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 following parentheses. 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.
SABBATH, SUNDAY-Sante. Shaw
here is rendering a native prononciation of Sunday, as the word
is usually spelled in most lexicons, as any French loan-word would have
been an adaption from dimanche. Sante, on the other
hand, might be an adaption from la journee santee - the holy day
- but I do not think so.
SABLE-mink. Elsewhere Shaw
gives inamooks for a "land otter", as distinct from nawamooks
for a sea-otter or nenamooks for a fresh-water otter.
By land otter, and the related word ina for beaver,
I am guessing that Shaw means a weasel or marten, although
here he appears to be distinguishing similar animals with higher-grade
furs.
SACK-le sak.
SACRAMENT-Jesus yaka muckamuck; saklema. (Jesus
his food, Jesus his meal, i.e. the host) Like other French loan-words,
saklema should be pronounced like the French sacrement, with the
accent placed on the last syllable, which also is a lengthened vowel.
It is worth noting here that among this word was probably not brought by
the Oblate priests but by the voyageurs some decades before; sacrement
in Canadian French dialects, like other religion-related words, is a very
coarse swear word that would have been part of the everyday speech of the
voyageurs.
SACRED-kloshe kopa Saghalie Tyee. (good
to God, good by/with God)
SAD-sick tumtum. (sick
feel, to feel unwell) Sick tumtum is also used to refer
to grief and grieving and other negative feelings. Cly tumtum
- cry feeling, feel like crying - would also be suitable for sad,
although it would seem to indicate an even deeper sorrow.
SADDLE-la sell.
SAFE-kloshe. (good, well)
This is the context of kloshe where the meaning of kloshe nanitch
- to guard, to protect, to watch over - comes from. A safe,
as in a bank-safe, would literally be a skookum lacaset - a strong-box.
SAIL-sail.
SAILOR-shipman.
SAINT-lesai.
SAINT JOHN-Sai Sha.
SALESMAN-mahkook man. (sell
man)
SALLAL BERRIES-sallal olallie.
SALMON-salmon. Other
lexicons usually spell this as samman, which is closer to the native
prononciation - as well as the usual English one.
SALT-salt.
SAME-kahkwa. (like, as,
similar to)
SAND-polallie; polallie illahee; tenas stone kahkwa
polallie. (powder, flour, powder ground, flour
ground; little stones like flour)
SANGUINE-skookum tumtum.
(strong feeling, big feeling) By sanguine, Shaw here means
passionate. The compound skookum tumtum also means to
be brave.
SAP-chuck kopa stick. (water
on wood, fluid in tree)
SASH-la sanjel; belt.
SATAN-lejaub; diaub.
SATANIC-kahkwa lejaub. (like
the devil)
SATISFIED-(I am) kloshe kopa nika.
(good for me, good to me, i.e. I feel good)
SATURDAY-taghum sun.
(sixth day)
SAVAGE-siwash. Although
siwash is a direct adaption of the French sauvage, it is
not meant here as an adjective for something wild and dangerous, but specifically
for natives themselves; savage in the frontier being a common English
word for Indians, this is the meaning intended here by Shaw. The
sense of something wild and barbaric would be conveyed instead by lemolo.
SAVE-iskum. (to
keep, to hold, to have) Shaw here does not mean saving someone
from danger (or perdition), which would be more like mamook help.
SAW-la gwin; la scie; lasee.
SAY, TO-wawa; nah. I am
not sure what Shaw means here by giving nah as a translation for
the verb to say. Nah is normally an interjection, which could
be used for say in the context say, what do you think of.....?
This is the only instance I have seen it refered to as a verb with this
meaning.
SCALES-ikta kopa mamook till. (object
for doing weight, i.e. thing to measure weight with)
SCANT, SCANTY-wake hiyu.
(not many, not enough)
SCARCE-wake hiyu.
(not many, not enough)
SCARE-manook kwass. (to
make afraid, to cause fear)
SCARF-hyas sail kopa neck.
(large cloth for the neck)
SCATTER-mahsh konaway kah. (to
throw in every place, to throw everywhere)
SCENT-(n.) humn.
SCENT-(v.) mamook humn.
SCHOLAR-tenas kopa school; school tenas.
(child at school; school child) Shaw here means only schoolchildren,
not university scholars or professional academics (which were few in the
19th Century Northwest).
SCHOONER-mokst stick ship.
(two tree ship) Other sailing vessels would be similarly designated,
as in klone stick ship for a three-master, etc.
SCISSORS-le seezo; sezo.
As with other French loan-words, this should be pronounced somewhat like
its French counterpart, le ciseau, with the accent on the second
syllable plus a slight lengthening of the vowel.
SCOLD-skookum wawa.
(strong words)
SCREAM-hyas skookum cly.
(big strong cry) I think the usage here would be along the
lines of spose halo nika killapie, mamook hyas skookum cly - if
I don't come back, make a big loud yell.
SCRIPTURE, BIBLE-Saghalie Tyee yaka book; papah.
(God his book; God his paper) Shaw means
that papah could be substituted in the phrase for book.
SCYTHE-hyas knife kopa hay; youtlkut opitsah.
(big knife for hay; long knife, long blade)
SEA-salt chuck; sea. (salt
water)
SEAL-olhiyu; siwash cosho.
(Indian pig, Indian swine)
SECOND-mokst. (two)
SECRET-ipsoot. (hidden,
concealed)
SECURE-kloshe. (good,
well)
SEDUCE-kapswalla. (steal)
Shaw's context here is somewhat sexist, as he is referring to the seduction
of women as equivalent to stealing them. The modern sense of to
seduce as a form of persuasian would have to be translated differently,
although kapswalla tumtum - steal one's heart, steal one's mind
- is still an option in this context.
SEE, TO-nanitch.
SEEK-mamook hunt-, klatawa pe ticky klap.
SEIZE-iskum. (to take,
to hold, to have)
SELDOM-wake hiyu. (not
many) This is normally an expression of quantity, rather than
time. Going from what Shaw translates for often, wake hiyu
times - not many times - would seem more appropriate.
SELECT-iskum ikta nika ticky.
SELL, TO-mahsh mahkook. Although
mahkook can directly mean to sell, it can also mean to
buy; the use of mahsh in this compound clarifies the meaning,
which is that the object is departing from its seller.
SEND-mahsh. (to put out,
to put, to throw, to throw away) Send is one of the main
ways to translate mahsh.
SENIOR-elip. (first,
before, greater than)
SENSE-kumtux; latet. (to
know, to understand; the head) Tumtum would also seem
to be appropriate.
SEPARATE-(adj.) huloima.
(strange, other, different, i.e. a different one, the other)
SEPARATE-(v.) mamook cut.
(to make a cut, i.e. to cut up)
SERIOUS-wake heehee. (no
jokme, not in fun)
SERMON-Saghalie Tyee yaka wawa. (God
his word) Laplet yaka wawa - the priest his words
- seems also appropriate.
SERPENT-oluk; snake.
SERVANT-kahkwa elite. (like
a slave, similar to a slave) In native society this term would
have been simply elite - slave. I think Shaw's intent
here is to explain the role of a white man's servant in native terms; only
a few whites on the frontier would have had servants, however.
SERVE-mamook. (do, work)
SEVEN-sinamoxt; sinamokst.
SEVENTEEN-tahtlum pe sinamokst. (ten
and seven)
SEVENTY-sinamokst tahtlum.
(seven tens)
SEVERAL-tenas hiyu. (small
many, lesser many) The reason for this compound is that hiyu
refers to a large number; the addition of tenas means that this
is not so many, but more than few.
SEW, TO-mamook tipshin; mamook sew. (to
use a needle; to do sewing)
SHACKLE-mamook kow; mahsh chikamin kopa yaka lemah.
(to make tied; to put metal on his hands)
SHAKE, TO- toto; hullel. The
term shugh or shukh, which may be an English loan-word from
shake, is given elsewhere, notably in reference to rattles and rattlesnakes.
SHALL-alki; byby; winapie. These
are all words for the future or for the immediate future; using them in
combination with a verb forms the equivalent of the future tense.
SHALLOW-wake wakewulee. This
may be a misprint, with keekwulee - beneath, below - intended
where wakewulee is, unless wakewulee is another word for
deep. Since deep is normally klip, the term
wake klip or halo klip would also seem appropriate for shallow.
SHAME-shem.
SHAMELESS-halo shem; halo kumtux shem.
(without shame; not understand shame, not know shame)
SHARE-(it is my) okoke nikas, okoke kopa nika.
(this mine; this to me) The verbal meaning
of to share would be conveyed by potlatch or cultus potlatch,
both of which mean to give.
SHARK-hyas kahmooks pish. (great
dog fish, big dog fish) There is a small variety of shark in
the area known as the dog fish, once often found in tidal fresh water;
dog fish is also a term for dog salmon.
SHARP-yahkisilth; tsish; pahkisilth; iakessilh. Tsish
also means to sharpen, as in to whet, and is thought to be
onomatopaeoic in origin, from the sound of a grindstone. The other
three terms appear to be variants of the same word. Note that the
final syllable of each is very similar to tsish and may have the
same root or origin, or tsish may be a contraction or short form
of any or all of these, rather than onomatopaeoic; the immediate compound
origin that occurs to me in this instance is yaka tshish - it
(is) sharp.
SHARPEN, TO-mamook tsish. (to
make sharp) Tsish and its doubling tsish-tsish
can also be the verb to sharpen as well as the adjective sharp.
SHATTER-mamook kokshut.
(to make asunder, to make broken)
SHE, HER-yahka; yaka.
SHEEP-lemoto.
SHEET-sail. Items made of
cloth could also be referred to as paseese, although this latter
usually meant something thicker, as in a blanket.
SHELL MONEY-(the small size) coopcoop; allekacheek.
(the large) hykwa; haikwa.
SHINGLE-lebahdo.
SHINE-(v.) mamook kloshe.
(to make good, to make nice) This compound is also used to
mean to fix, to repair, to heal, to mend, also
to make someone feel good or to do something well.
SHINING-towagh.
SHIP-ship.
SHIRT-shut.
SHOAL-wake keekwulee. (not
beneath, nothing below, i.e. not deep) Another more specific
way to describe a shoal or reef might be stone keekwulee
chuck - rock beneath water. Wake keekwulee could
conceivably mean there's nothing down there and thus be quite misleading.
As noted above in the definition of shallow, a term based on wake
klip or halo klip - not deep - could also be appropriate - perhaps
kah wake klip - where it is not deep.
SHOES-shoes; shush; tikitlipa.
SHOOT, TO-mamook poo. (to
make a shot) Poo is onomatopaeoic, from the sound of a
gun being fired.
SHORE-illahee. (land, earth)
SHORE-(towards) matline.
This is normally spelled mahtlinnie.
SHORT-yuteskut; halo long.
SHORTLY-alki; winapie. Both
of these are words for the future, as is by-by, and all three can
simply mean soon. Laly alki means the very immediate
future.
SHOT-tenas le bal; kalitan.
(little ball; bullet, projectile)
Shaw's meaning of shot is only that of munitions. The sense
of he made a shot or take a shot would have to be translated
differently.
SHOT POUCH-kalitan lesac; tsolepat. (bullet
sack, bullet pouch)
SHOULDERS-okchok.
SHOUT, TO-hyas wawa. (big
words, large words, i.e. loud speech, loud words)
SHOVEL-la pell.
There must have been a slight distinction in prononciation betwen la
pell - for spade or shovel - and lapel - for skin
or pelt. The latter comes from le piel, so perhaps
there was a longer or deeper vowel. It may have been, however, that
the distinction was only apparent by context.
SHOWER-tenas snass. (little
rain)
SHRIEK-skookum wawa. The
difference between this meaning and the other context of skookum wawa
- to warn, to admonish, to scold - would be conveyed by intonation
and gesture. Note also hyas wawa for to yell or to shout.
and hyas skookum cly for to scream.
SHUDDER-kwass pe shake. (fear
and shake, afraid and shaking) Presumably kwass pe toto
or kwass pe hullel would also mean the same thing.
SHUT, TO-ikpooie; mamook ikpooie. (to
make shut)
SHY-kwass. (afraid)
Tenas kwass would lessen the usual dire context of kwass.
SICK-etsitsa. The English
loan-word sick was more common and widespread; the word etsitsa
given here may refer to a specific disease, or may be peculiar to the Lower
Columbia.
SICKEN-mamook sick. (to
make sick)
SICKLY-tenas sick. (little
sick, mildly sick) Kahkwa sick - like sick, as if sick
- also seems appropriate. I think Shaw here meant sickly as
something like feeling poorly, i.e. not really sick, only feeling
that way.
SIDE-(this side) yukwa; (that side) yahwa.
SIFT, TO-toto. Toto
also means to shake, apparently in a less violent fashion than hullel
or shugh or shake.
SIGH-tenas cly. (little
cry) Tenas wind might also be appropriate in some circumstances,
especially when minor sorrow is not intended, as in a sigh of relief.
SIGHTLESS-halo nanitch; blind.
(without sight, without seeing)
SIGN-kahkwa picture. (like
a picture, similar to a picture)
SILENCE-(n.) halo noise. (without
noise, no noise)
SILENCE-(v.) kopet noise; howh. (stop
noise) Both of these are imperatives.
SILK-la sway; lasoy; laswa; slik cloth; skookum sail.
(strong cloth, best cloth) Silk is among
the strongest and most durable of fabrics, and would have also been the
best-quality cloth for sale in the region, thanks to trade with the Orient.
Slik cloth appears to be a misprint.
SILLY-kahkwa pelton. (like
a fool, like a deranged person)
SILVER-tkope chikamm; tkope dolla. (white
metal, white money)
SIMILAR-kahkwa. (like,
as)
SIMMER-tenas liplip. (little
boil, lesser boil)
SIMPLY-kopet. (stop,
only, but)
SIN, SINFUL-mesachie; lepeshe. Lepeshe
is from the French for sin.
SINCE-kimta. (behind,
after)
SINCERE-delate. (true,
truly, really, correct)
SING, TO-shantie.
SINGLE-kopet ikt. (only
one, alone)
SINK, TO-mahsh keekwulee (it sinks) klatawa
keekwulee; klip. (to put beneath; to go beneath;
deep) I think Shaw's inclusion of klip here is as an alternative
to keekwulee in the compounds given; I do not think it would operate
as the verb to sink by itself. Also, adding kopa chuck - into
the water - after keekwulee seems more correct; it would not
be necessary after klip. Mahsh keekwulee is to sink
something; klatawa keekwulee is in the sense of something
sinks.
SINNER-mesachie tillikum.
(bad person, evil person)
SIP-muckamuck chuck. (ingest
water, ingest fluid)
SIRUP-melass; silup.
SISTER-kahpho (if older than the speaker);
elip ats.
SISTERLY-kahkwa ats.
SIT, TO-mitlite. (to
be, to stay, to rest) Mitlite is used for sitting,
lying, or other forms of repose.
SIX-taghum; tohum. There
is a place near Nelson BC named Taghum, which is six miles from town; a
locality along the rail line in the Whistler area is named Tokum Corners,
which I used to think was a hippie ski-bum allusion but I now realize was
a Jargon-derived name, implying "six mile corner".
SIXTEEN-tahtlum pe taghum.
(ten and six)
SIXTY-ONE-taghum tahtlum pe ikt. (six
tens and one) Shaw generally only gives the ordinary ten-multiple.
He must have put sixty-one here as a diversion.
SIZE-(what) kunsih hyas.
(how much large)
SKEPTIC-man yaka halo ikum Saghalie Tyee yaka wawa.
(man who not accept God his word) Ikum is a misprint;
iskum was meant. Shaw here means a religious skeptic only.
A broader term for skeptic would be something like man yaka halo
tumtum konaway - man who does not believe in anything.
SKILL-kumtux mamook. (to
know how to do, knowledge of doing, to understand how to make, understanding
of making)
SKIN-skin. Skin in
the sense of animal pelts would be lapel. Hides and leathers,
however, were also skin.
SKULL-bone kopa seeowist (point to it).
(bone in the face) Bone kopa latet
also seems correct.
SKUNK-hum opoots; peshes; pipupiu; skubeyou.
(smells behind; smelly tail) Pipupiu is a misprint;
this should be piupiu.
SKY-koosagh; saghalie; ekusah. In
the Nootka version of the Jargon and in the Nootka (Nuu-chah-nulth) language,
the word siah - meaning far elsewhere - originally meant
the sky.
SLAB-cultus laplash. (worthless
plank) In lumbering and carpentry, a slab was a roughly-shaped
piece of wood that had little commercial value, hence the use of cultus
in this term. A slab of stone would have been stone laplash,
although this would refer (I think) only to stone used in construction
or otherwise man-hewn. A slab of meat might have been itlwillie
laplash.
SLANDER-mesachie wawa; kliminawhit wawa. (bad
words; lying words, liar words)
SLAP-mamook kokshut. (to
make a strike, i.e. to hit something)
SLAVE-elite; mistchimas; mistshimus.
SLAY-mamook memoloose. (to
make dead)
SLEEP-moosum; sleep.
SLEEPLESS-halo moosum; halo sleep. (without
sleep)
SLEEPY-ticky moosum; ticky sleep. (need
sleep, want sleep) Olo moosum or olo sleep - hungry
for sleep, in need of sleep - was also correct.
SLEIGHT OF HAND-tahmahnawis. (magic)
This is an interesting context for tamahnawis, which nearly always
referred to the supernatural. I would think that something like cultus
tamahnawis - false magic - or simply hyak lemah - fast
hands - or ipsoot mamook lemah - hidden deeds with hands
- would have been more specific. Maybe Shaw's meaning here is that
this is how sleight-of-hand was generally "explained" to the unknowing,
or to children.
SLIGHT-(adj.) tenas.
(little, small) The verb to slight might be potlatch
cultus wawa - give useless words, give bad words - or something
similar.
SLING-(v.) mahsh. (to
throw) To sling something on one's back would probably
have used lolo or mamook lolo - to carry.
SLING-(n.) tenas lope kopa mahsh stone.
(little rope for throwing stone) This is of course a throwing-sling.
A sling for a broken arm would have been sail kopa lemah
or sail kopa cultus lemah or sail kopa kokshut lemah.
A sling for carrying something would have been sail kopa mamook
lolo.
SLIP-wake siah fall down. (not
far from falling down, i.e. almost falling down) Cultus klatawa
lapee or something similar seems also possible for this meaning.
SLIPPERY-cultus; loholoh.
(bad, unstable, worthless) The sense of cultus here
is is, "that's a bad place to step".
SLOW, SLOWLY-klahwa; wake hyak. (not
fast)
SLUT-klootchman kahmooks.
(female dog, woman behaving like a dog) I do not think Shaw's
intent here is "zoological", as can be legitimtaely the case with bitch,
but rather a reference to licentious behaviour on the part of a woman.
SLY-ipsoot. (hidden,
concealed)
SMALL-tenas
SMELL, A-humm. More specifically,
a bad smell.
SMILE-tenas heehee. (little
laugh)
SMITE-mamook kokshut. (to
make a blow, i.e. to strike something)
SMOKE-(n.) smoke.
SMOKE-(v.) mamook smoke. (to
make smoke)
SMOKY-(very) hiyu smoke. (lots of smoke)
SMOOTH-kloshe. Klimmin
also meant smooth or soft. The use of kloshe
might have been in the context of, for example, roads or woodwork.
SNAKE-oluk; wahpoos; snake.
SNARE, TRAP- lapeage; kwalta.
SNOW-snow; cole snass. (cold
rain)
SO-kahkwa. (like, as,
thus)
SOAK-mitlite kopa chuck. (be
in the water, stay in the water) The passive to soak something
might better be mamook mitlite kopa chuck.
SOAP-soap.
SOFT-klimmin. Also meant
smooth.
SOIL-illahee. (land,
earth)
SOLDIERS-sogers. Often spelled
sojers. Troops or an army was hiyu sojers.
SOLELY-kopet. (only,
but) Kopet ikt would also be appropriate when the context
was singular.
SOLIClT-wawa; ask. (speak,
ask) Wawa ticky or ticky wawa - speak a desire, say
a need - might also be appropriate.
SOLITARY-kopet ikt. (only
one, alone)
SOME-tenas hiyu; sitkum. (small
many, i.e. a few, several; half, i.e. part of)
SOMETIMES-tenas hiyu times. See
previous.
SOMEBODY-ikt man; klonas klaksta.
(a man, i.e. any man; perhaps who, i.e. anyone) Perhaps
is not quite the right translation for klonas here; klonas
was an expression of uncertainty, klaksta a general third person
pronoun when no one specific was meant.
SON-tenas. (small
one, young one) Tenas could mean the offspring of any
species.
SOON-alki. Laly alki
would mean very soon. By-by and winapie were
also used for soon.
SORCERER-tahmahnawis man. (magic
man, spirit man)
SORE-sick. Cultus
might also be used.
SORRY, SORROW-sick tumtum. Sick
tumtum is also used to refer to grief and grieving and other negative
feelings.
SOUL-tumtum; sele. (mind,
heart) Shaw's citation of sele here appears to be an extremely
rare borrowing from German, where seele means soul.
This may be because later 19th Century Protestant missionaries in the US
side of the region were often German in origin; the French term was l'ame
(with a circumflex on the 'a') and a loan-word equivalent does not, to
my knowledge, occur in Chinook despite the prominence of French Catholic
priests in evangelization in the region.
SOUND-noise; latlah. Latlah,
from le tren - the train - in French, would only be used to describe
a loud noise.
SOUP-lasup; liplip muckamuck. (boiling
food, bubbling food)
SOUR-kwatas; sour.
SOUTH-kah sun mitlite kopa sitkum sun.
(where the sun is at mid-day)
SOW-(n.) klootchman cosho.
(female pig)
SOW-(v.) mahsh. (to throw,
to put)
SPADE-la pell. There
must have been a slight distinction in prononciation betwen la pell
- for spade or shovel - and lapel - for skin
or pelt. The latter comes from le piel, so perhaps
there was a longer or deeper vowel. It may have been, however, that
the distinction was only apparent by context.
SPARK-tenas plah. (little
fire) Plah is a misprint; piah is intended.
SPARROW-tenas kalakala. (little
bird)
SPEAK, TO-wawa.
SPEAKER-wawa man, man yaka kumtux wawa. (speaking
man; man who knows speaking) The latter here is the sense of
an orator; a speaker as in someone who is speaking would
be simply man yaka mamook wawa.
SPECTACLES-glass seeowist; dolla seeowist; lakit seeowist.
(glass eye; dollar eye, i.e. dollar-sized eye;
four eyes)
SPEED, SPEEDY-hyak.
SPEND-mahsh. Mahsh
had a wide range of meanings, generally carrying the sense of to discharge
- to put, to throw, to throw outside, to exhaust, etc. Here Shaw
means spend as in the phrase mahsh dolla or mahsh chikamin
- to spend money. Mahsh mahkook, on the other hand,
meant to sell.
SPIDER-skookum (when spoken of as a tahmahnawis).
Skookum - normally meaning strong or
potent or big - occasionaly had a supernatural or monstrous
sense. Here Shaw means not so much a big spider as one taken to be
the manifestation of a spirit or curse - lathough certainly a large spider
could be construed by the supernaturally-fearful in such fashion.
The evil potency of some spiders in the region would be sufficient cause
for this context to have arisen - black widows and brown recluse spiders
are relatively common in some parts of the Northwest, particularly the
Interior.
SPILL, TO-wagh; mahsh.
(to pour out; to discharge) Cultus wagh or cultus
mahsh might better convey accidental or wasteful spillage.
SPINE-bone kopa back. (bone
in the back)
SPIRIT-tumtum; life. (heart,
mind) Wind was also used to convey the meaning of life-force.
Shaw also gives sele as meaning soul. Spirit
in the sense of a ghost or supernatural being would be tamahnawis.
Spirit in the sense of lively or spirited, as in a
horse or perhaps music or dancing, would be youtl.
SPIRITS-tahmahnawis.
Tahmahnawis invariably referred to things supernatural, whether
evil in nature or not. If used to mean bad or evil,
the implicit context was that spirits or the supernatural were involved.
SPIRITS-lum; whiskey.
Shaw of course means spirits as in booze. Either lum
or whiskey could refer to all types of drinkable alcohol.
SPIT-mahsh lapush chuck; mamook toh.
(to throw water from the mouth; to make a spit)
SPLENDID-hyas kloshe. (very
good, greatly good)
SPLIT, TO-mamook tsugh; mamook kokshut; wagh; tsugh.
(to make split, to make broken) Wagh
ordinarily means to pour or to pour out. Note the distinction
between tsugh - split - and shugh - shake.
SPLIT-(passive) kokshut; chako kokshut; chako tsugh.
(broken; to become broken; to become split)
SPOIL-mamook spoil; mamook mesachie; mamook cultus.
(to make spoiled, to make bad; to make worthless)
SPOIL-(passive) spoil; chako spoil; puli.
(to become spoiled) Shaw also gives lotten for rotten.
Puli or poolie, from the French pourri, meant something
that had gone rotten or been left to rot.
SPOON-spoon.
SPORT-heehee. (fun, games,
laughter)
SPOTTED-tzum; le kye. Le
kye was used only in reference to spotted horses, as in an appaloosa,
from the French la caille.
SPRING-(v.) sopen, jump.
SPRING-(n.) tenas waum illahee.
(little warm land, i.e. early summer, dawn of summer)
SPURS- le see blo.
SPY-nanitch skookum. (look
strongly) Shaw's meaning of spy here does not seem to
be the modern one of espionage or stealthy observation; these would more
likely have been kapswalla nanitch - to steal a look. or
ipsoot nanitch - concealed observation. A spy would
probably be man yaka ipsoot nanitch - man who secretly looks
- or something similar.
SQUALL-skookum wind pe snass. (strong
wind and rain) Hyas wind pe snass might also be appropriate;
both versions imply a violent storm. Squall in the modern
sense of a brief passing storm would be more like tenas wind pe snass.
SQUAW-Siwash klootchman. (Indian
woman) Squaw is an unfortunately derisive anachronism
which modern users are cautioned to avoid; its origin is explicitly anatomical
in the original Cree, and it is no longer acceptable in polite English.
SQUEAL-wawa kahkwa cosho. (to
speak like a pig)
SQUEEZE-kwutl.
SQUIRREL-kwiskwis.
Note the distinction from kliskwiss - a mat.
STAB, TO-klemahun; mamook cut; mamook kokshut kopa
knife. (to make a cut; to make a blow with
a knife)
STABLE-kuitan house. (horse
house) Cayoosh house was also correct in regions where
cayoosh was used for horse rather than kuitan.
STAG-man mowitch. (male
deer)
STAGE-chikchik. (wagon)
STAGGER-klatawa kahkwa pahtlum man. (to
walk like a drunken man)
STALE-oleman. (old, worn
out) Presumably Shaw means this was used in the context of bread
or biscuits; other foods would be poolie - rotten.
STAMPS-(postage) tzum seeowist.
(marking face) That is, a marking of a face, as portraits
then as now were common features of postage stamps.
STAND, TO-mitwhit.
STARS-tsiltsil; chilchil.
STARE-skookum nanitch. (strongly
look) Shaw distinguishes this from to spy by word order; what
the contextual difference is I do not know.
START-klatawa; chee klatawa.
(to go, new go, i.e. to newly go)
STATE-hyas illahee. (great
land, big land) That is, a large swathe of territory. The
context of hyas as important also infers the status of government.
STAY, TO-mitlite. Mitlite
also means to be or to rest or to stay at or to
reside.
STEADY-(be) kloshe nanitch.
(good watch, i.e. to watch well) This seems to be in the context
of a benediction. The usual modern sense of to be steady would
probably be skookum mitlite - be strong - or halo hullel
- not shaky.
STEAL, TO-kapswalla. The
sense here can also be to be stealthy.
STEAM-smoke.
STEAMER-Piah ship; steamer; steamboat. (fire
ship) The first probably more means ocean-going steamships.
The latter two, and especially the last, would probably refer to river-going
steamboats, which were common throughout the region in the later 19th Century.
STEEL-chikamin; piah chikamin. (metal,
iron; fired metal, fired iron)
STEER-tenas man moosmoos.
(young male cattle, lesser male cattle) By using tenas
here, Shaw may mean a diminished maleness, rather than a male calf
which would be the ordinary meaning of tenas man moosmoos.
More directly, burdash moosmoos - gelded cattle - would describe
what is usually meant by steer. To steer, as in to drive,
would be kishkish or mamook kishkish.
STENCH-humm, piupiu.
STERN-opoots. (tail,
behind, rear end)
STEW-mamook liplip; lakanim.
(to make boil) The first
of these is verbal; the second I am not sure. A stew as in food would
be liplip muckamuck.
STICK-(n.) stick. Also means
tree, wood, branch.
STICK-(v.) mamook cut; mamook kwotl. (to
make a cut, to make squeeze) That is, to stick something with
a knife, or to stick something to something else.
STILL-(be) kloshe kopet. (good
stop) That is, stop it and be good, i.e. behave.
STILL-(adj.) kloshe. (good,
nice, i.e. behaving nicely) Kwann - calm, placid -
might also be appropriate.
STING-(n.) opoots klemahun.
(tail stab, i.e. tail that stabs, tail stabber)
STINK, A-piupiu; humm.
STIR-tenas klatawa. (little
go, i.e. to move slightly) I do not think Shaw here means stir
as in a fluid or food being cooked, but stir as in a slight motion.
To stir the soup might be mamook lowullo lasup - make
go round the soup - but this is only a guess.
STIRRUP-sitlay.
STOCKINGS-stocken; kushis.
STOMACH-belly; yakwahtin. Yakwahtin
referred to the front of the thorax, from the chest down.
STONE-stone.
STONY-kahkwa stone; stone mitlite.
(like stone; there is stone, it is stone)
STOOPED-kaulkek; lah.
STOP-(active) mamook kopet, ikpooie; ka.
Ka may be a misprint for ko, which means to arrive at.
STOP, TO-(imp.) kopet.
STORE-mahkook house. (sell
house) A storehouse might be house kah hiyu iktas mitlite
- building where there are many things.
STOREKEEPER-mamkook man.
(sell man, i.e. salesman) Mamkook is a misprint; mahkook
was intended.
STORM-(wind) hiyu wind; (rain) hiyu snass.
(lots of wind; lots of rain)
Hyas wind and hyas snass would also be appropriate, especially
for really big storms. Skookum snass would be heavy rain,
skookum wind a gale or hurricane.
STORY-enkahnam; wawa; yiem.
STOVE-stob; stove.
STRAIGHT-delate; delet; sipah.
STRAIGHTEN-mamook delate.
(to make true, to make correct, to make straight)
STRANGE-huloima tillikum.
(strange person, different person) This must be a misprint,
STRANGER being intended. Huloima by itself means strange
or different.
STRAP-(n.) skin lope.
(skin rope, leather rope)
STRAP-(v.) mamook kow. (to
make tied, to make a knot) Shaw means the context of to strap
something on to secure it, as if to a horse or boat, as in mamook
kow la sell kopa kuitan - strap the saddle on the horse.
STRAWBERRIES-amote; ahmoteh.
STRAY-cultus klatawa; klatawa kah. (aimless
going; going wherever)
STREAM-chuck; cooley chuck.
(water; running water) To distinguish a stream from a river,
tenas cooley chuck might be more accurate.
STREET-ooakut kopa town.
(road in town, path in town)
STRIKE-mamook kokshut. (to
make a blow, to make a hit) Kokshut conveys the sense
of to break asunder; less violent in context might be mamook
koko.
STRING-tenas lope. (little
rope)
STRIPE-tzum. (marking,
stripe) Tzum was used for any pattern on cloth, or to
designate any marking. A long stripe, in the singular, might be youtlkut
tzum.
STRIVE-mamook skookum. (to
do strongly)
STROLL-cultus klatawa; cultus cooley.
(aimless travel, aimless running/walking)
STRONG-skookum.
STRONGLY-kahkwa skookum. The
adverb need not include the use of kahkwa; skookum by itself would
do just fine in most contexts.
STUDENT-school tenas; tenas kopa school.
(school child, child in school) As with
scholar, Shaw's translation refers only to schoolchildren, not to
older students. Even high school was relatively uncommon in the frontier
Northwest, even as much as university or other forms of education would
have been.
STUDY-mamook tumtum kopa papah or book. (to
use the mind, to do thinking on a paper or a book)
STUPENDOUS-delate hyas.
(really great, truly large)
STUPID-halo latet; kahkwa pelton. (nothing
in the head; like a fool)
STUPOR-kahkwa memaloose. (like
dead)
STURGEON-stutchun.
SUBMERGE-mahsh keekwulee kopa chuck. (to
throw beneath the water, to put below the water) In the first
or second person, klatawa keekwulee kopa chuck - go or travel
under the water, or perhaps mamook swim keekwulee kopa chuck
or sitshum keekwulee kopa chuck - both of which mean swim under
the water - might be more appropriate.
SUBMIT-kopet. (stop,
desist) Shaw's context here is mostly that of the imperative,
although the active might also work - as in naika kopet - I will
stop. The further English context of to place oneself in an
inferior position might better be rendered as mamook keekwulee.
SUBSCRIBE-mamook tzum. (to
make a mark, to write) That is, to sign for something.
SUBSEQUENT-kimta. (behind,
after)
SUBTRACT-mamook haul. (to
lift) Shaw here means to lift something off a pile, or perhaps
to lift something out of goods being negotiated over. To take
away from might have to be translated differently, unless this phrase
became ideomatic; mamook haul does have other unrelated meanings,
however.
SUCCEED-tola.
SUCH-kahkwa. (like similar,
as)
SUCK-muckamuck. (to eat,
to ingest, to drink) Muckamuck kahkwa tatoosh - drink
like a breast - might be more specific.
SUCKER-katake. Shaw means
a sucker-fish, rather than a lollipop or a dupe.
SUDDEN, SUDDENLY-hyak. (quickly,
swiftly)
SUGAR-shuga; le sook; shugah; shukwa.
SUGARY-kahkwa shuga. (like
sugar, similar to sugar)
SUICIDE, TO COMMIT-mamook memaloose yaka self.
(to make dead oneself) In the first
or second person, naika or maika would be inserted, respectively,
in place of yaka, presumably or at least possibly with the use of
one of hte words for soon or the immediate future - by-by, laly
alki, or winapie. Suicide became an unfortunately common
feature of native society throughout the Northwest as the result of the
impact of white "civilization", and remains a major social problem among
native peoples throughout North America today, and sadly is among the principle
causes of youth mortality in native communities.
SUITABLE-kloshe. (good,
i.e. OK) As in that will be good, i.e. that'll do.
SULKY, SULLEN-solleks. (angry,
mad) Solleks generally seems to carry a more violent connotation
or overt context; tenas solleks - little angry, little anger
- or ipsoot solleks - concealed anger - might give a better
sense of the quieter tone of sullen, with the latter meaning something
like to nurture a grudge. Further to this, to sulk would
be mamook tenas solleks.
SUM-konoway. (everything,
all things) A sum as in a number count could also be kwinnum,
which means to count or a count of something.
SUMMER-waum illahee. (warm
land, warm earth)
SUMMON-wawa kloshe yaka chako. (to
say good to him to come)
SUN-sun, otelagh.
SUNDAY-Sunday, Sante.
SUNLIGHT-sun yaka light. (sun
his light, day its light)
SUNRISE-tenas sun; get up sun. (early
day, morning; sun getting up, getting-up part of the day)
SUNSET-tenas polaklie; klip sun. (early
evening; deep sun, i.e. deepening of the sun)
SUP, SUPPER-muckamuck kopa tenas polaklie.
(food in the early evening) Muckamuck,
which means food as well as to eat or to ingest, can
also mean any meal or evena spread dinner-table. What Shaw here is
doing is specifying the usual meaning of supper in the period - the early
evening meal. Dinner with the same period context and specification
would be muckamuck kopa sitkum sun - noon-day meal.
Shaw's use of sup here is the verb for to have supper.
SUPPORT-kloshe nanitch; Potlatch muckamuck pe konoway
iktas. (to watch well, i.e. to watch out for,
to protect; to give food and everything needed like clothing, etc., i.e.
to take care of everything)
SUPPOSE-spose; pos.
SUPREME-elip hyas kopa konoway. (more
great than everything; first great before everything) The adjectival
combination hyas skookum might also be suitable.
SURE-delate; delate kumtux. (