook
kapi't [LAST] warm, pe ya'ka tena's too'ls [GAIN] chi'kamen, ka'kwa ya'ka
wa'wa tlona's le'le ya'ka meli-i'.  Naika komto'ks ya'ka to'mlon [HEART] --
ya'ka te'ke e'lep kopa' na'ika, pe te'ke haiyu' hi'hi poos na'ika ki'mta.
Pe na'ika to'mlon [THINK] ya'ka tsi'pi -- poos ya'ka he'lo i'skom
kloo'tchman haia'k tlona's na'ika e'lep.  Na'ika kola'n te'llekom tlap
haiia' [PLENTY] pish ko'pa Shetland o'kook warm.  Dlet tloos ka'kwa, poos
kwa'nsem ka'kwa dlet e'lep tloos.  Wek le'le na'ika tla'tawa moo'sem ka'kwa
na'ika ma'mook kapi't o'kook pe'pa a'lla [NOW]."

What do you think Teit's saying here?

--Dave R

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