History of Oregon Literature/Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
Chinook Jargon as a Literary Language
A Chinook word is elastic and expresses a broad and general idea rather than one altogether specific, hence the extreme elasticity of the Chinook jargon.
Buchanan
"A grotesque jargon called Chinook is the lingua-franca of the whites and Indians of the Northwest," wrote Theodore Winthrop in 1853. "It is a jargon of English, French, Spanish, Chinook, Kallapooga, Haida, and other tongues, civilized and savage. It is an attempt on a small scale to nullify Babel by combining a confusion of tongues into a confounding of tongues—a witches' caldron in which the vocable that bobs up may be some old familiar Saxon verb, having suffered Procrustean docking or elongation, and now doing substantive duty; or some strange monster, evidently nurtured within the range of tomahawks and calumets. There is some danger that the beauties of this dialect will be lost to literature. The Chinook jargon still expects its poet."
To a surprisingly extensive and varied degree it is not lost to literature. And, as several selections will show, it has had its poets.
Altogether in a literary way it is an impressive language. Perhaps no other composite and manufactured tongue has served such noble and poetic purposes of expression. The missionaries used it as the successful medium for the communion of the spirits of two different peoples. From wilderness camps, hymns and prayers went up to God in the blue heaven above in the Chinook jargon, which had a sufficient richness and flexibility for this exaltation and praise. Vast and magnificent it must have been, and very beautiful, as it came from tribal throats. A greater triumph it was for the Chinook jargon than for Christian doctrine, considering that, as at the 1839 camp meeting at The Dalles, the Indians sometimes naively proposed that they ought to be paid for their excellent demonstrations of worship.
With more sincerity, an Indian girl used it for a death wail—a song of hope and immortality, with its beautiful refrain of Tamala, tamala—tomorrow and tomorrow. The last words of a Yakima chief were uttered in this tongue. When we read the dying expression of Stonewall Jackson—"Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees"—we realize what a beautiful language English is, when kept beautiful in its simplicity. So when Chief Qualchien in a quarter of an hour's time faced dark extinction, he cried out in Chinook jargon a plea that reverberated in the recollection of an American soldier all his life as having the profoundest pathos of any sounds he ever heard. From its initial utilization as the parlance of barter to such uses as these, how far had the language advanced.
It was such a language that Myron Eells could say of it that for eighteen years he had "talked in it, sung in it, prayed and preached in it, translated considerable into it and thought in it…."
Thought in it! For a white man it had become a vehicle of thought. To the lips of the Indian it came spontaneously to express his deepest feelings. Though the vocabulary was derived from many sources, the Indian's mind and spirit were the sieve through which it was strained. His was the governing philology. This kept it simple. This accounts for the child-like freshness and charm of the word combinations. This, in short, is what made it a literary language instead of a harsh, emotionless and artificial esperanto.
Much of the poetry of the Chinook jargon comes from the application of a single adjective to an assortment of nouns to form by this combination new nouns instead of having separate substantives. For instance, take tenas, an adjective meaning small. Then take this list of nouns: snass—rain, waum—warm, cole—cold, moos-moos—cow, klootchman—woman. Then tenas snass would be a shower—little rain; tenas waum would be spring and tenas cole would be autumn—the season when it was getting a little warm or a little cold; tenas moos-moos, a small cow or a calf, and tenas klootchman, a small woman or a girl. How much more charming these synthetic phrases are than separate terms, as in a richer language, since the source of the meaning is right there with all its original atmosphere.
The jargon gets a poetic quality from another child-like characteristic—that of onomatopoeia. "… most of the words," said Hezekiah Butterworth, "resemble in sounds the objects they represent. For example, a wagon in Chinook is chick-chick, a clock is ding-ding, a crow is kaw-kaw; a duck, quack-quack; a laugh, tee-hee; the heart is tum-tum, and a talk or a speech or sermon, wah-wah." It is not true, of course, that most words are of this nature, but the list given by Butterworth could be greatly extended from any Chinook jargon dictionary.
It is a language that "has served as an inter-communicating medium between civilization and the mystery of the savage mind for more years than most people know." And before that it was serving as a linguistic clearing house for the savages of many dialects themselves. The first mention of it by a white man was in 1788 by Meares. It has accordingly been in use for 147 years, for to some extent it is a living language and is still in use. Interest in it is indicated by the fact that there have been more than fifty editions of vocabularies and dictionaries during the past hundred years.
The statement was made in Oregon Native Son in 1900 that "in pioneer days there were but few but what understood this language, and the children frequently could speak, it as well as they could English." Edward Harper Thomas, in Chinook: A History and Dictionary, the most recent study of the language, gives figures to show that in the total its syllables have been familiarly upon the tongues of a multitude:
At one time, some fifty years ago, fully one hundred thousand persons spoke the Jargon. Among all the generations since 1811, or thereabouts, it has been used by upwards of a quarter of a million, to many of whom it was an everyday necessity.
As a part of its literary use not formally considered here, Mr. Thomas points out that a half-dozen or so Chinook words, notably tillicum, cheechaco, tyee, skookum and cultus, are regularly employed "in the vocabularies of writers who cater to the supposedly western-type, pulp-paper magazines. Most of these writers know only these few words and do not know these very well."
The following examples of literature in the Chinook jargon have been selected to represent most of the forms that could be found—hymns, sermons, prayers, translations, songs, poetry, dialogues, harangues, a letter, and the sad death plea of Qualchien.
1
Chinook Sermon to the Indians in 1888
By Myron Eells
About a fourth of the sermon, consisting of the first four paragraphs, is given here. The speaker used large pictures to which he referred in his discourse.
Okoke sum mika tikegh wawa kopa mesika kopa okoke papeh. Kimtah Jesus yaka get-up, yaka mitlite kopa illahee lakit tahtlum sun. Spose kopet lakit tahtlum sun, Jesus yaka tikegh klatawa kopa Saghalie. Kahkwa yaka lolo yaka tillikums klahanie kopa town, kopa okoke illahee kah mesika manitch klaska. Yahwa mesika nanitch Jesus. Yahwa yaka tillikums. Jesus yaka tikegh potlatch kloshe wawa kopa yaka tillikums, elip yaka killapi kopa Saghalie.
Alta mika mamook kumtux mesika kopa Jesus yaka wawa kope yaka tillikums. Yaka wawa kopa klaska: "Kloshe mesika klatawa kopa konoway illahee, konoway kah, pe lolo Bible wawa kopa konoway tillikums." Kahkwa Jesus yaka wawa kopa klaska.
Jesus yaka kumtux konoway tillikums, konoway kah, halo kumtux kopa kloshe home kopa Saghalie. Klaska halo kumtux kopa. Lejaub yaka home kopa hias piah. Jesus yaka kumtux ikt man yaka tumtum delate hias mahkook; yaka elip hias mahkook kopa konoway dolla pe konoway iktas kopa konoway illahee. Kahkwa yaka tikegh yaka tillikums, yaka leplet, klatawa konoway kah, pe help konoway tillikums mash Lejaub yaka owakut, pe klap Jesus yaka owakut.Translation
Two Sundays ago I spoke to you concerning that picture. There you saw two women coming to the sepulchre where Jesus lay, on Sunday, just at sunrise. Jesus had risen; He was gone. So I told you in that sermon.
Today I wish to explain to you about this picture. After Jesus had risen, He continued on the earth forty days. When the forty days were ended, He desired to ascend to heaven. So he led the people out of the city to that place where you behold them. Here you see Jesus. There are those people. Jesus wished to give good instructions to the people before He returned to heaven.
Now I will explain to you the teaching of Jesus to those people. He said to them: "It is good that you should go to every country in all the world, and carry the Gospel to all nations." Thus spoke Jesus to them.
Jesus was aware that all the nations of the world had no knowledge of the Gospel. They knew nothing of the happy home in heaven. They knew nothing of the Devil's home in the great fire. Jesus knew that the soul of a man is truly precious; that it is more precious than all the money and everything else in the world. So He wished His people, His missionaries, to go everywhere, and to help all the people to leave the Devil's way, and to find the way of Jesus.
2
A Blessing Before Meals
By Myron Eells
O Saghalie Tyee, nesika Papa, nesika
O Saghalie Tyee,God nesikaour Papa,Father, nesikawe
wawa mashie kopa mika, mika potlatch
wawasay mashiethanks kopato mika,thee, mikathou hast given
kopa nesika okoke muckamuck. Kloshe spose
kopato nesikaus okokethis muckamuckfood. KlosheGood sposeif
mika kwanesum potlatch muckamuck kopa
mikathou kwanesumalways potlatchwill give muckamuckfood kopato
nesika. Kloshe spose mika potlatch mika
nesika.us. KlosheGood sposeif mikathou potlatch mikawill give thy
wawa kopa nesika, kahkwa muckamuck kopa
wawawords kopato nesika,us, kahkwaas muckamuckfood to the
tumtum. Help nesika tumtum chaco kloshe.
tumtum.mind. Help nesikaour tumtumminds chacobecome kloshe.good.
ThroughKopa Jesus nesiak tikegh konoway okoke.
Through Jesus nesikawe tikeghwish konowayall okoke.this.
Kloshe kahkwa.
KlosheGood kahkwa.so.
3
The Ten Commandments
By Laura B. Downey Bartlett
Laura Bell Downey Bartlett, who came across the plains as a baby in 1853, is author of two books on the Chinook jargon—Chinook-English Songs, published in Portland in 1914, and Dictionary of the Intertribal Language Commonly Called Chinook, published in Tacoma in 1924.
- Nika Sah-ah-lie Tyee kopa mica.
I am the Lord thy God.
Kopit ikt mika kumtux Sah-ah-lie Tyee.
Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. - Wake cultus wau-wau, Sah-ah-lie Tye mem.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. - Kloash nanitch kwanisum sacra kopa Sunday.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. - Kloash kumtux mika Papa pee mika Mama.
Honor thy Father and thy Mother. - Wake mamook mamaloose klaxta.
Thou shalt not kill. - Wake mamook ikta shem kopa mika itlwllie, pee kopa klaxta.
Thou shalt not commit adultery. - Wake kapswalla.
Thou shalt not steal. - Wake Kleminawhit.
Thou shalt not lie. - Wake kumtux, pee wake tikegh ict shem kopa holoima klootchman.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, his wife or servants. - Wake tikegh klaxta mika tikegh ikta.
Thou shalt not covet that which is not thine.
4
Hymn
By Lee and Frost
Ak-ah eg-lah-lam en-si-kah1.
Mi-kah Ish-tam-ah em-e-hol-ew
Kup-et mi-kam toke-ta mi-mah
Mi-kah ek-ah-tlah gum-ohah
Mi-kah dow-ah gum-e oh
Kom-a-wa e-toke-ta ten-mah
Mi-kah an-kut-e gum-toh.
Here we now unite in singing
Glory, Lord, unto thy name,
Only good and worthy praising,
Thou art always, Lord, the same.
Of the sun thou art Creator,
And the light was made by thee,
All things good, yea, every creature,
At the first thou madest to be.
Mi-kah minch-ah koke en-si-kah2.
An-kut-e yuk-um-a-lah
Kon-a-wa e-dinch ah-gu-it-quah
Quon-sim po-nan-a-kow
Mi-kah gum-inch-e-lute e-me-han
Yok-ah wa-wot gach-o-weet
Uk-ah en-si-kah quot-lanch-ke-hah
Mi-kam toke-ta can-neo-eeb
We, O Lord, are all thy children,
In the past we wicked were,
We were all most deeply wretched,
Always blind and in despair;
Thou didst thy Son our Savior,
He to us instruction gave.
Knowing this, we now are happy,
Thou art good and thou wilt save.
5
"Whiskey"
Tune—"Bounding Billows"
Ahnkuttie nika tikegh whiskey,1.
(Repeat twice)
Pe aha nika mash.
Alta nika mash.
(Repeat)
Ahnkuttie nika tikegh whiskey,
(Repeat twice)
Pe alta nika mash—
Formerly I loved whiskey,
But now I throw it away—
Now I throw it away.
Whiskey hias cultus,2.
Pe alta nika mash—
Alta nika mash.
Whiskey hias cultus,
Pe alta nika mash.
Whiskey is good for nothing,
And now I throw it away—
Now I throw it away.
Whiskey mimoluse tillikums,3.
Pe alta nika mash—
Alta nika mash.
Whiskey mimoluse tillikums,
Pe alta nika mash.
Whiskey kills people,
And now I throw it away—
Now I throw it away.
Cultus klaska muckamuck,4.
Pe alta nika mash—
Alta nika mash.
Cultus klaska muckamuck,
Pe alta nika mash.
They that drink it, drink what is worthless,
And now I throw it away—
Now I throw it away.
6
"Me No Like White Man Nohow"
By Theodore Winthrop
Theodore Winthrop, a 25-year-old Yale graduate, spent the summer of 1853 in the Pacific Northwest, visiting Puget Sound, Portland, The Dalles, Oregon City, Salem, Marysville, Yoncalla, Scottsburg and St. Helens. Returning to New York, he studied law and was admitted to the bar, but devoted himself almost entirely to literary work, completing the five books which were published after his death in the Civil War in 1861. The best known of these was called by him Klalam and Klickitat but changed by the publishers to The Canoe and the Saddle, from which this selection was taken.
The speaker was a root-digging Klickitat, called Shabbiest, because of the shabby cast-off Christian coat he wore and little else. "At last … he turned to me, and, raising his arms, one sleeveless, one fringed with rags at the shoulder, delivered at me a harangue, in the most jerky and broken Chinook. Given in broken English, corresponding, its purport was as follows—in a naso-guttural choke:"
7
A Chinook Sartor Resartus
By Theodore Winthrop
Now, however, Owhhigh, dropping in unceremoniously, laid aside his sham dignity with a purpose. We had before agreed upon the terms of payment for my guide. The ancient horse-thief sat like a Pacha, smoking an inglorious dhudeen, and at last, glancing at certain articles of raiment of mine, thus familiarly, in Chinook, broke silence.
Owhhigh. "Halo she collocks nika tenas; no breeches hath my son." (the guide)
I. (in an Indianesque tone of some surprise, but great indifference) "Ah hagh!"
Owhhigh. "Pe halo shirt; and no shirt."
I. (assenting with equal indifference) "Ah hagh!"
Owhhigh smokes, and is silent, and Spokan Adonis fugues in, "Pe wake yaka shoes; and no shoes hath he."
Another aide-de-camp takes up the strain. "Yahwah mitlite shoes, clos he copa Owhhigh tenas; there are shoes (pointing to a pair of mine) good for the son of Owhhigh."
I. "Stick shoes ocock,—wake Closhe copa siwash; hard shoes (not moccasins) those,—not good for Indian."
Owhhigh. "Hyas tyee mika,—hin mitlite ikta,—halo ikta mitlite cofa nika tenas,—mika tikky him potlatch; great chief thou,—with thee plenty traps abide,—no traps hath my son,—thou wilt give him abundance."
I.Pe hyas tyee Owhhigh,—conoway ikta mitlite-pe hin yaka potlatch copa liticum; and a great chief is Owhhigh,—all kinds of property are his, and many presents does he make to his people."
Profound silence followed these mutual hints. … The choir bore their failure stoically. They had done their best that their comrade might be arrayed at my expense. … At last, to please Owhhigh, and requite him for the entertainment of his oratory, I promised that, if his son were faithful, I would give him a generous premium, possibly the very shirt and other articles they had admired. …
8
Nesika Wa-wa
A Chinook Letter from Yoncalla
Here we find the jargon used for business correspondence. What the letter says will be left for the reader to decipher for himself, and its translation, with the help of one of the well known dictionaries, might furnish an hour of pleasant occupation. It was printed in the Oregon Native Son in September, 1900, with this explanatory statement: "Several of our subscribers became somewhat alarmed over the non-appearance of the last issue of the Native Son at its usual date of delivery, and wrote asking as to the reason why they did not receive it. Among those enquiring about the delay was one of our agents. Her message was as follows:"
Native Son Pub. Co.,
Klose Tenas Man:—Klone moon o'coke mika papah wake chaco copa conomox o'coke kloochman, Mrs. Susan Smith, pee ole man C. H. Westernheiser, Yoncalla. Nesika hyas mesahche, copa nesika spose mika wake copa yaka. Klose mika hyas mamook chaco o'koke papah, copa skookum chickamin kuitan, pee klonas mesika kokshut klose tumtum.
Mika Klose Tilicum,
9
Lilly Dale in Chinook
This is from the Oregon Native Son for July, 1899. Lilly Dale, the sad favorite of the closing period of the last century, was written by H. S. Thompson, and contains five stanzas and the chorus. The whole song was rendered into the jargon, but only the first stanza and the chorus will be given here:
The Original English
'Twas a calm, still night and the moon's pale light
Shone soft o'er hill and vale;
When friends mute with grief, stood around the death bed
Of my poor, lost Lilly Dale.
Chorus:
O Lilly, sweet Lilly, dear Lilly Dale,
Now the wild rose blossoms o'er her little green grave
'Neath the trees in the flow'ry vale.
The Chinook Version
Hyas klose polikely kliminilimin tocope,
Mitlite klose konawa kah;
Pe yacka tillicum mitlite memaluse bed,
Nika kilihium, Lilly Dale.
Chorus:
O Lilly, klose Lilly, hyas klose Lilly Dale,
Alta tipso mitlite kopa kacka tenas memaluse house,
Kekwilla stick pe tipso klose illahee.
10
Tamala, Tamala,
By Hezekiah Butterworth
Aha! it is ever tomorrow, tomorrow—
Tamala, tamala, sing as we row;
Lift thine eye to the mount; to the wave give thy sorrow;
The river is bright, and the rivulets flow;
Tamala, tamala,
Ever and ever;
The morrows will come and the morrows will go—
Tamala! Tamala!
Happy boat, it is ever tomorrow, tomorrow—
Tamala, whisper the waves as they flow;
The crags of the sunset the smiles of light borrow,
As soft from the ocean the Chinook winds blow:
Tamala, tamala,
Ever and ever;
The morrows will come and the morrows will go—
Tamala! Tamala!
Aha! the night comes, but the light is tomorrow—
Tamala, tamala, sing as we go;
The waves ripple past, like the heart-beats of sorrow,
And the boat beats the wave to our song as we row;
Tamala, tamala,
Ever and ever;
The morrows will come and the morrows will go—
Tamala! Tamala!
For ever and ever horizons are lifting—
Tamala, tamala, sing as we row;
And life toward the stars of the ocean is drifting,
Through death will the morrow all endlessly glow—
Tamala! tamala!
Ever and ever;
The morrows will come and the morrows will go,
Tamala! Tamala!
11
Death Plea of Chief Qualchien
This pathetic and futile plea is given in B. F. Manring's Conquest of the Coeur d'Alenes, Spokanes and Palouses. Qualchien was a chief of the Yakimas. He rode voluntarily into the camp of Colonel George Wright. He was decked out in scarlet and at his belt hung an ornamented tomahawk and pistol. With him was his squaw, daughter of the Spokane chief, striking in her beauty and richly attired. He was accompanied by a brave and followed by a hunchback. He presented in general a dashing air. Then came the swift and abject change. He was made captive and sentenced to be hanged, and within fifteen minutes of his appearance in camp he was dead. He was completely overcome by the unexpected and sudden sentence. He prostrated himself upon the ground and then struggled as he was dragged forward, all the while "imploring them most piteously not to hang him. To General Lyon in later years, is attributed the declaration that no more mournful sound was ever heard than those made by Qualchien in begging for his life. Over and over he repeated:"
Copet, six! Copet, six! Wake mameluse nica! Nica potlatch hiya chickamen, hiya cuitan, spose mica wake mameluse nica! Hiyu siwash sulix!
Stop, friends! Stop, friends! Don't kill me! I will give you a lot of money and many horses if you will not kill me! Many Indians will be angry!