'Elymaam 'Iikwich Kwapesiiw'Elymaam 'iikwich emily waarp, nyaapum kuuchuttvech wiiches: "Maach kepuwk kaam menyewaam." 'Elymaam 'iikwichvech puwk nyewaam waam.
Waam tewaach, nyapehemachvi pams. Nyaapum 'aawvech wellyap tuuyuuw. Nyaapum wenak tewaa, nyahunnm hemaahlly wars. 'Ewily llehup iichaa. Nyaapum waach 'ewily kwellhupvi welyak. Nyatuuyaqm 'iikwich 'ehinch nyuk welyak tuuyaq. Esally weyuuw wiiches: " 'Unychewayh." Nyaapum 'iikwichvech wiis: "Hoo, kehma', metenyaally 'uuchuch 'ewiph." Nyamaaykallym 'esuw wechuwch wesaaw. "Keyim kaam menyewaam," 'elymaamvech wiis. "Kaam, maach meyuuhuy temewaas." " 'Epal 'ehin keshuuhat, maach kettim keyuuhuy; maarapmvek nyaapum 'enyaach 'aamh." Nyaapum wettim tuukitt. Nyaapum 'elymaamvech wettim 'epalvu aarrap. "Pily kaam!" " 'Emaawh, mat 'etoch pily, memarrvek 'enyemaamuuchh." Nyaapum mat wetoch, 'elymaamvech aarrap, aarapm, nyaapum tehiilly uuttapch, hellytaa aannak. "Kaam," wiis. Nyaapum 'elymaamvech waam. Nyamaaykallym, matetay 'ehin tewam wekull nyaapum hemuk ewaaw. 'Iipay nyaamatvech netepachk 'elymaam 'iikwichvu ewuphlly ewaarp. Nyaapum kuuchutt kwaaykuuvech wiis: " 'Elymaam peyaach 'iikwich kwapesiiw." |
Notes & Translation
'Elymaam 'iikwich emily waarp, nyaapum kuuchuttvech wiiches: "Maach kepuwk kaam menyewaam."
A little man had a swollen foot, and so his boss said: "You go on back home."
- 'Elymaam 'iikwich: Although this can mean "boy", in this story we are apparently talking about an actual little, adult man. 'Elymaam means "little one", c.f. 'elyemis, "are little".
- emily waarp: This line is literally, "A little man's foot got swollen." Oftentimes what sounds natural in 'Iipay Aa doesn't in English, so the wording of the translation has to be changed a little bit.
- nyaapum: "then". We can interpret this to mean, "so…" or stick with the literal meaning of "after that,…"
- Maach kepuwk kaam menyewaam: "You go back, go to your house." Kepuwk tells him to "go back, return" to where he came from, and "kaam" is like, "go, get out of here". Maach is not gramatically required but is like a vocative, "Go home, you!"
'Elymaam 'iikwichvech puwk nyewaam waam. Waam tewaach, nyapehemachvi pams.
The little man went back home. He went, and got to where people sleep.
- Waam tewaach…: Due to the -ch, we can interpret this as, "He was going for a while, then…" The -ch here is like a conjunction, illustrating the sequence of events. The use of "tewaa" indicates that the "going" went on for a while.
- nyapehemachvi pams: Pehemach = they sleep, and placing any sort of article on it (-v) makes it a noun. What type of noun is determined by the type of article and the context: Here it takes -vi, and whenever a verb is given a -vi suffix, it becomes "the place where that action took (or takes) place." Noting that pam "arrives" can act on nouns with -vi (at/in), we read "pehemachvi pams" as, "he arrived at the place where people sleep". Why the nya- in nyapehemachvi? This is probably there to supplement -vi in making the verb a noun, and maybe it has something to do with, "the place where they sleep when they sleep". From studying other examples, it does not appear to make a difference whether it is "pehemachvi" or "nyapehemachvi".
Nyaapum 'aawvech wellyap tuuyuuw.
Then, the fire was (still) burning.
- Nyaapum: It's not really logical to list "the fire burning" as part of the sequence of events that happened after the little man arrived. Maybe this "nyaapum" means "then" as in, "at that time"? Or maybe it's a mere conjunction: "And the fire was still burning."
- 'aawvech: This noun is given a definite article even though it was not previously mentioned. Maybe this "place where people sleep" was like a campsite, so we would say, "when he got to camp, the fire was still burning," i.e., you would expect the place to have a fire.
- wellyap tuuyuuw: Apparently, fires burn in the "standing" position. The book translated this part as, "was (still) burning," with the parentheses, so it's unclear if anything about the grammar implies the "still" part, or if that's left up to the listener to infer.
Nyaapum wenak tewaa, nyahunnm hemaahlly wars.
Then he sat down, and when it got dark, he wanted to sleep.
- Nyaapum wenak tewaa: Literally, "then he was sitting." From this we can understand both that he sat down and was sitting for a while.
- nyahunnm: When it got dark, or when it was dark. In cases like this, the same word can mean both "being in a state" and "getting into a state", so it's up to the listener to figure out which one it is. Another example is hemaa, which can mean "sleeps, is asleep" as well as, "goes to sleep, falls asleep".
'Ewily llehup iichaa. Nyaapum waach 'ewily kwellhupvi welyak.
He remembered a cave. So then he went and laid down in the cave.
- 'Ewily llehup: Cave, or literally, "rock hole" or "hole in rock". This name might have to do with the fact that what we know of as "caves" in southern California are generally shallow, either carved into soft stone by the wind or formed by the natural arrangement of boulders.
- llehup: This is like a verb meaning, "is a big hole (in the ground or rock)". The meaning is closer to a noun, but the word form is a verb.
- iichaa: Means "thinks of" and "remembers", in each case taking a direct object in bare form (here, 'ewily llehup)
- waach…: When the verb "waa" is used like this with -ch, it is not always so much to say that he went to a place (though he did in this case), but rather that he put himself into motion ("went" and did it) and completed whatever action was at hand. Other example in "Pat's Story".
- kwellhupvi: Kwellhup is exactly what you'd get if you treated "llehup" like a verb and nominalized it. While llehup seems to mean, "is a big hole", kwellhup means, "that which is a big hole", i.e. a cave. So kwellhup is more of a noun and can take articles like -vi, but it's probably interchangeable with llehup.
Nyatuuyaqm 'iikwich 'ehinch nyuk welyak tuuyaq.
When he lied down, there was another man lying there already.
- Nyatuuyaqm: Could also be read as, "As he was lying there". The next verb in the sentence did not happen the instant he lied down (welyak), but was going on while he was lying (tuuyaq).
- 'iikwich 'ehinch: Though we often read this as "a man", the verb 'ehin can actually mean "is another", as it does here. "A man is another-ch and…" When it doesn't mean "another", it really means "a certain (noun)", and is used to introduce single new objects or subjects to the discussion that the listener hadn't heard about previously.
- 'iikwich… tuuyaq: Is literally, "A man was already lying (there)." Maybe " 'Iikwich 'ehinch" has something to do with it being read as, "there was another man…", or maybe not.
Esally weyuuw wiiches: " 'Unychewayh." Nyaapum 'iikwichvech wiis: "Hoo, kehma', metenyaally 'uuchuch 'ewiph."
He took his hand and said: "Let's be friends." Then the man said, "Okay, go to sleep, tomorrow we'll do something."
- Esally weyuuw: The only way we know it was the little man doing this is the "nyaapum 'iikwichvech" in the next sentence. Also, we assume that the new sentence has the same subject as the previous sentence if there is no subject explicitly named.
- 'Unychewayh: Let's be friends. Hortative -h ending on 1st person plural verbs makes it a "let's (do something)" statement. Unycheway is pl. of unyeway, "is a friend". This looks like another instance where "being something" and "becoming something" can be expressed by the same word.
- 'uuchuch 'ewiph: We'll do something. 'Uuchuch is something, ewip is pl. of ewii, does. Usually, "do something" is said the verb ma'wii (ma'wip), so you could say "we'll do something" as either " 'ema'wiph" or " 'uuchuch 'ema'wiph", but this example shows us that the ordinary verb ewii is viable as well.
Nyamaaykallym 'esuw wechuwch wesaaw. "Keyim kaam menyewaam," 'elymaamvech wiis. "Kaam, maach meyuuhuy temewaas."
The next day, he made food and ate. "Go on home," the little one said. "Go, you were here first."
- Nyamaaykallym: Lit. "when it was morning", can be interpreted as "the next day".
- 'esuw wechuwch wesaaw: He made food and ate. This seems to be a common expression (see Pat's Story) though it sounds slightly redundant in English. 'Esuw wechuw seems like a general word for "cook" or "prepare" food, when the manner of cooking is not specified. We don't know for sure who is the subject of this sentence, but we can assume it's the hero of the story, the little guy.
- Keyim kaam: Common expression, kind of like, "go ahead and go", "run along now", "okay, you can go", "alright, get going", "get out of here", "you'd better go," etc. "Keyim" appears to be the command form of some unknown, perhaps extinct verb (maybe related to yi, "is"?), now meaning something like, "go ahead, begin, you can". It can also be used in expressions like, "Get ready, get set, go!" where it is the "go" part.
- meyuuhuy temewaa: You were here first. Yuuhuy means "is first, does first", and as we will see can go in front of auxiliary verbs and behind main verbs, agreeing with the subject of those verbs and describing those actions as taking place first.
- Way to treat a new friend, telling him to kick rocks first thing in the morning!
" 'Epal 'ehin keshuuhat, maach kettim keyuuhuy; maarapmvek nyaapum 'enyaach 'aamh." Nyaapum wettim tuukitt.
"Stick an arrow in the ground, you shoot first; if you knock it down, then I'll go." Then he shot and nicked it.
- 'Epal 'ehin keshuuhat: Stick an arrow in the ground! Shuuhat "sticks into the ground" acts on 'epal 'ehin, and with 'ehin being a verb, we could be hyper-correct and say: 'Epal 'ehinm keshuuhat! where -m is the different-subject suffix attaching to the verb phrase "an arrow is one", making it an object. But that's not necessary because it's pretty clear what this sentence means.
- kettim keyuuhuy: With these double imperatives we see how to tell someone to go first, or to do something first, i.e. before doing something else.
- maarapmvek nyaapum: If you knock it over, then… In English we use "then" to show the consequence of a conditional "if" phrase, but here, is the "nyaapum" there to label the consequence? Or is it saying, "if you knock it over, after that…" The latter is closer to the literal meaning of nyaapum.
- Nyaapum wettim tuukitt: Two verbs, same subject, no -ch because it's pretty clear without it. We can tell by the next sentence that this was the man shooting; if he literally told the little guy, "you shoot first," why did he shoot before him??
Nyaapum 'elymaamvech wettim 'epalvu aarrap. "Pily kaam!"
Then the little one shot and hit the arrow. "Now go!"
- aarap: Aarap is "hit", and aarapm is "knock over". So the little one didn't really meet the conditions to kick the guy out on this one.
" 'Emaawh, mat 'etoch pily, memarrvek 'enyemaamuuchh."
"I won't, let's fight now, if you win you can kill me."
- mat 'etoch: Mat wetoch means "they fight (each other)", and is literally, "they hit each other". Here there is no -h, but the meaning seems to nonetheless be "let's fight." Or perhaps with the "pily", it's something like, "now we fight", but that doesn't sound very colloquial.
- 'enyemaamuuchh: Literally, "you'll kill me", but translated as, "you can kill me". Apparently -h can sometimes indicate the possibility or permissibility of something in the future. In a different context, the -h could also mean, "you could kill me".
- The big guy must be pretty confident; I wouldn't give someone permission to kill me that easily!
Nyaapum mat wetoch, 'elymaamvech aarrap, aarapm, nyaapum tehiilly uuttapch, hellytaa aannak.
Then they fought, and the little one hit him, knocked him down, then ripped his clothes, and tied his head.
- aarap, aarapm: "hit him, and knocked him over…" Remember to supply "him" or the appropriate pronoun if there is no explicit object in the Kumeyaay sentence.
- tehiilly: This word, "clothes", seems to function like body parts in that it is by default in the "his/her" form, taking 'e- and me- prefixes instead of 'enye-/menye-/nye-. So "tehiilly uuttap" here is "he ripped his clothes".
- uuttapch.. aannak: He ripped and tied. -ch is used here, between the last two verbs of the sentence. We could go without it but it probably feels comfortable to use, especially before an object like "hellytaa".
"Kaam," wiis. Nyaapum 'elymaamvech waam.
"Go," he said. Then the little one left.
- wiis: Again, we assume that the subject of this verb is the same as the subject of the previous sentence, if there's no reason to assume otherwise.
- Nyaapum 'elymaamvech waam: All that trouble to kick the other guy out if you were just going to leave too? So many parts of this story make no sense…
Nyamaaykallym, matetay 'ehin tewam wekull nyaapum hemuk ewaaw.
In the morning, he climbed a mountain that was around and then hollered three times.
- Nyamaaykallym: Is this the same morning? The next morning? Maybe this refers to when the sun rose, as maaykaa = daybreak, dawn.
- matetay 'ehin tewam wekull: He climbed a mountain that was around. Notice how we specify the mountain's location (around, nearby, there) with the verb tewam (is/does while being around or moving about). Again, we can be ultra-correct and use -m to subordinate tewam as an object verb phrase: "matetay 'ehin tewamem wekull". Either way, it means the same, and the word-for-word meaning is: "A mountain was one, was around, and he climbed it."
- hemuk ewaaw: The subject of hemuk appears to be the same as the subject of the following verb (ewaaw), describing the number of times the subject performed the action of the second verb. If this is correct, "I hollered once" should be " 'aahin 'ewaaw" (I am one and I hollered), and "you hollered twice" should be "mehewak mewaaw" (you are two and you hollered). In the story, the verb hemuk "are three" is already in the third person, so it remains unchanged. The number does not appear to take -ch when used this way.
'Iipay nyaamatvech netepachk 'elymaam 'iikwichvu ewuphlly ewaarp.
All the people came out wanting to see the little man.
- 'iipay nyaamatvech: Notice the article on "all".
- netepachk: pl. of chepak, "comes out", used when subjects are "coming out" towards you from your perspective. This verb could use -ch (same-subject "and"), but it doesn't, maybe because it would be pretty hard to pronounce. In theory, you might be able to say "netepachkech", but you would have to see how a native speaker would handle it.
- netepachk… ewaarp: Literally, "they came out and wanted to see the little man." You could make it "ewaarpch" (-ch suffix) and the meaning would become: "they came out because they wanted to see the little man" (-ch marks the cause).
Nyaapum kuuchutt kwaaykuuvech wiis: " 'Elymaam peyaach 'iikwich kwapesiiw."
Then the big chief said: "This little one is a real hero!"
- kuuchutt kwaaykuuvech: Literally, "the big boss". You can interpret this differently based on the context; sometimes government officials can be called "kuuchutt" and "kuuchutt kway'kuu".
- 'Elymaam peyaach: This little one, this kid. The -ch on peyaa tells us that this noun phrase is complete, and the 'iikwich after it is not part of it.
- 'iikwich kwapesiiw: With kwapesiiw meaning "one who is very", this phrase seems to mean, "one who is very much a man" or, "a person who is very manly". 'Iikwich apparently also means brave, manly, etc.
- 'Elymaam peyaach 'iikwich kwapesiiw: Notice how it doesn't say " 'iikwich apesiiw". This sentence is not saying, "he is really brave," rather it is saying, "this little guy is a person who is really brave" or, "this little guy is a really brave one". Essentially, it equates one noun with another rather than employing a regular verb.
Vocabulary
aamuuch
aannak aarapm aarrap 'aaw 'ehin 'elymaam emily 'enyaa 'epal esally 'esuw 'ewaa ewaarp ewaaw 'ewily 'ewily llehup ewip ewup hellytaa hemaa hemuk hoo hunn iichaa 'iikwich 'iipay keyim kuuchutt kwaaykuu kwapesiiw kwellhup llehup maa maaykally mat mat wetoch matetay metenyaally netepachk nyaamat nyaapum nyuk pam pehemach peyaa pily puwk shuuhat tehiilly tewaa tewam tuukitt tuuyaq tuuyuuw umaaw unycheway 'uuchuch uuttap waam waarp war wechuw wekull wellyap welyak wemarr wenak wesaaw wetoch wettim weyuuw wii yuuhuy |
kills
ties knocks over hits fire is one little one leg, foot I arrow arm, hand food home pl. of war, wants hollers, screams rock cave, lit. rock hole pl. of ewii, does pl. of ewuuw, sees, looks at head, hair sleeps are three OK it is dark, gets dark thinks, remembers man, brave people Go ahead! boss, one who gives orders one that is big, from 'iikuu, is big one that is very, from apesiiw, is very hole hole you morning themselves, each other they fight each other mountain tomorrow pl. of chepak, comes out all then already gets there pl. of hemaa, sleeps this now goes back sticks in the ground his clothes is, does while going/sitting is, does while around nicks, hits with a glancing blow is, does while lying down is, does while standing is not pl. of unyeway, is a friend something tears, rips goes away swells up, is swollen wants makes, prepares climbs burns, is burning lies down wins, beats the opponent sits down eats pl. of wetoo, hits shoots gets, grabs, takes says is first |