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

A legend of how the woodpecker came to be, told in Pite Sámi by Sámi of Arjeplog parish and taken down by Ignácz Halász at Saltdalen in Norway in 1891. In the days when the Redeemer walked on the earth he asks a baking woman for bread; she will give none until he has chopped her wood, and each time she bakes a smaller loaf it comes out bigger, so she gives him nothing. He tells her that she herself shall now bite at the trees for her food, and she goes out through the smoke-hole and becomes a bird, with a black and white kerchief on her head.

Translation

In the old days, when the Redeemer was once walking on this earth, he came to a woman who was baking bread. Then the Redeemer asked whether he might get some bread from her. Now that same woman was stingy and greedy too, and did not want to give him bread before he had chopped wood for her. Then the Redeemer went out and began to chop wood.

While he was chopping the wood, the woman took a piece of dough and began to bake, and when she had baked and set it to bake, that bread became very big. Then the stingy woman could not bring herself to give that. And when the Redeemer came in and asked whether the bread was ready now, the woman said that it was not ready yet.

Then the Redeemer walked out again and began to chop wood, and then the woman took a little piece of dough, which was smaller still than the first. But when she had baked that, it became bigger still than the earlier bread, and it spread as it baked on the griddle. Then the Redeemer came in a second time and asked whether the bread was ready. But the woman said that it was not ready yet, and told the Redeemer that he should chop more wood for her again.

Then the Redeemer went out again and struck one blow, and then a great deal of wood had been chopped. And meanwhile the woman took a still smaller lump of dough and began to bake. But that bread became bigger still than those before; and when he came in to the woman, the Redeemer asked whether the bread was ready now, and when he got no bread then either, he said to the woman: "Now you yourself shall bite at [those] trees, and get your food from them for yourself."

Then that woman went out through the smoke-hole, just as she was sitting, and then that woman became a bird. A black and white kerchief was on her head, and that bird still calls in the forest today. Black and white is its allṭē head, and it pecks at the trees wherever it comes. That bird is called the woodpecker.

That bird was a human being before, but because she was so stingy, she could not bring herself to give food before she had made him work. And when the Redeemer came to her, she had him chop wood as well. So she had to peck at those trees herself, and then she became a bird.

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. 9, pp. 7–8, 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) and in Joshua Wilbur's A Grammar of Pite Saami (2014). Ċaihtnē, čaʼihtnē is the woodpecker (Wiklund p. 153 s.v. čai'ɔne-, "Specht"). Lonēstëďďē is "the Redeemer", the agent noun of "redeem" (Wiklund p. 59 s.v. loneste-, "befreien, erlösen"). Nissuna is "woman" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. NISUNATTES, "caelebs, one who has not taken a wife"); khuidna, khuina is "woman" (Wiklund s.v. kuiᵉna-). Läipit, laipēb, laʼipē are "bread" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Bröd, laipe); pähkumen, pähkut, pähkum are "baking", "to bake", "baked" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Bagare, bakoje, from Swedish baka). Oǯǯūt is "get" (Wiklund p. 80 s.v. ǫǯu-, "bekommen"); sūste is "from her" (Wilbur Table 6.1, the elative suvvste). Saʼiḳē, saiḳēs is "stingy" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. SAIGE, saiges, "parcus, tenax, snål, karg"); hānēs is "greedy" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. HANES, "avarus, girig"); outos ko is "before" (Wiklund p. 84, ǫutos = ǫutol ko). Ċullā, ċᵘollaḳōhta, ċᵘollamen, čᵘollat are "chop", "began to chop", "chopping", "to chop" (Wiklund p. 152 s.v. čoɔla-, "hacken"), and čuolahtuwwum, čuolahtī are "had been chopped" and "had him chop", with the causative suffix. Taʼikan, tāikanau is "dough" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Deg, daigen); pēhkēb is "a piece" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. PEKKE); aʼlăḳā, ǟlhki are "began" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. ALGET, "incipere, begynna"); pēďďam is "set, put" (Wiklund p. 90 s.v. peḍa-, "legen, setzen"); pissut is "to bake" (Halász IV s.v. pissut, "braten, gebraten werden"; pisset, "backen, braten"); aʼive is "very" (Lindahl–Öhrling p. 10, AIWE, "valde"); stûrēs, stûrāp̣ are "big", "bigger". Karvēs is "ready" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Mogen, karwes), and so is fēruk, from Swedish färdig; ańe is "yet, still" (Halász IV s.v. äne, "nun, jetzt noch; noch"); unna, unnēp̣ are "small", "smaller" (Halász IV s.v. unna, "klein"); vûstas is "the first"; owṭēp, outēp̣u’ are "the earlier" and owṭola "before" (Wiklund p. 84 s.v. outo-, "vor-, vordere, vorige"); rūwṭē paďďēla is "on top of the iron", the griddle (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. ROUTE, "ferrum, järn"; PAIJEL, "super"); ēnēp̣ is "more" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. ÅNE, åneb, "magis"); ētna is "a great deal" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Mycken, ådna). Kasskēt is "bite" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. KASKET, "mordere, bita"); pēpmūp̣, pēpmuw is "food" (Wiklund p. 93 s.v. piebmu-); ōččuṭėt is read as "get", a derivative of the verb "get" (oǯǯūt, očċū; Wiklund p. 80 s.v. ǫǯu-, "bekommen"); Lindahl–Öhrling's ATSATET, "exquirere … söka", would give "seek"; allasat is "for yourself" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. ALLASAN, "mihimet ipsi, åt mig själf"). Rēhpēn-rāikēn is "through the smoke-hole" (Wiklund p. 105 s.v. reᵊpene-, "das Rauchloch am Zelte"; Halász IV s.v. raikie, "Loch, Öffnung"); loddē, loddēn are "bird", "as a bird" (Wiklund p. 58 s.v. lode-, "Vogel"); čähpės, čahpat are "black" (Wiklund p. 154 s.v. čaɔpe-, "schwarz"); līdne is "kerchief" (Wiklund p. 57, "Tuch, Halstuch"); oivēn, oʼivē is "on its head", "head" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. AIWE, "caput"); hālēht is read as "calls" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. HÅLET, "loqui, tala"); mēhċēsne is "in the forest" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. METSE, "silva, skog"); koso pära is "wherever" (Wilbur Table 6.10, gusa "to where"); kohčūhtuwwā is "is called" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. KOTTJOT); parhkahtam is "made to work", the causative of "work" (Wilbur p. 176, bargatjit "work a little"); virhtij is "had to" (Wilbur p. 238, virrtit "must", with the past ending -ij); lī is "was", the past of lē (Wilbur Table 8.25), and sū is "her", "him" (Wilbur Table 6.1, suv). Ača is the auxiliary of purpose with the infinitive, "that he should" (Halász IV p. 4 s.v. ača-); kokte is "as, how" (Wilbur Table 6.10, gukte).

Read from context, or not settled by the dictionaries, and named here: the word before mûrait in the Redeemer's words is broken in the print ([?]ait); the English gives "[those]" in brackets, the sense the letters left suggest (tait). Viʼlĕḳės, väʼlĕḳat are read as "white" (compare North Sámi vielgat); not found in the four books. Allṭē is not read and is kept in Sámi. Kǟluha, kǟlut are read from context as "pecks", "peck" (not found). Räskē, rässkē, "could bring herself to", is read from context. Vītui is read as "spread", by its likeness to the word for "wide" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Rymd, widot; Rymlig, wides), and passim as "as it baked", a form of "bake, roast" (Wilbur Table 8.19, basset); neither form is found. Vitt, vit, vite are read as "once", "again". Cähkalī akta pālēn is read as "struck one blow". Potton is read as "meanwhile", utnāk as "today", kuku as "to", and ville (in ańe ville, "still more") from context. Tā’t, tāht are the demonstrative "that". Halász's bracketed variants (aiᵉve, vījtui, čᵘœllat) are kept in the Source Text; the English gives each 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: Supcas ċaihtnēn pirra

The Pite Sámi text as printed by Halász (1893), no. 9, transcribed from the page images in his phonetic spelling. Line-end hyphens are joined; Halász's first and fourth paragraphs are divided here at the same places as the English. One letter broken in the print is marked [?].

Tuluč āiḳēn ku vitt lonēstëďďē lī mannamen tān ētnamen naltne, tē pōhta son akta nissuna kuku, kute lī läipit pähkumen. tē jahhtā tallë lonēstëďďē, jus son oǯǯūt kalhka sūste laipēb. tē lī tāt sammā khuidna saʼiḳē ja āi hānēs, iččī sitā vaddēt suńī laipēp̣, outos ko mûrait ċullā suńī. tē vœʼlĕḳā lonēstëďďē ulhkus ja mûrait ċᵘollaḳōhta.

ku’ son talle lē ċᵘollamen tait mûrait, tē tā’t khuidna vallṭā taʼikan-pēhkēb ja aʼlăḳā talle pähkut ja ku lī pähkum ja pēďďam pissut, tē šattai tat laʼipē aʼive (aiᵉve) stûrēs. tē iččī tut saiḳēs khuidna räskē tāb vaddēt. ja ku lonēstëďďē pōhtā sisa ja kahċa, jus lē talle laʼipē karvēs, tē jahhtā khuidna, āhte ī lē ańe karvēs.

tē vaʒʒa lonēstëďďē vite ulhkus ja mûrait čᵘollaḳōhta ja tallë āi khuidna vallṭa unna taʼikan pēhkēp̣, kute lī ańe ville unnēp̣ ku tat vûstas. vala ku lī tāp̣ pähkum, šattai tat ańe ville stûrāp̣ ku tut owṭēp laʼipē ja vītui (vījtui) passim rūwṭē paďďēla. tē vite pōhta lonēstäďďē muppēn pālēn sisā ja kahċa, jus lē laʼipē fēruk. vala khuidna jahhtā, āhte ī lē ańe fēruk ja jahhtā lonēstëďďai, ača vite suńī ēnēp̣ mûrait čᵘollat (čᵘœllat).

tē vūlhkī vit lonēstëďďē ulhkos ja cähkalī akta pālēn ja tē ētna mûra lījen čuolahtuwwum. ja tē khuidna tātne potton vallṭā ańe ville unnēp̣ tāikanau ja ǟlhki pähkut. vala tat laʼipē šattai ańe ville stûrāp̣un kuh tū outēp̣u’ ja ku’ son sisa pōhta tan khuina kuku, kahča lonēstëďďē, jus talle lē laʼipē fēruk ja ku iččī tē očċū laipēp̣, tē jahhtā son khuidnai: «tē kalhka talle ton ēč [?]ait mûrait kasskēt ja taiste pēpmūp̣ ōččuṭėt allasat.»

tē vūlhkī talle tāht khuidna rēhpēn-rāikēn, kokte son talle lī čohkohēmēn ja tē talle šattai tāht khuidna loddēn. čähpės ja viʼlĕḳės līdne lī sū oivēn ja tāt loddē utnāk ville hālēht mēhċēsne. čahpat ja väʼlĕḳat lē allṭē oʼivē ja mûrait kǟluha, koso pära pōhta. tāht loddē kohčūhtuwwā čaʼihtnēn.

almač lī tā’t loddē owṭola, vala ku’ lī nau saʼiḳē, iččī rässkē vaddēt pēpmuw owṭola ku’ lē tallë parhkahtam. ja kosse tallë āi lonēstëďďē pōtī sū kuku, tē āi son tallë čuolahtī sū mûrait. tē virhtij son tallë ēhča tait mûrait kǟlut ja talē šattaī loddēn.

Source Colophon

Ignácz Halász, Svéd-lapp nyelv V: Népköltési gyűjtemény a Pite-lappmark arjepluogi egyházkerületéből (Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1893), no. 9, pp. 7–8. 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, ë, ǟ, œ, ǯ and ʒ, the raised stroke of the checked syllable (written here ʼ), the curly apostrophe (’), and his three bracketed variants; one letter broken in the print is marked [?]. His Hungarian translation and his notes are not reproduced.

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