Chinook Days

[Rein Stamm]

Klahowya, 

I am in Vancouver B.C., and new to this list.  As a quick introduction, by day 
I do research related to Alberta 1st Nations.  Some of my spare time is spent 
with B.C. history.  As for CJ, I am using CJ sagahlie tyee Duane Pasco's kit 
and some other material to "iskum kumtux okook lalang" (to grab knowledge - 
learn - this language). I promised myself that I would get more serious.

Nika yahkwa, with something to share.       

I just read "Chinook Days" (1926, Vancouver, B.C.) by Tom MacInnes.  The 
book, "printed for the opening of the Grouse Mountain highway", is a collection 
of personal stories/tales about life on B.C.'s lower mainland and Vancouver 
Island in the 1800s.  In 1876 he was 7 and he remembers Gastown.

I searched the CJ List archives and I see no mention of this title.  CJ - as a 
language - is not the book's focus but it does hold a few short CJ related 
discussions.  If anyone knows this book, I am interested in hearing their take 
on it. [If you plan to read the book, read it before you read his online 
biography; or, if you read his online biography, keep an open mind as you read 
the book.]  

Of CJ MacInnes writes: "Even obscure spiritual concepts could be hinted at 
through Chinook.  Naturally the words and combinations for such were not in the 
traders' working list of words; and some of them were left out of the 
missionary lists because not comprehended; or because it was considered 
expedient to ignore them." (p.33)  

1. MacInnes writes: " the kahwok was what we mean by a person's guardian angel; 
one's own special totem or guiding spirit; kahwok-oo was the topmost reach of a 
man's nature when purified..." (p.33)

I found that Gill's Dictionary of CJ (1909; 18th ed. 1960) does not 
include "kahwok" or "kahwok-oo" as a CJ word; "kawok" is mentioned under a 
discussion of CJ's "Tamahnawus".  However, when Gill discusses "original 
Chinook" - as opposed to Jargon - "Kawok" is cited as an example and the 
meaning given is "A guardian Spirit". (p.40)
 
In B.C. we have Kauok River and Kauok Indian Reserve, both on Vancouver Island, 
roughly 100 miles north of Nootka Sound.  I think it a stretch to tie 
MacInnes' "kahwok"/ Gill's "kawok" to these two place names... but still...

Questions: Does anyone here know the meaning/etymology of B.C.'s "Kauok"?  Any 
related place names Washington or Oregon? 

2. MacInnes relates a boyhood conversation and a Native says: "Kwonsum Sokalie 
Tyhee mamook kopa sokalie.  Pe kwonsum Yo mitlite Yo."

Definitely CJ, save for "Yo" which I cannot find as CJ. MacInnes' translates 
the sentences as: "Forever the Lord on High works high.  But forever Yo stays 
Yo."  He defines "Yo" as "the eternal, unexistent...anterior to God...", and 
years later realizes the point made is "The Divine that can be divined is not 
the Eternal Divine". (p.35)

Something similar surfaces in "The Salish People" (1978, Vancouver, B.C), Hill-
Tout, c. 1900.  While discussing Totemism, Hill-Tout uses what he calls "the 
convenient term of Eskimo philosophy", the "yua" to describe the spirit, the 
essence or the mystery that surrounds and fills sacred places and objects.  I 
googled "yua" and "Eskimo" and I find this word/concept, so similar to "Yo", 
exists in the Yukit Eskimo language.  The Yukit language reaches to Alaska's 
south-west.  I suspect the Yukit traded with their southern neighbours.       

Question: Are "Yo" and "yua" one and the same?  The similarity in both meaning 
and sound cannot be purely coincidental.

Cleary the half dozen, or so, CJ words of a spiritual nature do not reflect the 
variations and depth of 1st Nation cosmologies.  There had to be more.  

Should "Yo", "kahwok", "kahwok-oo" be considered a part of CJ in general?  Or 
should they be considered strictly a part of the CJ dialect used in south-
western B.C.?  [Tyee Klootchman Chinook (The Queen's CJ - CJ as it should be 
spoken); Heehee. Nika mamook cultus wawa kopa Boston Tillicum]. 

Has anyone come across these words in other CJ writings, 1st nations 
linguistics, or anthropological papers dealing with west-coat cultures?

Mahsie,
Rein

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