Kuphaall 'Emuullh
Nyipily pams kuphaall 'emuullh. Keyipem pily 'aany kuphaall 'ehmiiym 'emuullh. Nya'ar kuphaall umaaws; nya'ar kuphaall 'ehmiiy. Heyaay nyaewaarpch kuphaall 'emuull. Pily pu'yuuh umaaw. Mellychishvech pily 'enyematvi nyechewayp. Nyipily mellychishvech nyaamat serrkaarr newatt. Pily kuphaall nya'emuullh 'uunyaavi. 'Iipay kwathemiivech shawii uumiirrp. Shawiivu nyimvey 'emach ta'nyeway. Pily 'elymashvech shawii uumiirrp, 'ehinech umaaw. Pily shawii marvek, 'ekurm maak meyiwh. |
Notes
pams: The -s ending can go at the end of main verbs, even if it's not at the end of the sentence.
pams kuphaall 'emuullh. "The time has arrived for us to gather acorns." "Time" is not explicitly stated, so this literally is, "It has come and we will gather acorns." This can also be interpreted as, "it is almost time".
pily 'aany: "This year" is said literally as, "now year".
kuphaall 'ehmiiym 'emuullh: Lit. "Acorns are many and we will gather them." Meaning either "we will gather many acorns" or "there will be lots of acorns for us to gather."
kuphaall umaaw: "There are not acorns," = There are no acorns.
nyaewaarpch: The nya- prefix makes this "when" we wanted. For whatever reason the glottal stop before 'ewaarp is dropped. The -ch suffix shows that 'ewaarp and 'emuull have the same subject.
pu'yuuh umaaw: "pu'yuu" means "it is like that", with no subject needed.
'enyematvi nyechewayp: This shows that "nyewaayp" can take the -i suffix on the place being lived in.
nyaamat serrkarr newatt: Lit. "Fenced everything off and finished," with the last two words meaning "have finished fencing" or "have completely fenced".
kuphaall nya'emuullh 'uunyaavi: "Acorns when we gather, (we gather) in the road." Translated idiomatically as "we must gather". "Nya'emuullh" seems to be nya- plus the irrealis -h meaning "when we gather", but indicating that the gathering hasn't happened. It appears that another verb "'emuull" is left out but is easily supplied by the reader.
'Iipay kwathemii: 'Iipay here means "Indian". Kwathemii looks like it originates from a verb and means "those who are old". This phrase is thus, "the Indian elders."
Shawiivu nyimvey: Shawii is moved to the front for emphasis, though adverbs of time like "nyimvey" usually come first.
nyimvey 'emach ta'nyeway: "We have always eaten / been eating."
'ehinech umaaw: 'ehin here means "some others". It contrasts with "'elymash" in the previous clause, which did not have any sort of determiner. It looks like 'ehinech may be interchangeable with 'ehinch, which also means "is one". Here, 'ehin still appears to be a verb with the -ch suffix, meaning those who "are some others" are also "not".
marvek: "If you want", the "if" coming from -vek.
'ekurm maak meyiwh: "You must go a long way." Lit. "It is far and you will go and you will come back." The -m on 'ekur means different subject. The -k on maa means same subject, future tense of both it and the following verb, which is also marked for future, but with -h. Note how obligation is expressed without any additional words. Also, both "go" and "come back" are stated. Perhaps because if you go far, you still have to come back to make the shawii?
pams kuphaall 'emuullh. "The time has arrived for us to gather acorns." "Time" is not explicitly stated, so this literally is, "It has come and we will gather acorns." This can also be interpreted as, "it is almost time".
pily 'aany: "This year" is said literally as, "now year".
kuphaall 'ehmiiym 'emuullh: Lit. "Acorns are many and we will gather them." Meaning either "we will gather many acorns" or "there will be lots of acorns for us to gather."
kuphaall umaaw: "There are not acorns," = There are no acorns.
nyaewaarpch: The nya- prefix makes this "when" we wanted. For whatever reason the glottal stop before 'ewaarp is dropped. The -ch suffix shows that 'ewaarp and 'emuull have the same subject.
pu'yuuh umaaw: "pu'yuu" means "it is like that", with no subject needed.
'enyematvi nyechewayp: This shows that "nyewaayp" can take the -i suffix on the place being lived in.
nyaamat serrkarr newatt: Lit. "Fenced everything off and finished," with the last two words meaning "have finished fencing" or "have completely fenced".
kuphaall nya'emuullh 'uunyaavi: "Acorns when we gather, (we gather) in the road." Translated idiomatically as "we must gather". "Nya'emuullh" seems to be nya- plus the irrealis -h meaning "when we gather", but indicating that the gathering hasn't happened. It appears that another verb "'emuull" is left out but is easily supplied by the reader.
'Iipay kwathemii: 'Iipay here means "Indian". Kwathemii looks like it originates from a verb and means "those who are old". This phrase is thus, "the Indian elders."
Shawiivu nyimvey: Shawii is moved to the front for emphasis, though adverbs of time like "nyimvey" usually come first.
nyimvey 'emach ta'nyeway: "We have always eaten / been eating."
'ehinech umaaw: 'ehin here means "some others". It contrasts with "'elymash" in the previous clause, which did not have any sort of determiner. It looks like 'ehinech may be interchangeable with 'ehinch, which also means "is one". Here, 'ehin still appears to be a verb with the -ch suffix, meaning those who "are some others" are also "not".
marvek: "If you want", the "if" coming from -vek.
'ekurm maak meyiwh: "You must go a long way." Lit. "It is far and you will go and you will come back." The -m on 'ekur means different subject. The -k on maa means same subject, future tense of both it and the following verb, which is also marked for future, but with -h. Note how obligation is expressed without any additional words. Also, both "go" and "come back" are stated. Perhaps because if you go far, you still have to come back to make the shawii?
Vocabulary
'aany
'ehin 'ehmiiy 'ekur 'elymash 'emat ewaarp heyaay 'iipay keyipem kuphaall kwathemii mellychish newatt nyaamat nya'ar nyechewayp nyimvey nyipily pam pily pu'yuu serrkaarr shawii ta'nyeway umaaw uumiirrp 'uunyaa waa war wemach wemuull weyiw |
year
some other(s) are many is far pl. of 'elymaam, child land pl. of war, wants long ago people, Kumeyaay maybe deciduous oak and acorns elders, old timers white man finishes all, everything sometimes pl. of nyewaayp, lives always now arrives now is like that fences in acorn mush 1st pers. pl. of tewaa is not pl. of wemirr, likes, loves road goes wants pl. of wemaa, eats soft things pl. of wemull, gathers acorns comes |