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

A short legend of the making of the snake, told in Pite Sámi by Sámi of Arjeplog parish and taken down by Ignácz Halász at Saltdalen in Norway in 1891; it follows the legends of the wolf and the horse. The Evil One makes the snake to sting people, but when the Lord gives it life it is ordered to be a medicine for them; the second part tells how a snake was hung on a tree, split and dried, and kept as medicine.

Translation

Then the Evil One had made the snake as well, for this reason: that it should sting people. But when the Lord gave it life, the snake was commanded to be a medicine for people.

And when people killed a snake, they cut into it and hung it on a tree, and there it was left to hang until it died. And when it had died, people took it down from the tree and split it in two, as is proper, and dried it well; and then they kept it so, as medicine.

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. 6, p. 5, 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 two words, in J. A. Friis's North Sámi dictionary (1887). Kärᵉbmaha, kērhma is the snake (Wiklund p. 38 s.v. ḳarᵊmahe-, nom. ḳar'maš, "Schlange"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. KÅRBMA, kårbmahas, "serpens, vipera, orm", and s.v. KERMES); šūdńēṭem is "creation" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. SJUDNJETEM); pahāhkis is "the Evil One" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. PAHAKES). Ačai is the auxiliary of purpose, "that … should", with the infinitive (Halász IV p. 4 s.v. ača-, third person singular ača, aččij). Posstēt is "to sting" (Wiklund p. 97 s.v. poste-, "stechen (von Schlangen, Mücken etc.)"). Härra is "the Lord", from Swedish herre; suńī is "to it" (Wilbur Table 6.1, sunje); hēkkap̣ is "life" (Halász IV s.v. hiakka); vittī is "gave" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. WADDET). Kohċūhtuwai is "was commanded", a passive of the verb "command" (Wiklund p. 47 s.v. kǫɔču-, "befehlen"); tālhkan is "as medicine" (Wiklund p. 141 s.v. talaɔkase-, nom. tąl'kas, "Arznei"). Kuddi is "killed" (Friis 1887 s.v. Goddet, "occidere, dræbe"); kacūsti is "hung" (Wiklund p. 35 s.v. kaɔca-, "aufhängen", more often kacuste-) and kahcahet is "to hang" (Wiklund p. 35 s.v. kaɔcahe-, "hängen, intr."); uǯǯu is "was allowed to" (Wilbur p. 238, ådtjot "may, be allowed to"; Wiklund p. 80 s.v. ǫǯu-, "bekommen; dürfen"); tasāk ku is "until" (Wiklund p. 142, tasᵊh ko, "bis, bis dass"); japma, japmam are "dies", "died". Vällṭi is "took" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. WALDET); vûlus mūrast is "down from the tree" (Wiklund p. 174, vuəlus); luddijė is "split" (Wiklund p. 61 s.v. luɔdije-, "spalten, zerbrechen, tr."; Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Klyfva, "Klyfva midt i tu, woutot luoddet"); koihkoṭi is "dried" (Wiklund p. 43 s.v. koiᵒkote-, "trocknen, tr."); pûrist is "well"; itni is "kept, had" (Wilbur p. 173, adnet "have").

Read from context, or not settled by the dictionaries, and named here: pastastė, "cut into", is read from the verb "be sharp, cut" (Wiklund p. 89 s.v. pasṭe-, "scharf sein, schneiden (von Messern)"; Friis 1887 s.v. Bastet, "acutum esse … skjære sig ind i") with a momentaneous suffix; the form is not found. Kœwtat, "in two", is read with luddijė, "split", from the word for "two" (kᵘœkte in no. 1) and Lindahl–Öhrling's phrase for "split in two" (Swedish index s.v. Klyfva, woutot luoddet); the form itself is not entered. Nau ku’ kūlēp̣, "as is proper", is read from context. Tān tihta is read as "for this reason", as in no. 4. 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: Kärᵉbmaha šūdńēṭem

The Pite Sámi text as printed by Halász (1893), no. 6, transcribed from the page images in his phonetic spelling. Line-end hyphens are joined.

tē lī āi pahāhkis kärᵉbmahau tahkam tān tihta, ačai tat almačīt posstēt. vala ku härra suńī hēkkap̣ vittī, tē kohċūhtuwai kērhma, ačai almačiṭa tālhkan orrūt.

ja ku tē almača kuddi kärᵉbmahau, tē sija pastastė ja kacūsti sū mûrrai ja tē tannë uǯǯu son kahcahet tasāk ku japma. ja ku lē tē japmam, tē almača vällṭi sū vûlus mūrast ja luddijė sū kœwtat nau ku’ kūlēp̣ ja koihkoṭi sū pûrist ja tē itni sū nawhte tālhkan.

Source Colophon

Ignácz Halász, Svéd-lapp nyelv V: Népköltési gyűjtemény a Pite-lappmark arjepluogi egyházkerületéből (Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1893), no. 6, p. 5. 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, raised vowels, ǯ, œ, and the curly apostrophe (’). His Hungarian translation and his notes are not reproduced.

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