'Ekwiyhvu Tiikay'Enyaach 'iichachvu 'ekwakvech mu'yuuk tenamh 'ekwiyh umaawvek nyawihch 'ehaa saayvek. Paatvech 'uuch ma'wiiha 'Ehaa Silly saayvek, 'ehaach umaaw nyim suunattvu? Kiicha' keyipna 'aashaa, haakwal, 'esuuyan nyawihch 'ewii. 'Ewiich 'ehaa wesicha?
'Enyaach 'iichaas 'aany kupkwillyvi 'emat saay tewaa; 'aany 'ehmiiym, 'esnyaaw, kuphaall, 'ily pupch saych shaawatt. 'Enyaamatch 'Emaay 'Ehaa 'etetekaayh 'ekwiyhvu. |
Heyaay 'iipayvech ichemaach 'emaaylly kuuchuttvu nyechewiich 'ekwiyh wiich. 'Enyaa, Ted, ewipm 'ewuuws 'aahin. 'Iichachvu kupilly hemukm hunn hemukm ichemaach. 'Iikwich 'ehin Davis wii chuuhiim puuch 'up winys. Nyinyuyk ewiphm 'ewuuwhlly 'ar; kwarchechaak umaaw netuu-urp etaakwiyvu. 'Enyaach nya'ewuuwm 'aawas tewaa.
Notes & Translation
'Enyaach 'iichachvu 'ekwakvech mu'yuuk tenamh 'ekwiyh umaawvek nyawihch 'ehaa saayvek.
I wonder what the deer will do if it doesn't rain and the water dries up.
Paatvech 'uuch ma'wiiha 'Ehaa Silly saayvek, 'ehaach umaaw nyim suunattvu?
What will the ducks do if the Salton Sea dries up, and there is no water for them to play with?
Kiicha' keyipna 'aashaa, haakwal, 'esuuyan nyawihch 'ewii.
Do think of the birds, lizards, horny toads and the rattlesnakes.
'Ewiich 'ehaa wesicha?
Do snakes drink water?
'Enyaach 'iichaas 'aany kupkwillyvi 'emat saay tewaa; 'aany 'ehmiiym, 'esnyaaw, kuphaall, 'ily pupch saych shaawatt.
I remember in years past the land was dry; for many years, live oaks, black oaks, those trees dried up and died.
'Enyaamatch 'Emaay 'Ehaa 'etetekaayh 'ekwiyhvu.
Let's all pray to God that it rains.
Heyaay 'iipayvech ichemaach 'emaaylly kuuchuttvu nyechewiich 'ekwiyh wiich.
Long ago the people danced to their gods above so it would rain.
'Enyaa, Ted, ewipm 'ewuuws 'aahin.
I, Ted, saw them do it once.
'Iichachvu kupilly hemukm hunn hemukm ichemaach.
I think they danced for three days and three nights.
'Iikwich 'ehin Davis wii chuuhiim puuch 'up winys.
A man named Davis provided the tobacco.
Nyinyuyk ewiphm 'ewuuwhlly 'ar; kwarchechaak umaaw netuu-urp etaakwiyvu.
I want to see them do it again; but there are no old men who know rain-making.
'Enyaach nya'ewuuwm 'aawas tewaa.
When I saw it, it just misted.
I wonder what the deer will do if it doesn't rain and the water dries up.
- 'Enyaach 'iichachvu: Literally, "What I think is…" This follows a similar construction to introducing nouns with -ches, known as a "predicate nominal" construction: The first noun is left in bare case (or with the accusative article -vu), and the noun it is equated to is placed afterwards, often with the ending -ches. E.g. 'Enyehatt meniisches. "My pet is a cat." The first, "identified" noun is left in bare form, NOT 'Enyehattch… Same with clauses that become noun phrases: 'Aashaa 'ewuuwvu kulashaashches. "The bird I saw was a bluejay." 'Enyaach 'iichachvu ____. "What I think is ____."
- Following the 'iichachvu is an indirect question starting with "mu'yuu". On its own, this could be a question: What will the deer do…? But subordinated with 'iichachvu, it becomes an indirect question that can function as a noun in the sentence.
- mu'yuuk tenamh: Literally, "How will they be around?" Tenam is pl. of tewam, to do or be while around. -k on mu'yuu is the future form of -ch, or -h + -ch. It indicates that the following verb will have the same subject and be in the future, hence -h on tenam. When mu'yuu has the same subject marker -ch or -k, it means "how".
- 'ekwiyh umaawvek… 'ehaa saayvek: "If it doesn't rain… if the water dries up." The suffix -vek means "if".
Paatvech 'uuch ma'wiiha 'Ehaa Silly saayvek, 'ehaach umaaw nyim suunattvu?
What will the ducks do if the Salton Sea dries up, and there is no water for them to play with?
- 'uuch ma'wiiha: What will he do? Here we see how the question marker -a can come after the irrealis or future marker -h. -h always sticks closest to the verb.
- 'Ehaa Silly: The salt water. Based on the way it's written, this refers to the Salton Sea and not the ocean, 'ehaasilly. To be more clear, you could say 'Ehaa silly 'ewik for the Pacific ocean and potentially 'Ehaa silly 'enyaak for the Salton Sea.
- 'ehaach umaaw: There is no water. Umaaw can also mean, "there is none" or "there is no ___"
- nyim: Meaning "with which…"
- suunattvu: To play with. The -vu appears to make the verb suunatt a noun, meaning "the thing played (with)". 'Ehaa nyim suunattvu: Water they played with.
Kiicha' keyipna 'aashaa, haakwal, 'esuuyan nyawihch 'ewii.
Do think of the birds, lizards, horny toads and the rattlesnakes.
- Kiicha' keyipna: "Do think" or "please think". Kiicha' is imperative of iichaa, thinks, and keyipna is imperative of yip, listen, with suffix -na, mild/polite emphatic ending. Keyipna literally is, "Do listen," and it is almost like saying "please", though it is not an exact equivalent.
- Kiicha'…: "Think of" or "remember" followed by direct objects: "the birds, lizards…."
'Ewiich 'ehaa wesicha?
Do snakes drink water?
- -ch marks the subject, lack of -v makes it indefinite.
- wesich: The number of "snakes" (plural) is marked only by the verb.
'Enyaach 'iichaas 'aany kupkwillyvi 'emat saay tewaa; 'aany 'ehmiiym, 'esnyaaw, kuphaall, 'ily pupch saych shaawatt.
I remember in years past the land was dry; for many years, live oaks, black oaks, those trees dried up and died.
- 'Enyaach 'iichaas: "I remember" Iichaa can mean "think" or "remember".
- 'aany kupkwillyvi: "Many years ago" or literally, "in the years that have passed." Kumeyaay refers to places in time in a similar way to places in space, as with the -vi "at/in" ending.
- 'emat saay tewaa. "The land was dry." You could probably say, " 'emat saay" to mean "the land was dry", but this could also mean, "the land dried up." So, to emphasize that the land WAS dry for a period of time, the auxiliary verb "tewaa" is used, almost like the "to be" verb in English.
- 'aany 'ehmiiym: "For many years…" or, "Years were many-m and…" The different-subject marker -m is placed on verbs of quantity to notate the duration of time passed: e.g. 'enyaa hemukem 'enuw. "I ran for three days." or literally, "days were three-m and I ran."
- 'ily pupch saych shaawatt. "Those trees dried up and died." With "tewaa", this sentence could look different: 'ily pupch saych shaawatt tenyeway. "Those trees were dry and dead."
'Enyaamatch 'Emaay 'Ehaa 'etetekaayh 'ekwiyhvu.
Let's all pray to God that it rains.
- 'Enyaamat: Us all, from nyaamat, all.
- 'Etetekaayh: Let us pray, "let us" from the first-person plural plus -h. From tiikay, which literally means "ask (for something)".
- 'etetekaayh 'ekwiyhvu: "Let's pray that it will rain." -vu on 'ekwiyh "it will rain" makes it a noun and an object of the verb. 'ekwiyhvu as a noun refers to the act of it raining in the future.
- 'Emaay 'Ehaa 'etetekaayh 'ekwiyhvu: Verbs like tiikay can have two objects: The thing you're asking for ('ekwiyhvu) and the person you're asking ('Emaay 'Ehaa). In English, one of these objects is considered the indirect object, usually preceded by a preposition. In Kumeyaay, there are no such prepositions and indirect objects are left unmarked just as direct objects are.
Heyaay 'iipayvech ichemaach 'emaaylly kuuchuttvu nyechewiich 'ekwiyh wiich.
Long ago the people danced to their gods above so it would rain.
- 'iipayvech ichemaach: The people danced.
- 'emaaylly kuuchutt: "Bosses in the sky", referring to the Kumeyaay people's gods. Couro seems to want to distance himself from what they believed.
- kuuchuttvu nyechewiich: "Their bosses" The -vu on kuuchutt makes it definite or specific, the object of nyechewiich, "they own". Here, nyechewiich is an example of how the verb nyewich does not always mean to literally own, but can indicate possession as in "my boss" or "my mother". "Kuuchuttvu nyechewiich" on its own would mean "they have the boss(es)", but here it is a noun phrase meaning "the bosses they owned" or rather, "their bosses", serving as the object of ichemaach, becoming: kuuchuttvu nyechewiich ichemaach "They danced to/for their bosses".
- 'ekwiyh wiich. "So that it would rain". The "(verb)-h wii" seems to be a set construction describing the purpose or intent of an action, as it has been observed in other instances. See here how it is added on to the end of the sentence, and the rest of the sentence is not structurally dependent on it. The -ch on "wiich" may be part of it too, probably the same-subject suffix, but I am not yet sure if it is, or if it is just for emphasis like -ches.
'Enyaa, Ted, ewipm 'ewuuws 'aahin.
I, Ted, saw them do it once.
- ewipm 'ewuuw: "I saw them do it". They did it-m, and I saw it. (Different subject marker)
- 'aahin: First-person of 'ehin, is one, becoming 'aahin, I am one, or in actuality meaning, I once…
'Iichachvu kupilly hemukm hunn hemukm ichemaach.
I think they danced for three days and three nights.
- 'Iichachvu: "I think" or "I remember", followed by a full sentence describing what you think.
- kupilly hemukm: "For three days" -m on the verb for duration of time.
- kupilly hemukm hunn hemukm: "For three days and three nights" No need to use a word for "and" when you don't need to.
'Iikwich 'ehin Davis wii chuuhiim puuch 'up winys.
A man named Davis provided the tobacco.
- Davis wii chuuhiim: "Named Davis" or "they called him Davis". Since this phrase is added for context into a sentence, -m is needed to switch to a different subject. In "wii chuuhii", the subject is some unspecified people who call a person some name.
- 'Iikwich 'ehin Davis wii chuuhiim: "A man named Davis" This phrase, without the -m, could be it's own sentence: "They called a man Davis". As it is, it technically does not contain a nominative noun with the -ch subject marker, which might by why it is followed by "puuch": "…chuuhiim puuch 'up winys." "They called a man Davis-m, he gave the tobacco."
- I read somewhere on a now-defunct webpage of a white man named Davis sponsoring the "last Diegueño rain dance" at Mesa Grande sometime in the 1910s under the supervision of Cinon "Mat 'Ewir" Duro, the last chief of the Mesa Grande band. If this story is true, it's pretty amazing that Couro was there to witness it!
Nyinyuyk ewiphm 'ewuuwhlly 'ar; kwarchechaak umaaw netuu-urp etaakwiyvu.
I want to see them do it again; but there are no old men who know rain-making.
- Nyinyuyk ewiph: "They will do it again" Here is a clear example of how nyinyuy, "is/does again", is a verb, taking -ch (same subject suffix) in the realis mood and -k in irrealis (future) mood.
- Nyinyuyk ewiphm 'ewuuwhlly 'ar: "I want to see them do it again." Lit. "Again they do it-m and see it, I want to." The "ewiph" marked -h for future, though you could say that the action is not necessarily in the future, but simply hasn't happened or isn't real, hence why -h is called the irrealis mood.
- kwarchechaak umaaw: "There are no old men", lit. "old men are not".
- netuu-urp etaakwiyvu: "They know rainmaking" Here we see how a verb (etaakwiy) can be used as a noun referring to the action of the verb, made especially clear when an article like -vu is added.
- kwarchechaak umaaw netuu-urp etaakwiyvu: "There are no old men who know rain-making." Lit. "There are no old men, they know rain-making". There are no words like "who" or "that" to explicitly subordinate netuu-urp etaakwiyvu, "they know rain-making", though the subordination may lie in the word umaaw, "there are not", after which any phrases would be supporting information. Compare to, "Kwarchechaak netuu-urp etaakwiyvu," "Old men know rain-making." An equivalent sentence to demonstrate the construction seen here might be, "Kwenychekwii tenyeway netuu-urp shawiivu." "There are old women (that) know shawii-making."
'Enyaach nya'ewuuwm 'aawas tewaa.
When I saw it, it just misted.
- nya'ewuuwm: When I saw it. -m, next subject is different.
- 'aawas tewaa: "It misted" or "it was misting". Tewaa for a progressive action or description. The book translates it as "it just misted". While there is no 'iipay word for "just", this has to be interpreted through tone and context.
- Though Ted seemed disappointed by the mist, for San Diego that must have taken a lot of effort!
Vocabulary
'aahin
'aany 'aashaa 'aawas chuuhii 'ehaa 'Ehaa Silly 'ehin 'ehmiiy 'ekwak 'ekwiy 'emaay 'Emaay 'Ehaa 'emat 'enyaa 'enyaamat 'esnyaaw 'esuuyan etaakwiy 'ewii ewip ewuuw haakwal hemuk heyaay hunn ichemaach iichaa 'iichachvu 'iikwich 'iipay 'ily kuphaall kupilly kuuchutt kwarchechaak ma'wii mu'yuu netuu-urp nyawihch nyechewiich nyim nyinyuy paat pekwilly pup puu saay saych shaawatt suunatt tenam tetekaay tewaa umaaw 'up 'uuch war wesich wii winy yip |
1st person of 'ehin, is one
year (Sp. año) bird it mists calls him (name) water Salton Sea (salt water) is one are many deer it rains, rain is high, above, the sky God, Water Above land, earth me us all, c.f. nyaamat, all live oak horny toad makes it rain rattlesnake pl. of ewii, does sees lizard are three long ago is dark, night pl. of iimaa, dance thinks, remembers I think, I remember man people tree black oak day boss, leader pl. of kurak, old man does what? is how? pl. of nur, knows and pl. of nyewich, has, owns with which, with it is/does again duck (Sp. pato) passes them him dries, is dry pl. of saay, dry pl. of melay, dies play in a group pl. of tewam, does while around pl. of tiikay, asks for, prays is is not tobacco what wants pl. of wesii, drinks says gives hears |