Chinook Jargon Phrasebook

Shaw's English-Chinook Reference (V-Y)

NB: This page is currently being edited and annotated.  Edited sections show the Chinook Jargon words in italics, with direct translations, comments and annotations in purple.  Purple items in italics within parentheses are direct translations of Chinook words or compounds where such translations are necessary.  Where the words are shown by Shaw with their direct translated meaning, and/or are native or English loan-words that require no further comment, they are omitted from the parentheses.  In other words, if there are several items in Shaw's Chinook translation, only one or two may be translated by way of explanation within the parentheses following.  There are numerous OCR mistakes in unedited sections, and I have left intact idiosyncracies in Shaw's text (or Harper's transcription of it) - double entries, odd capitalizations, the occasional misspelling, etc.   Comments and corrections are welcome.

In working on some parts of the English-Chinook sections of the phrasebook, I have realized the divisions I have made for the Chinook-English sections do not correlate well for an easy-to-use organization for reference from English.  Until that is figured out, I am posting a direct copy of Shaw's English-Chinook Reference (as rendered by Edward Harper Thomas), which is in alphabetical form.  I am intending on having a CGI or Javascript translator system installed here in the future as well.

Shaw's usages here must be understood to reflect the state of English meanings in 1908 (Harper Thomas made no changes in his 1934 reprinting of this reference), as well as the state of the Jargon and Shaw's own context within the frame of reference of the United States and the Jargon as it was spoken there, as well as English ideom of the period.  Shaw's own cultural biases are also often evident, and many of the concepts represented seem to be English-oriented ones that he felt a need to find translations of, rather than actual Jargon usages per se.  I have therefore added comments and annotations to some of the items below, including literal renderings of some of the Chinook phrases provided in translation of English concepts; my additions are given in purple, Shaw's definitions in the regular black.  In time, I will augment this abecediary to the point where it will no longer be a simple reproduction and annotation from Shaw. 

VACANT-halo. (nothing, without)  Shaw also gives halo ikta mitlite - no thing is - for empty.  Halo pahtl might also be appropriate, although this more directly means not full.
VACCINATE-mahsh lametsin kopa lemah yaka kloshe kopa smallpox. (put medicine in arm it good for smallpox)  Vaccination was a latecomer in the war against smallpox in the frontier-era Northwest.  Early smallpox plagues swept through the region in a succession of waves, killing from 50% to 90% on each sweep.  The last major smallpox epidemics in the region occurred in the 1890s and zero decade of the 1900s.
VAGABOND-cultus tillikum. (aimless person, worthless person)  Man yaka cultus klatawa kah - man who aimlessly goes wherever - might also be appropriate.
VEIL-sail kopa seeowist. (cloth for face, cloth for eyes)  The only period context I can think of for a veil in this sense would be a widow's veil; nuns were uncommon in the frontier era and the sense of to wear a veil among the sisterly orders is more conceptual than physical. Islamic purdah was completely unknown. To veil, as in to veil something, would be mamook ipsoot kopa sail.
VAIN-youtl; proud. Neither youtl nor proud need carry the negative connotation of the English vain.  Either vainglory or sinful vanity, might be conveyed by cultus youtl, or hyas youtl.
VALIANT-skookum tumtum. (strong feel, i.e. to be brave)
VALISE-tenas lacasaet. (little box)  Valises of the day were often hard-shelled, resembling small chests or trunks.
VALLEY-kloshe illahee; coulee. (good land)  By kloshe illahee, Shaw means the good land at the bottom of a valley, rather than valley in the geographical sense of a river's drainage or catchment; in the mountainous Northwest, especially on the Coast, only the valley bottoms were good land.  Coulee is pronounced identically to cooley, and comes from the same French word coulir - to run, to pour - but is not properly a Jargon word, although being very common in the region and no doubt in use by Jargon speakers.  It means a steep-sided river valley made by a water-course, typically a seasonally variable water-course, especially cut into a plateau, typically with a stream in the bottom but also describing a dry wash of the same erosive formation.  The term is even more common on the Prairies and Great Plains, and refers to where the water runs.  The most famous place name in the Northwest using it is, of course, the Grand Coulee in Washington state, where a coulee bank-formation lines the Columbia.
VANISH-chako halo. (to become nothing)  Chako ipsoot kopa nanitch - to become hidden from sight - would also be appropriate in some contexts.
VARY-mamook huloima. (to make different)  Shaw's sense here is active, as in to make something vary; to vary as in within a group or from area to area would be expressed by mitlite huloima, perhaps mitlite hiyu huloima.
VARY-(passive) chako huloima. (to become different, to become strange)
VAST-hyas. (great, large)
VEAL-tenas moosmoos yaka itiwillie. (young cattle its meat)
VEGETABLES-konoway muckamuck chako kopa illahee. (all food that comes from ground)
VEHEMENT-skookum. (strong, forceful)
VEHICLE-chikchik. (wagon)
VEIN-kah pilpil mitlite (pointing to it). (where blood is)  This of course refers to a vein in the body; kah pil chikamin mitlite - where gold is or stone kah chikamin mitlite - rock where metal is - would refer to a vein of ore.
VENGEANCE-hyas solleks. (great anger, very angry)  The sense of righteous anger or of violence returned, i.e. revenge is not clear here; what Shaw seems more to mean is ferocity.  Delate hyas solleks - truly great anger, correctly very angry - may provide the former context, killapie solleks - to return anger -  or killapie mesachie - to return evil - may provide the latter.  Killapie, however, can mean to overturn or to overcome, so the meaning of these latter compounds may be to repulse anger or to overcome evil.
VENISON-mowitch. (deer)  As in many languges, the name of an animal and the term for its meat can be the same in the Jargon.  Usually Shaw gives the equivalent of mowitch yaka itlwillie - deer its flesh - in the cases of veal, pork, etc.
VERILY-delate. (truly, correctly)
VERMIN-inapoo. (louse, lice)  Shaw here does not mean vermin in its generic sense, but specifically in reference to lice and similar insects and infestations thereof.  Fleas were sopen inapoo - jumping lice.
VERY-hyas. Hyas also means great or large, and can mean important or auspicious or mighty.  Typically it is placed before the verb in any phrase, even if it is principally modifying the noun, an adjective, or any other adverb.  For example, hyas (yaka) klatawa klahwa - he goes very slowly - or hyas kumtux cooley - knows how to run very well.
VERY SMALL-hyas tenas.
VESSEL-ship. That is, any water-craft, including a boat or canoe.  Vessel in the sense of serving-dish or something that holds fluids would be uskan - bowl - or tamolitsh - tub or basin.
VEST-la ween; la west.
VICE-mesachie.  (evil, bad, sin)
VICINITY-wake siah. (not far, not far from)
VICTOR-tillikum yaka tolo. (person who won)  Man yaka tolo would also be correct.
VICTORY-tolo. (to win, to gain)
VICTUALS-muckamuck. (food, to eat, a meal)
VIEW-nanitch. (to look, to see, to watch)
VIGIL-wake moosum. (no sleep, without sleep)  Kloshe nanitch wake moosum - to watch well (to guard) without sleeping - would be a more correct verbal form.  Shaw seems to mean a vigil, rather than keeping vigil.
VIGILS-(the) levigil; pishil.  Shaw's context here is apparently religious, referring to Easter.  See previous.
VILE-mesachie. (evil, bad, sinful, filthy)
VILLAGE-tenas town. (little town)
VILLAIN-mesachie tillikum. (bad person, evil person)
VIOLIN-tintin. Tintin could be used for any musical instrument, although elsewhere Shaw gives tuletule for stringed instruments.
VINE-stick; youtlkut tupso, stick kahkwa lope. (plant, stick; long grass; tree or plant like rope)
VIOLENT-skookum. (strong, forceful)  Shaw's meaning is not necessarily negative, but rather in the sense of a violent wind or a violent shaking.  Violent in the negative and/or malevolent sense would probably include (in a compound) words such as solleks, mesachie, or kokshut.
VIRTUOUS-kloshe. (good)
VISION-nanitch.  (to look, to see, to watch)
VISIT-klatawa pe nanitch. (go and see, i.e. pay a visit)
VOICE-wawa. (say, talk, speech)
VOLCANO-piah mountain. (fire mountain)  Piah lamonti or piah lamotai could also be correct.  Volcanoes are relatively common throughout the Northwest, from the great Cascade chain stretching into northern California to the volcanoes of the Chilcotin, Nass, and Skeena regions in British Columbia, and beyond to mainland Alaska and the Aleutians.  Many native peoples in the region have legends of previous generations, even of whole civilizations, destroyed by volcanic activity, and there is considerable archaeological and geological evidence supporting a history of such events in the region.
VOMIT, TO-wagh; mahsh muckamuck; muckamuck killapie.  (to pour out; to expel food or drink; food or drink turned back or regurgitated)
VOTE-mamook vote. (to make a vote, to do a vote)  This term would have been used rarely in native society, except to refer to white man's elections.  Natives were barred from voting in general elections Canada, for example, until the 1960s, although band councils were generally elected by band members by order of the Indian Act (which sought to overturn traditional native governmental systems).
VOYAGE-klatawa kopa boat or ship. (to travel by boat or ship)

WADE-klatawa kopa lapee kopa chuck. (walk with feet in water)  Note that this could also mean walk on water, although of course this would have only been meant in the scriptural sense.
WAG-heehee man. (joke man, laughter man)  That is, a witty person.
WAGON-chikchik; tsiktsik.
WAIL-hiyu cly. (much crying)  Hyas cly - big crying - and hyas skookum cly - big loud crying - and hyas skookum wawa - big strong speech (also translated as to yell or to scream) could also be appropriate.
WAIT-mitlite winapie. (stay awhile, or it'll be soon)
WAKE-halo sleep; halo moosum.  (no sleep, without sleep)  Shaw does not mean the verb to wake, but rather wake in the funereal sense, as in a vigil for the dead.
WAKEN-mamook get up. (to make get up, to do getting-up)  This is both active and passive.
WALK-klatawa kopa lapea. (to go by foot, to travel by foot)  Klatawa could mean to walk all by itself.  Shaw here is being unnecessarily specific (as he often is).
WALL-skookum kulaghan; skookum pence.  (big fence, strong fence)
WALTZ-tanse.
WANDER, TO-cultus klatawa; tsolo. (aimlessly go, aimlessly travel)  That is, to travel without a specific destination.
WANT, TO-ticky.
WAR-pight.  A battle would be hiyu pight or hyas pight.
WARBLE-sing kahkwa kalakala.  (sing like bird, music like bird)  Presumably shantie kahkwa kalakala would also have been correct.  Wawa kahkwa kalakala also seems possible, perhaps in reference to making bird-noises as signals.
WARM-waum.
WARRIOR-sogers, pight tillikum.  (war person, fighting person)  Sogers is a plural, and would more likely refer to non-natives more than natives.
WASH, TO-mamook wash.   (to make wash)
WASP-andialh.
WASTE-cultus lost; cultus mahsh.  (uselessly lost, uselessly thrown away)  Shaw does not mean waste as in garbage (which would be cultus iktas) but rather to waste.
WATCH-(n.) tiktik; watch.
WATCH-(v.) kloshe nanitch. (watch well)  Nanitch means this all by itself; adding kloshe strengthens the sense of paying attention.  Kloshe nanitch also means to guard and to protect.
WATCHMAN-man yaka kwonesum kloshe nanitch. (man who always watches well, man who guards all the time, man who keeps watch)
WATER-chuck.
WATERFALL-tumwater.
WATERSPOUT-chuck ooahut. (water path, water road)  What is meant here is a faucet or outlet from a sluice, pipe, or aqueduct.  The small tornado-like waterspouts that are relatively common in the Georgia Straits and Puget Sound would perhaps be killapie chuck - twisting water.
WAVER-wake skookum. (not strong, i.e. not steady)
WAVES-hiyu sea; chuck chako solleks. (big sea, much sea; water becoming angry)  These are references to rough water or stormy seas, which might also be skookum saltchuck.
WAY-ooahut; wayhut. That is, way in the sense of road or path., rather than in a manner of doing something as in I did it my way.
WE-nesika.
WEAK-wake skookum; halo skookum. (not strong, without strength)
WEAR-mitlite. That is, to wear clothes rather than to wear down something or to wear something out (this last might be mamook oleman).  Mitlite has a wide range of meanings, this one being ideomatic concerning articles of clothing, as in mitlite lecapo - wearing a coat, literally is in a coat.
WEARY-till. (heavy, weight, tiring, tired)
WEDDING-malieh. (to marry)
WEDNESDAY-klone sun. (third day)
WEED-cultus tupso. (bad grass, useless plant)
WEEK-Sunday; week. The same way that years would be counted in winters, weeks could be counted in Sundays.
WEEP-cly.
WEIGH, TO-mamook till. (to do heavy, to do weight, i.e. to measure weight)  This also means to make tired or to tire out.
WELCOME-(to you) kloshe tumtum mika chako.  (good feelings you come, i.e. I feel good you've come)
WELL THEN-abba.
WELL-(n.) tlwop. This appears to be identical to klahwop, meaning hole, given the usual equation of tl and kl in native prononciation.  More precise might be tlwop kopa chuck - hole with water - or tlwop kah chuck mitlite - hole where water is.
WENT-klatawa. (to go)
WEST-kah sun klatawa. (where the sun goes)
WET-pahtl chuck; chuck mitlite. (full of water; there is water)
WHALE-ehkolie, ehkole; kwahnice; kwaddis; whale.
WHAT-kahta. Kahta can also mean how and why.
WHAT IS THE MATTER-(if sick) kah mika sick. (where are you sick?, i.e. where does it hurt?)   In any sense other than disease or illness, a phrase like kahta cultus? - what is wrong? - may suffice.
WHEAT-sapolill; lewhet; lebley.
WHEEL-chikchik; tsiktsik. This also meant wagon, and presumably axle as well, since the latter is the onomatopaeoic origin of this term.
WHEN-kunsih.  Kunsih also meant how much? and was an expression of quantity; here its context is a quantity of time.
WHENCE-kah.
WHERE-kah.
WHET-mamook sharp. (to make sharp)  Tsish meant to grind, as on a grinding-stone, and it could also mean sharp, so mamook tsish could also mean to sharpen.
WHICH-klaksta. Klaksta also meant who and whose as well as someone.
WHINE-wawa kahkwa cly. (speech like crying, to talk as if weeping)  I think Shaw means more a whining tone of speech, rather than simply to complain.
WHIP-la whet; lawhip.
WHISKEY-whiskey; lum.  Both words could mean all types of booze, in a general sense.
WHISPER-tenas wawa (showing how); ipsoot wawa. (small speech; hidden speech)
WHISTLE-mamook wind kopa lapush. (to make wind from mouth)  Mamook sing kopa lapush or mamook tuttut kopa lapush also seem possible, especially with the inclusion of an accompanying gesture.
WHITE-tkope.
WHITEN-mamook tkope. (to make white)
WHITEWASH-mamook pent tkope. (to make painted white)
WHO-klaksta. Klaksta could also means whose as well as someone and which.
WHOLE-konoway; lowullo; lolo. Lowullo and lolo carry a connotation of roundness and copmletion in a context of circularity, konoway of everything in general.  Lolo can also mean to carry, or something carried.
WHOSE-klaksta.  Klaksta could also means who as well as someone and which.
WHY-pe kahwka; kahkwa.  Pe kahta was also correct.  Kahkwa also means like, similar, as, thus, because.
WICKED-mesahchie; mesachie; peshak. Cultus was occasionally used to mean wicked, although its context is less deliberate and malicious than mesachie or peshak.
WIDE-klukulh; halakl.
WIDOW-klootchman yaka man memaloose. (woman her man is dead)
WIFE-klootchman; oquackakull. The latter must be specific to a certain group, perhaps the Chinookan speakers of the Lower Columbia.  The former simply means woman.
WILD-le molo; wild.
WILD CAT-hyas pishpish; siwash pishpish; kwalas. (great cat, savage cat, Indian cat)  Pishpish is a Puget Sound variant of the more widespread pusspuss.  Kwalas I have not seen before, and may refer to a lynx or a bobcat rather than a cougar.
WILD ONIONS-kalaka. Elsewhere Shaw gives the native loan-word ulalach for onions.  Wild onions occur throughout the region in different varieties; there may be a varietal distinction here between the two native loan-word terms.
WILL, THE-turntum. (heart, mind, intent, idea)
WILLOW-eena stick. (beaver tree, beaver wood)
WIN, TO-tolo.
WIND-wind. Wind could also mean the breath and the life-force and to be alive, as in iskum wind or mitlite wind.
WIND INSTRUMENT-tuttut, tuletule.
WINDY-hiyu wind. (lots of wind)  This could also mean a storm or stormy, although these meanings would normally be rendered by hyas wind or skookum wind.
WINE-wine.
WING-kalakala yaka lemah tepeh. (bird its arm quills, bird its hand-feathers)
WINK-mamook seeowist. (to make a face, to do with eyes)  This would probably be accompanied by a gesture in order to clarify the meaning.
WINNOW-mamook toto. (to make shake, to do the shaking)
WINTER-cole illahee. (cold land, cold earth)  Cole could also mean winter all by itself, especially in the counting of years by winters, i.e. ikt cole, mokst cole, etc.
WINTRY-kahkwa cole illahee. (like winter, as if winter)
WIPE, TO-mamook dly; klakwun. (to make dry)  Klakwun also means to lick clean, as in a plate, and has a connotation in reference to food.
WIRE-chikamin lope. (metal rope)
WISDOM-kumtux.  (understanding, knowledge)
WISE-kumtux. (to know, to understand)
WISH-ticky. (to want, to desire, to like)
WITCH-tahmahnawis.
WITH-kunamokst; kopa. (both, together)
WITHDRAW-mamook killapie. (to do reverse, to make turn back, i.e. to change direction)
WITHOUT-(not any) halo. Wake might also be used.
WITHOUT-(not in) klahanie. That is, outside.
WOLF-leloo; wolf.  Other sources give hyas talapus - big coyote, but this could also refer to Coyote, the famous trickster spirit of widespread native legend.
WOLF-(prairie) talapus. Shaw here means coyote.
WOMAN-klootchman. Also means female.
WOMANLY-kahkwa klootchman. (like a woman, as if a woman)
WOMAN-(old) lummieh.  This should be pronounced with a slight emphasis on the last syllable, as in the original French la vieille.
WOMB-lesak kopa klootchman kah tenas mitlite; belly. (sack in woman where baby lives)  Yakwahtin might also be correct (since belly is).
WONDER-mamook tumtum. (to make thought, to do thinking)  Shaw here means to wonder about something, rather than wonder in the sense of awe or puzzlement.
WOO-hyas ticky. (to greatly want, to desire very much, to like a lot)  That is, to be in love.  The actual acts of wooing would have to be described separately, e.g. potlatch kloshe tupso - give flowers, mamook ask kopa klatawa - to ask to go for a walk, etc.  Of course, in the period, the most immediate way to win the hand of a woman was to give gifts of goods such as flour, blankets, or rifles to her father and/or family, which was tantamount to a marriage contract (so long as she said yes).
WOOD, WOODEN-stick.
WOOL-sheep yaka tupso lummeto yakso. (sheep his hair; sheep hair)  There are appears to be a misprint here; lemoto is the normal spelling for what is shown as lummeto, and there should be a semicolon following tupso to separate the two compound terms.  Tupso usually means grass or plants, and is apparently a mistaken term for hair, which is correctly yakso.
WOOLEN CAPS-latuk.
WORD-wawa. Wawa also means speech and to speak and to say and to tell and language.
WORK, TO-mamook. Mamook also means to do, to make, to use.
WORLD-konoway okoke illahee. (all this land, all those lands)  Shaw's term for universe - konaway illahee konaway kah - all lands everywhere - seems also correct.
WORN OUT-oleman; cultus.
WORRY-sick tumtum.  Sick tumtum is also used to refer to grief and grieving and other negative feelings.
WORSHIP-wawa kopa Saghalie Tyee. (words for God, speech to God)
WORSE-elip mesachie; kimtah kloshe. (more bad, more evil; behind good, i.e. less than good, not as good)
WORST-elip mesachie kopa konoway. (more bad than everything)
WORTHLESS-cultus.
WORTHY-kloshe. (good)
WOUND, TO-mamook cut; mamook kwotl; klemahun. (to make cut, to make squeeze; to stab)
WRAP-mamook kow. (to make tied, to tie up)
WRESTLE-mamook pight. (to make fight, to do fighting)
WRETCHED-hyas sick tumtum. (greatly sick feeling)  Sick tumtum is also used to refer to grief and grieving and other negative feelings. Klahowyum (or klahowya) also can mean wretched, as in miserable or destitute.  Shaw's context of wretched here seems more to mean emotionally distraught tham materially impoverished
WRIST-lemah yahwa (point to it). (the hand here, the arm here)
WRITING-tzum. (marks, spots)  This was sometimes doubled as tzum tzum.
WRITE TO-mamook tzum; mamook pepah. (to make marks; to work with paper)
WRITER-tzum man. (markings man, i.e. one who makes marks)
WRONG-wake kloshe. (not good, not right)  Wake delate - not true - would also be correct.  Wrong in the capital-w sense would be mesachie.

YANKEE-Boston man. The original Jargon distinction between Americans and British was made in the days of the late 18th Century fur trade, when nearly all Americans in the Northwest were from Boston and the name "American" as a term for a United States citizen had not yet really even become commonplace.  This did not really change until the days of the Oregon Trail brought in Americans from other parts of the Union.
YARD-ikt stick. (one tree, i.e. one length of wood)  This term would probably have been used in conjunction with a gesture; otherwise it would simply mean one tree.
YAWN-ticky moosum. (want sleep, need sleep)  Olo moosum - hungry for sleep - might also be appropriate.  Another possible phrase that comes to mind is hahlakl lapush - open mouth.
YEAR-ikt cole. (one winter)  As in many North American native cultures, years were counted in winters.
YEARN-hyas ticky. (to greatly want, to want very much)
YELL-hyas skookum wawa.
YELLOW-kawkawak.
YELP-kamooks wawa. (dog speech, dog word, dog talk)
YES-nowitka; ahha. Nowitka is more emphatic; ahha more of an interjection.
YES, INDEED-nowitka.
YESTERDAY-tahlkie sun. This would refer specifically to the daytime.
YESTERNIGHT-tahlkie polaklie.   This would refer specifically to the evening or night-time.
YIELD-kopet. (stop, only, but)  Shaw here appears to mean a statement or command.  To yield, as in to give way, would be more like wawa nowitka - say yes - and to yield, as in to generate a product or a left-over from a process, would simply be mamook - make. A yield, as a noun, as in a quantity of something or a byproduct, would have to be translated according to context.
YONDER-yahwa.
YOU, YOUR-(if singular) mika. The spelling maika better conveys the usual prononciation of this word.
YOU, YOUR-(if plural) mesika. The spelling mesaika better conveys the usual prononciation of this word.
YOURS-mika kopa mika; mikas. (mine to me)  See previous.
YOUNG-tenas. (small, little)  This is used both as an adjective and a noun, as in the young of any species.
YOUNGER-elip tenas. (more small, more little, more young)  Conceivably might also refer to a first-born son, i.e. the older of two sons.
YOUNGEST-elip tenas kopa konaway. (more young of everything)
YOURSELF-mika self.