Chaawp 'AaknachHeyaay 'iikwiich 'uunyaa trravaharr tenyewayches Rrinkoonvi. 'Iiwaarem ewupem Chaawp tuuyiwches. Siny 'ehin pemill taayiw hellytaavek. 'Iikwiichvech ewaaw, esally penyetah, sinyvu aarapmlly ewaarpch; ucheyuuwpches kumyuch yuuvu sinyvu. Nyii aarapmh umaawch a-aamches San Haasiintem. Nya-a-aam sinyvech nyii 'ekurh umaaw melayches.
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About the Story
This short story is told by Christina Hutcheson, a native Mesa Grande speaker. Little is known about the story except that Chaawp is a mythical figure, described as a flying "ball of fire" in Ricky's Trip.
Notes & Translation
Heyaay 'iikwiich 'uunyaa trravaharr tenyewayches Rrinkoonvi.
Long ago, men were working on a road at Rincon.
'Iiwaarem ewupem Chaawp tuuyiwches.
After a while they looked, and Chaawp was coming.
Siny 'ehin pemill taayiw hellytaavek.
He was coming carrying a woman by the hair.
'Iikwiichvech ewaaw, esally penyetah, sinyvu aarapmlly ewaarpch;
The men screamed and clapped their hands, they wanted him to let go of the woman;
ucheyuuwpches kumyuch yuuvu sinyvu.
they knew which woman it was.
Nyii aarapmh umaawch a-aamches San Haasiintem.
He didn't let her down and took her away to San Jacinto.
Nya-a-aam sinyvech nyii 'ekurh umaaw melayches.
When he took her there, the woman died not far away.
Long ago, men were working on a road at Rincon.
- 'iikwiich: Bare form, no "v". In English, would probably be said as, "some men"
- 'uunyaa: Unmarked, but understood as "at" or "on" a road.
- Rrinkoonvi: At Rincon, or perhaps "by" Rincon? If a place called Rincon already existed, or at least there were roads by the place now called Rincon, it suggests that this story was fairly recent.
'Iiwaarem ewupem Chaawp tuuyiwches.
After a while they looked, and Chaawp was coming.
- ewupem: This word is not really audible in the recording, but it makes sense there (it was in Langdon's transcription).
- tuuyiw: Progressive auxiliary, "coming". Here it sounds like "tuuyuu", not to be confused with "tuuyuuw" (standing), which would sound more like "too-yo". In other dialects, Mesa Grande's -iw becomes -uu, and -iw by itself sounds very close to -uu, which might explain this anomaly.
Siny 'ehin pemill taayiw hellytaavek.
He was coming carrying a woman by the hair.
- pemill: To carry something hanging by your side, like a bucket.
- taayiw: This operates like an auxiliary verb when someone is coming bringing something.
- hellytaavek: Interesting that the suffix -vek can mean "from" as in "by the hair", and not just "from" a location.
'Iikwiichvech ewaaw, esally penyetah, sinyvu aarapmlly ewaarpch;
The men screamed and clapped their hands, they wanted him to let go of the woman;
- aarapmlly ewaarp: The subject of ewaarp is plural (the men), but the subject of aarapm "let loose" is singular, and so refers to Chaawp. Thus, the men ('iikwiichvech) wanted (ewaarp) Chaawp to let her go (aarapm).
ucheyuuwpches kumyuch yuuvu sinyvu.
they knew which woman it was.
- This line is very unclear in the recording, but this is what we think it is supposed to say.
- kumyuch: "Which one". In English, we would likely instead say "they knew who the woman was", and we could probably substitute maap for this word. However, we do not hear "maap" in the recording.
- The "kumyuch" in the recording sounds like "kumich". Maybe it sounds different due to being said so quickly.
- yuuvu: It is unclear what exactly this word is or where it fits in to the sentence, but it looks like a shortened form of weyuu, "is".
- Written with normal word order, this sentence would probably be: "Sinyvu kumyuch weyuuvu ucheyuuwpches."
Nyii aarapmh umaawch a-aamches San Haasiintem.
He didn't let her down and took her away to San Jacinto.
- a-aam: Takes along, takes away.
- San Haasiint: Presumably refers to Mt. San Jacinto. This mountain is mentioned in several other Kumeyaay stories.
Nya-a-aam sinyvech nyii 'ekurh umaaw melayches.
When he took her there, the woman died not far away.
- nya-a-aam: Prefix nya- is separated from the first vowel so the syllables do not combine.
- Whoever or whatever Chaawp is, he's terrifying.