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

This short legend of origins stands among the primeval legends that open Halász's collection. It was told in Pite Sámi by Sámi of Arjeplog parish and taken down by Ignácz Halász at Saltdalen in Norway in 1891. The Creator asks the reindeer why it does not rest at night like the other animals; the reindeer answers that it does not stay in one place to sleep, and the Creator's word that it shall roam about everywhere and the wolf shall eat it comes true.

Translation

Then once, at some time, the Creator himself said to the reindeer thus: "Why do you not rest at night, as those other animals do?" But the reindeer says: "I do not stay to sleep at night in one place." — Then the Creator said: "If you are now so disobedient and do not listen, then you shall roam about in every hollow, and when you are running about at night, then the wolf shall eat you." — And then in truth, indeed, the reindeer roams about in every place, and when it runs about at night, then the wolf eats the reindeer, wherever it finds it.

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. 12, p. 13, 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). Kumpe is the wolf (Wiklund s.v. kumpeɕe-, "wolf"); sụ̄ďńēṭëďďē is "the Creator" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. SJUDNJETEJE, "creator, skapare"), and ēhca "himself" (Wiklund s.v. ieča-, "selbst"); hōllom is the past participle of hollat, "speak" (Wiklund s.v. hola-, "reden, sprechen"); vᵘoiñaste is "rest" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. WUOIGNASTET, "respirare … quiescere, hvila sig"); ijāb, ijāit are "at night" (Wiklund s.v. iʒa-, "nacht"); ēčā tiwrē are "other animals" (Wiklund s.v. eča-, "ander"; tiwrē as in no. 10, the Swedish loan djur); oððēt is "to sleep" (Wiklund s.v. ote-); sajēn is "in a place" (Wilbur's saddje, "place"); kullṭale is "listen" (Wiklund s.v. kultale-, "auf etwas hören, horchen"); kûhcamen, kûhcā are "running about" (Wiklund s.v. kuɔca-, "laufen (von tieren); klettern"); sadnan is "in truth" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. SADNA, "veritas, sanning"); uihtos is "indeed" (Halász IV s.v. oihte, uihte, "in der tat, wirklich, fürwahr"); färĕhtan is "every" (Halász IV s.v. fiärhta, "jeder, all", with fiärhtn aikien, "immer"; Lule feärt); vēsū is read as the connegative of vesu-, "leben; wohnen" (Wiklund s.v. vesu-; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. WÅSOT, "vivere", with wiesot), so ip̣ mon vēsū ijāb oððēt aktan sajēn is "I do not stay to sleep at night in one place"; kaudna is "finds".

Read from context, or not settled by the dictionaries, and named here: kalhkai … hōllom, the verb "shall" in the past with the past participle, is not found as a construction in the grammar and is rendered plainly "said". The use of vēsū with an infinitive is not found in the dictionaries; "I cannot sleep" would also fit the sense. Ukuluḳes, "disobedient", is not found as such and is read from what follows, ja ih kullṭale, "and do not listen"; it looks like Wiklund's kulukisa-, "gehorsam", with a negative prefix, as ūkullūḳės in no. 14. Ruivahet and ruiĕvaha, "roam about", are read with Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. RUIWETET, "volitare, jactari, svåfva", used of drifting smoke and a scattered feather; the form is not decided. Rokkēn, "hollow", is read from North Sámi roggi, "hollow, pit", and from the pairing with färĕhtan sajēn, "in every place", in the last sentence; Wiklund s.v. rokki has only a disease of the reindeer; not decided. Konne, "wherever", is read from context. Halász's bracketed variant (oððit) 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.

© 2026 Tianmu Anglican Church. This English translation is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: you may share and adapt it for non-commercial use with credit to the Good Works Library, tianmu.org. The source text keeps its own terms. For other uses, see Rights and Reuse.

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Source Text: Talle kalhkap̣ mon supcastėt, kokte kumpe porrā pūhcuw

The Pite Sámi text as printed by Halász (1893), no. 12, transcribed from the page images in his phonetic spelling.

tē kalhkai āi somēs āikēn āi ēhca sụ̄ďńēṭëďďē hōllom pọ̄hcui nawhte : «koktes ton ih ijāb vᵘoiñaste nau ku tu’ ēčā tiwrē?» vala pōcuj jahhtā : «ip̣ mon vēsū ijāb oððēt (oððit) aktan sajēn.» — tē jihtī sụ̄ďńēṭëďďē : «kuh ton talle lē’ nau ukuluḳes ja ih kullṭale, tē kalhka ton ruivahet färĕhtan rokkēn ja ku lē ijāit kûhcamen, tē talle kalhka kumpē tū porrot.» — ja tē sadnan uihtos pōcuj ruiĕvaha färĕhtan sajēn ja ku ijāit kûhcā, tē talle kumpe porrā pūhcuw, konne kaudna.

Source Colophon

Ignácz Halász, Svéd-lapp nyelv V: Népköltési gyűjtemény a Pite-lappmark arjepluogi egyházkerületéből (Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1893), no. 12, p. 13. 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, the diaeresis in sụ̄ďńēṭëďďē, raised vowels, ð, and his bracketed variant. His Hungarian translation and his notes are not reproduced.

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