a Pite Sámi legend from Arjeplog, from Ignácz Halász, Svéd-lapp nyelv V (1893)

A short legend of a lost age of plenty, told in Pite Sámi by Sámi of Arjeplog parish and taken down by Ignácz Halász at Saltdalen in Norway in 1891. In the old days, it says, milk flowed instead of water, porridge and berries grew on the trees, and the trees bent their branches down for people to eat from, fungus served for fat and cheese, and great green leaves served for clothes, so that nobody had to worry what to eat, drink or wear.

Translation

In the old days, so they used to tell, it was a terribly good and joyful time: milk flowed in place of water, and the springs and the little rivers ran with nothing but milk, and for food there was also terribly tasty porridge and berries on the trees. The trees themselves bent their branches down, so that people could reach to eat of those berries.

The white fungus that is on the trees was to be fat for them, and the mushroom, too, was to be cheese for them; and for clothes they were also to wear those big green leaf-blades, which were terribly broad and long. Then they were to wrap themselves in them. They had no trouble or care at all about what they should eat and drink, or what they should wear for clothes.

So their living was so easy that they ate wherever they came, and drank milk from the rivers and the springs; and when they ran short of clothes, they took those big leaf-blades and wrapped themselves in them.

Colophon

Translated from the Pite Sámi of Ignácz Halász, Svéd-lapp nyelv V: Népköltési gyűjtemény a Pite-lappmark arjepluogi egyházkerületéből (Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1893), no. 3, p. 3, in the section of primeval legends. Halász took these texts down in 1891 at Saltdalen from Sámi of Arjeplog parish, and printed a Hungarian translation after each, which was not consulted: it was masked out of the page images before translation.

The words that decide the reading were checked in K. B. Wiklund's Lule-lappisches Wörterbuch (1890), in Lindahl and Öhrling's Lexicon Lapponicum (1780), in Halász's South Sámi dictionary (Svéd-lapp nyelv IV, 1891), in Joshua Wilbur's A Grammar of Pite Saami (2014) and, for three words, in J. A. Friis's North Sámi dictionary (1887). Supcastillin is "they used to tell" (Halász IV s.v. supcstallet, the frequentative of "tell"). Purrē is "good"; āvūs is "joyful" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. AWOS, "laetus, glad"); aʼiḳē is "time" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Gång, aike). Mäʼlĕhkē, milhkēp̣ is milk (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. MELKE, "lac, mjölk"); kolᵒhkoi and kuʼlĕkin are "flowed" (Wiklund p. 43 s.v. kolᵒko-, "fliessen, rinnen"); āďďaḳa, āďďaḳist are "springs" (Friis 1887 s.v. Aja, genitive agjaga, "fons aquae e terra"; Wiklund p. 1, nom. aja, "Quelle"); jokoċa are "little rivers"; pära is "only" (Wiklund p. 88 s.v. para, "nur, bloss", from Swedish bara); jis is "also, and, then" (Halász IV p. 89 s.v. jis, "auch, und, wieder, dann"). Porromusan is "for food" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Mat, párrámas); ńālhka is "tasty" (Wilbur p. 128, njalga "tasty"); kruttḁ is "porridge" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. GRAUTS, "puls, gröt"); mûrjē, mûrjist are berries (Wiklund p. 70 s.v. muᵒrje-, "Beere"). Ēča is "themselves" and ēčapse "(wrapped) themselves" (Halász IV p. 89 s.v. jīča, "ich, du, er selbst"). Suďďė is "bent" (Wiklund p. 127 s.v. soǯo-, "sich biegen", soǯoɔte- "biegen"); ọ̄ksi is "branches" (Wiklund p. 81 s.v. ǫᵘkse-, "Ast, Zweig"); vûlus is "down" (Wiklund p. 174, vuəlus); joksot is "reach" (Halász IV s.v. jaksát, "erreichen"). Svahpa is the white fungus that grows on birches (Wiklund p. 134 s.v. svaɔpa-, "weisser, an Birken wachsender Pilz"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. SWAPP, "spongia … quae in arboribus crescunt, svamp"); kûppar is "mushroom" (Wiklund p. 48 s.v. kuᵒppare-, nom. kuᵒppar, "Pilz"; Friis 1887 s.v. Guobbar, "boletus"); pɵʼiṭēn is "as fat" (Wiklund p. 98 s.v. puᵉitte-, "fett"); vœsstan is "as cheese" (Friis 1887 s.v. Vuosta, "caseus, Ost"). Kaʼrĕvūn, kārvuist are "for clothes", "of clothes" (Friis 1887 s.v. Garvotet, from garvvo, "vestire"); krudnis is "green" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Grön, gruodnes, from Swedish grön); lassta-plǟðit are "leaf-blades" (Wiklund p. 54 s.v. lasta-, "Blatt, Laub"; Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Blad, from Swedish blad); koʼbᵒdoka are "broad" (Wiklund p. 42 s.v. kob'te-, "breit"); kuhkē are "long". Kēsaṭėt, kēsaṭin are "wrap", "wrapped" (Friis 1887 s.v. Giessat, "involvere … svøbe"); Halász IV s.v. kieset has "ziehen", "pull", which would give "drew them about themselves", and that reading is set aside for the vowel ē. Iččin is "they did not" (Wilbur §8.2.3, the past negative verb ittji-); vāiviw is "trouble" (Wiklund p. 165 s.v. vai've-, "Not, Elend, Qual, Mühe"); huksūp̣ is "care" (Wiklund p. 19 s.v. huksu-, "Sorge"). Ālhkēs is "easy" (Wiklund p. 4 s.v. al'ɔkke-, "leicht"); päbmū is "food, living" (Wiklund p. 93 s.v. piebmu-, "Speise, Nahrung"); kosō is "where to" (Wilbur Table 6.10, gusa "to where"); nuhkujen is "ran short" (Friis 1887 s.v. Nokkåt, "deficere, tage Ende"; Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Tyna af, nokket); vällṭin is "took" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. WALDET).

Read from context, or not settled by the dictionaries, and named here: kalhkai, kalhkin ("was to be", "were to") is the verb "shall" used of how things were in that age; the English says "was to be" where the Sámi uses it and "it was" in the opening sentence. Halász's bracketed variant (sisne) is kept in the Source Text; the English gives the word once. Pite Sámi is close to Lule and South Sámi; where no dictionary of those languages decides a word, the reading is named here.

No English translation of this text is known to us.

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Source Text: Almačī toluč vēssuma pirra

The Pite Sámi text as printed by Halász (1893), no. 3, transcribed from the page images in his phonetic spelling. Line-end hyphens are joined; Halász's single paragraph is divided here at the same places as the English.

tolēn, supcastillin, āhte kalhkai alvūs purrē ja āvūs aʼiḳē, mäʼlĕhkē kolᵒhkoi ċācē sajēn ja āďďaḳa ja jokoċa pära mäʼlĕhkēn kuʼlĕkin ja porromusan lī jis mûrain alvūs ńālhka kruttḁ jah mûrjē. tā mûra ēča suďďė ọ̄ksi vûlus, vai kalhkin almaċa joksot porrot taiste mûrjist.

svahpa, kuti lê mûrain, kalhkai siďďī pɵʼiṭēn orrūt ja kûppar kalhkai jis siďďī vœsstan orrut; ja kaʼrĕvūn kilhkin jis atnēt taiṭe stûrra krudnis lassta-plǟðit, mah lījin alvūs koʼbᵒdoka ja kuhkē. tē kalhkin sija talle tāi sisne ēčapse kēsaṭėt. iččin sija aktawk vāiviw jala huksūp̣ anē tāi pirra, maiṭe kalhkin sija porrot ja juhkat, jala māp̣ kalhkin sija kaʼrĕvūn atnēt.

tē lī siďďī nou ālhkēs päbmū, āhte purrin, kosō pọhtin ja milhkēp̣ juhkin jokōist ja āďďaḳist ja ku’ kārvuist nuhkujen, tē sija taiṭe stûrra lassta-plǟðit vällṭin ja kēsaṭin ēčapse tāi sisnē (sisne).

Source Colophon

Ignácz Halász, Svéd-lapp nyelv V: Népköltési gyűjtemény a Pite-lappmark arjepluogi egyházkerületéből (Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1893), no. 3, p. 3. Public domain. Transcribed from the page images of the scan of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (REAL-EOD 4154). Halász's spelling is kept letter for letter, with his length marks, dots above and below, breves, raised vowels, ǟ, œ, ɵ, ð, the ring below the a of kruttḁ, the raised stroke of the checked syllable (written here ʼ), the curly apostrophe (’), and his bracketed variant. His Hungarian translation and his notes are not reproduced.

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