Vocabulary of Indian words / Nootka Sound

[Leanne Riding]

Hello! Thanks for the info!
If the event took place in Aug. then perhaps the mid-winter ceremony is 
not what was happening there?
"kilcoolly tyhee" reminded me of CJ's "keekwillee tyee," the underground 
opposite of "saghalie tyee." That sounds earthquaky too. :)


I can contribute some history. If I fail to explain something very well, 
let me know and I will try to elaborate. Pardon me if I mention stuff 
already known by folks here, as it may be helpful to some readers.


The "Nootka" word lists /are/ important historically in understanding 
how CJ came to exist in its present form, and why there are ties between 
"Nootka" and CJ. These word lists are numerous because for years after 
the sensation caused by the visitation of Captain James Cook and his 
crew (1778), Nootka Sound (associated with the Nuuchahnulth) was a 
primary destination for ships heading to the northwest coast (except for 
Russian). One noteworthy account by Alexander Walker provides a list of 
over 100 "Nootka" words ca. 1785-86 (A sampling of words from that list 
which will sound familiar to CJ afficionados is below). Also noteworthy 
was an international rush for a foothold in the region which took place 
ca. 1788-91 (A listing of a few relevant names from that period will 
probably have a familiar ring: Dixon, Meares, Colnett, Metcalf, 
Kendrick, Gray, Martinez). Roundabout this time, canoes in Nootka Sound 
began to be rigged with sails (Colnett claims credit for this innovation 
in his account). So, while only a decade and a half passed between 
Cook's visit and Robert Gray's apparent initiation of the Boston ship 
trade in the Columbia River (1792), much of the coast was already by 
then well visited by trade vessels of all sorts. Also worth noting is 
that unless the author is hugely exaggerating, the document is very 
probably early; many people of Nootka Sound had guns by ca. 1805 and 
cannons would also be acquired. In other words, if it is felt that this 
manuscript could be dated pre-1800, that in itself would not pose a 
problem historically.

Another decade and a half later when Astoria on the Columbia River 
became another rival to "Nootka" (1811, by then other harbours on the 
coast were well visited), there is no reason to doubt that certain 
residents of the Columbia and those of Nootka Sound were in regular 
direct contact--plenty of textual evidence to support it at any rate. 
And of course other communities had ties as well. What I do not know 
--the descendents might know-- is how travel between such far-flung 
communities was normally carried out, but native passengers did also 
travel aboard the trade vessels themselves in various capacities.


What's important to know about the non-native coastal trading vessels 
destined for "Nootka" is that once they arrived they did not stay put. 
For all the emphasis placed on Nootka Sound, the coastal traders 
(pre-1811) did not expect to one-stop-shop, and they did not set up 
posts with stores (at least, none succeeded apart from the Spanish, and 
Meares briefly if his claims are to be believed). They sailed around 
looking for harbours, visiting as many coastal peoples as their stock of 
goods and supplies and ship's condition would allow. I would say it is 
very probable that something like today's familiar form of CJ took shape 
at numerous points on the coast simultaneously, because of the nature of 
its formation, and the mobile and stable presence of its speakers on all 
sides of the trading arrangements. I've always thought that some kind of 
repertoire of broadly-known words suitable for trade, etc., must have 
already existed in Nootka Sound and elsewhere before Cook came by 
anyway, and so far have not seen any reason to doubt it.

Another thought is that the words mentioned -- "mamook" [to do] 
"kilcoolly tyhee" [underground tyee] -- sound to me consistent with what 
might have been used in Nootka Sound as early as Walker's visit, whether 
CJ or not. On the other hand, I'm wondering, the way missionaries made 
use of the idea of "kilcoolly tyhee," does that have a bearing or not? I 
don't know much about the extent to which the current familiarity with 
these terms as a part of CJ has to do with Gold Rush-era dictionary 
compilation across the entire region; worth thinking about. In that 
light, also worth thinking about is, what does it mean when words such 
as Tenas and Potlatch are to be found in Gabriele Franchère's Columbia 
River word list apparently dating from 1811-1814?

Maybe a bigger question which I need explained to me at risk of starting 
a conflagration :) what exactly is Chinook Jargon, anway? In the sense 
of having to differentiate it from "Nootka."


Some other thoughts worth noting:

- The French character of CJ did not appear, in my opinion, until ca. 
1805 (roughly the time of the  Lewis and Clark expedition) when overland 
visitation by francophones began to touch the northern parts of the west 
coast.
- Between 1814-1846, there was very little political hindrance which 
might restrict movement in the region in question (except for Alaska), 
due to the boundary dispute between Britain and the U.S.A. Not that 
there was much of that before 1814-- but there certainly was after 1846.
- While "Nootka" captured the imaginations of investors, politicians and 
adventurers, who hoped to generate huge profits in the East Asian market 
by selling northwest coast sea otter pelts, in practice it was not easy 
to do so and competition could collapse a venture. The most frequent 
visitors, the most secretive, and the least noticeable were the 
entrepreneurs; historians have noted that they regularly kept secrets 
even from their employers. While the ships themselves might be 
considered "British" or "American" (or "Swedish" or "Portuguese" for 
that matter -- but thats another story) etc., the background of the 
captain, crew and passengers varied widely. Things they probably would 
not do: publicize the composition of their trade goods; publicize their 
actual profits and losses; publicize their favorite trading spots and 
convenient harbours.
- My interest is piqued as to whether the manuscript was written by a 
British writer or an American (ie. after ca. 1790) because the Boston 
ships became very active on the coast leading up the early 19th century.

Familiar-looking pre-1800 "Nootka" words, with a CJ word for comparison

 From Cook's 1778:
tanass, tanas [a man, "tenas"]
wook, wik [no, "wake"]
macook [to barter, "makook"]
seekemaile [iron, or metal of any sort, "chikimin"]
chauk [water, "chuck"]
pacheetl, pachatl [to give; give me, "potlatch" (in the CJ sense of "to 
give")]
tseeapoox [a conic cap made of mat, worn on the head]
aptsheetl [to steal, "ipsoot" lost or gone]

In Alexander Walker's 1785-86 "Nootka" word list:
sickemaillé [iron, "chickamin"]
mowitch [a deer, "mowitch"]
klootshama [a woman, "klootchman"]
tanas [a boy, "tenas"]
seeapoox [a plain cap (eds. "hat"), "seapeault"]
akee-ék [the barbs (on a fishing spear, eds. "thing whittled with 
knife"), "ikik" or fish hook]
klooksh. klookh [it is good. excellent (eds. "good", "Chinook Jargon"), 
"klosh"]
as. asko. [large. grand. a great many (eds. "many fish finning here and 
there"), compare "hyas"]
makook [trading (eds. "to buy"), "makook"]
apts sheetl [stealing (eds. "to hide"), "ipsoot," lost or gone]
klyeoksheetl [to drive as a stake, compare CJ "kakshitl" (probably a 
different word but similar idea)]
mamook [weaving (eds. "work"), "mamook"]
poohsheetl [blowing (eds. "blow once"), "poh"]
week [not (eds. "no; not"), "wake"]

 From Howay's edition of James Colnett's journal, 1789:
"peshak," "kapsualla" [Martinez: "pisce," "capsil" (pp. 62,317)]

Notes: Walker obtained most of his words at Nootka Sound from women, as 
he says on p. 88 of Fisher and Bumsted's edition. The editors state that 
Walker's effort was ultimately more thorough and accurate than the 
earlier 1778 list. He also took a much more limited word list from 
Prince William Sound, which as can be expected does not relate well to 
CJ. Two interesting exceptions from Prince William Sound, however are 
"makook" and "week," and due to the limited nature of the list there may 
have been other words in common.

see also
chamas (has been discussed on list before)

- Leanne



Scott Tyler wrote:

> Hi all,
> Probably  Kilcoolly Tyee is refering to   tlookwalli  which is the 
> main winter ceremonial of the Nootka/Makah.
> This is the Wolf Dance ceremonial.  Sounds like some is saying shoot a 
> gun (mamook pooh) to create noise which was sometimes
> done to scare away the  'Lincod which was eating the moon (lunar 
> eclipse) or to scare away the Wolves who were caring away young initiates
> into the klookwalli ceremonials (bull roarers were also used) , or 
> perhaps to scare away the cause of the earthquake 'the great chief above'
> or 'the great light above'.
> I suppose if they meant evil spirit they would have said  'mesatchie 
> tyee' or mesatchie tamanowas' but I do not know if they believed in 
> the dichotomy of the 'God of evil'
> and the 'God of good' we are accustomed to since contact with others.
> scott/ooshtaqi
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Robertson" <ddr11 at COLUMBIA.EDU>
> To: <CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 5:20 PM
> Subject: Vocabulary of Indian words / Nootka Sound
>
>
>> This is an unattributed handwritten document in photocopied form, 
>> also in
>> the BC Provincial Museum archives.  Seems pretty early, for various
>> reasons.  (For example, the writer uses the old-fashioned tall, 
>> straight s
>> as the first in a sequence of two S's.)
>>
>> The only obvious loanword in the five pages of vocabulary (pages 17-21)
>> is "soap".
>>
>> Pages 23-24 are journal entries dated Aug. 25th and Aug. 27th.  What 
>> year?
>>
>> The one from Aug. 25 tells of an earthquake that day.  "Our Indians"
>> shouted and made noise, asking "us" to "'Mamook pooh konaway,' in other
>> words blaze away right and left to frighten the 'Kilcoolly Tyhee'
>> or 'Spirit of Evil'..."
>>
>> I'm curious to know who wrote this, and when.
>>
>> It could be one of the earliest definite occurrences of CJ on Vancouver
>> Island.  (Because it contains both Nuuchahnulth & Chinookan words.)  One
>> thing I'm bound to be curious about is when CJ proper started being 
>> used up
>> here.  There are skidillions of word lists (you think I exaggerate?)
>> of "Nootka" from the decades around 1800.  But where should we look 
>> for the
>> first actual CJ on this island?
>>
>> I'd guess it would be 1805 or later, since the earliest CJ we know of is
>> from that year, in Lewis & Clarke's journals, in Clatsop country.  More
>> specifically, I'd expect it to be say 1825 or later.  My rough 
>> impression
>> is that it took about that long for CJ to crystallize around its own
>> autonomous norms.  George Lang presented a fascinating manuscript 
>> wordlist
>> of CJ circa 1826 at this year's conference of the SPCL (Society for 
>> Pidgin
>> & Creole Linguistics), making the point that this is among the earliest
>> such that doesn't just approximate Lower Chinookan-language words (let
>> alone Nuuchahnulth words).
>>
>> Some of you who better acquainted with the historical record of this 
>> place
>> than I am might be able to suggest when and how CJ migrated up the coast
>> from Oregon in the early 1800s.  Remember, Victoria (Fort Camosun) was
>> founded in 1843, by which time CJ had had mother-tongue speakers (!) in
>> Oregon for at least 15 years.  What other Native-Newcomer contact was
>> occurring on Vancouver Island between 1805 and then?
>>
>> --Dave R
>>
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>
> To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'.  To respond 
> privately to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'.  Hayu masi!
>

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