Weaver Denman audio

The following is a transcript of an audio recording archived at UC Berkeley's California Language Archive (you must agree to the terms of use to download audio). For convenience, the recording has been divided into individual audio clips on this page.

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WiyotEnglishNotes

0. Introduction

[William Bright:] "This is Weaver Denman, Wiyot Indian of Petrolia, California, giving a short Wiyot vocabulary and his own doctoring song, which was taught to him by a white fir tree."

1. gouwi'

man

2. guvouch

womanLiterally "female".

3. diqa'

white man

4. waghishwa

white woman

5. jougash tighurrilh

young manOther speakers usually gave tighurrilh alone as the word for "young man". It is not clear what jougash means in this phrase.

6. tsurarilh

young woman

7. gaqilh

old manLiterally means "one who knows", i.e. a wise man. The word for Creator or God is Datrri Gaqilh, meaning "Above Old Man" or (literally) "Above-One-Who-Knows".

8. shirouki

old woman

9. rra'chuchk

boy

10. guvoutsuqilh

girlLiterally means "she is female" or "one who is female".

11. hija

baby

12. a darr!

Father!Also pronounced hadarr. The word for "father" alone is darr; the word adarr is used when addressing your father directly.

13. a ga!

Mother!Also pronounced haga. The word for "mother" alone is ga; the word aga is used when addressing your mother directly.

14. a douk!

Brother! / Sister! / Sibling!Also pronounced hadouk. The word for "brother/sister" alone is douk (literally "sibling"); the word adouk is used when addressing your brother(s)/sister(s)/siblings directly.

15. daritkurrughuk

leg

16. rrit

my tongueThe word for "(a/the) tongue" alone is wit.

17. we's

hand

18. welilh

foot

19. wuti'l

its tailThe word for "(a/the) tail" alone is wut.

20. luwut

heartOther speakers gave wutw as the word for "heart". Due to the poor audio quality of this recording, it is possible that Mr. Denman's pronunciation is actually luwutw, and is a longer version of the same word used by other speakers.

21. wutvilouk

ear

22. magouks

headAlso pronounced ma'gouks, vagouks, or va'gouks. Kroeber (1911) and Reichard (1922) say it also means "brain"; Reichard (1922) also says it is used to mean "salmon head" or "sometimes used of people in sense of "blockhead" [idiot]".

23. wutwut

liver

24. wutgurrat

bone

25. gu'wik

blood

26. boutaguvourr

deer hide, deerskin

27. wuswitk

neck

28. wuchvurrach

wing

29. halalilh

duckLiterally means "it flies around".

30. balh

hair

31. vurrarr

horn

32. we'doutk

fin

33. vulirr

eyeAlso pronounced wulirr.

34. walupt

feather

35. vupt

tooth, teethAlso pronounced mupt or wupt.

36. duturr

nose

37. lulhouk

elbow (?)Other speakers gave wutouk, vutouk, or mutouk as the word for "elbow"; this word looks more like the word for "shoulder" given by other speakers.

38. rrutgun

my fingernail, my toenailThe word for "(a/the) fingernail/toenail" alone is wutgun.

39. wusurru'l

his/her/its milkThe word for "milk" alone is wusurr, also pronounced vusurr or musurr (this word also means "breast").

40. da'gh

belly

41. juchk

eggLiterally "round thing". Other speakers pronounce this word dutk; Mr. Denman's pronunciation may actually mean "big round thing".

42. wa'l

fish eggs, roe

43. jiplh

beard, mustache, facial hair, whiskers

44. kouluwou'y

fur

45. boutaguvourr

deer hide, deerskin

46. witgalh

coyote

47. rrou'naksh

bullheadOther speakers pronounced this word rrou'naks.

48. youts

maggotOther speakers pronounced this word youtw; given the poor quality of this audio recording, Mr. Denman may have been saying youtsw, which would literally mean "little maggot".

49. wayits

dogAlso used to refer to horses, after they were brought to the area by white settlers.

50. hiwat

abalone

51. hiqh

head louse/liceAlso pronounced heqh. Two other words are also pronounced hiqh or heqh: one means "snow" or "hail", and the other means "deerskin cape" or "buckskin/deerskin/animal hide".

52. highuchk

body louse/liceLiterally means "big (ugly) louse"; from hiqh (no. 51 above).

53. duklhalilh

fleaLiterally means "it jumps across".

54. wulhgagulh

lice eggs, nits

55. halalilh

duckLiterally means "it flies around".

56. hu'mik

pigeon

57. rranadaqulu'l

gooseLiterally means something like "big voice".

58. bushdou'l

chipmunk

59. jechach

game animalAlso the word for "meat".

60. ruruwesh

raccoonOne of two words for raccoon. According to Teeter's (ca. 1956) notes, this word means ""lifts his little hand up" (if palm tickles, knows berries are ripe)". Other speakers pronounced this word rarawesh or harawesh.

61. hout

surf fish, smelt

62. houlhi'

clam

63. tsharr

mussel

64. ba'm

sturgeon

65. butsou'laksh

owlAlso pronounced bitsoulaksh or pitsou'laksh. Translated specifically as "great horned owl" by Curtis (1924) and Merriam (ca. 1910-1923), but elsewhere just "owl".

66. boutsurr

fawn

67. joumashk

(land) snail, slugThere is a different word (voukt) for sea snails. Some speakers pronounce this word without the "k" (joumash).

68. panu'l

crane, heronAlso pronounced panu'lu or panu'rugh. Usually translated as "crane", though Merriam says it is one of the words for "great blue heron". According to Teeter's (ca. 1956) notes, it means roughly "diarrhea all the time".

69. valhuk

salmonAlso pronounced malhuk; literally means "feasting".

70. hawouturrurighu'

skunkAlso pronounced huwaturrou'righu'rugh. Literally means "one whose behind stinks", according to Teeter's (ca. 1956) notes.

71. maqh

bearAlso pronounced vaqh. Variously translated as "bear", "black bear", and "grizzly bear". (There are other words that specifically refer to black bear and grizzly bear).

72. goumayoulilh

sea lionLiterally means "swims around", or perhaps more accurately, "turns around and around swimming".

73. duqht

cottontail rabbit.Also pronounced daqht.

74. vus yu rrutgu'

yellowhammer (probably refers to the red-shafted flicker)Also pronounced vus ya rretgu'lu, which literally means "flame-colored" (yellow/orange/red).

75. lhuplh

crabOther speakers pronounced this word suplh. Generally translated "crab", but speaker Birdie James told J.P. Harrington that it referred specifically to "Eel River crabs".

76. guvouy

shiner, surf fish

77. dou'dughu'n

snipe

78. rruchuchurriru'

mouseThis may be an alternate pronunciation of tsutsurrutshighu'rugh, a word for mouse found in Reichard (1922) and translated as meaning "little long tail".

79. goujishuqi

field mouse (?)This may be a mistake, as goujishuqi' is the word for pine nut beads used in necklaces & regalia. Gishuqhi' is a word for mouse given by other speakers.

80. lhechk, lhuchk

ratSome speakers pronounced this word as lhech or lhuch (without the final k). It is translated as "aboriginal Indian rat" (Curtin, 1889) and "woodrat" (Curtis, 1924; Merriam, ca. 1910-1923; Reichard, 1922).

81. gou'daw

eel (Pacific lamprey)

82. tselhou'nighu'

frogShortened pronunciation of tselhounighu'ru. Teeter & Nichols (1993) gives the literal translation of this word as "the one whose arse is dirty", but Teeter's (ca. 1956) notes say it means "he doesn't wipe his @ss".

83. madaqilh

lizardLiterally means "he stares". Also pronounced vadaqilh.