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

The ehpér is the ghost of a murdered infant in Sámi belief. This legend was told in Pite Sámi by Sámi of Arjeplog parish and taken down by Ignácz Halász at Saltdalen in Norway in 1891. A married woman who once hid a child must pass the place with her husband; the ehpér comes at her, and the husband beats it back with rowan twigs until the two of them have crossed a river.

Translation

Once, long ago, a young girl had hidden a child, but she told no one. Then, some years after that, when the girl was already married, she went with her husband to the town, and the man went by the very road where his wife had once hidden the child. When he came to that place, the woman said to her husband: "No good will come of this for me!" And she also told what she had done in former times.

Then the man said that she should drive slowly on ahead, and he himself broke off rowan twigs. And when the two of them came to that place, the ehpér did indeed begin to wail. The man was already prepared for everything, and when the ehpér came, the man began to lash out this way and that, wherever it came. The ehpér strove to get straight to its mother.

Now the man had already asked his wife whether she had left the child across a water. But the woman said that she had not. Then the man said: "Then perhaps we two can get away yet." And truly the ehpér followed and wailed at them until they came up to a river; and when they had come across the river, the ehpér said to its mother: "If you had left me across the water, then it would surely bite your throat!"

So by good luck the two of them got away. As the man lashed with those rowan twigs, it could not get near its mother. And after that they never went there again; they went by other roads after that, and went around that ehpér-place.

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. 32, pp. 43–44, in the section of ehpér 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). The ēhpēr (genitive ähhpāren) is the "ghost of a murdered child" (Wiklund s.v. ąɔparaha-, "Gespenst von einem ermordeten Kinde"), kept in Sámi in the English as ehpér, the spelling of the section's name. In the title and the story, rahča is "strove" (Wiklund s.v. raɔča-, "streben, sich bemühen"); ńoʼlĕḳa is "straight" (Wiklund s.v. ŋuəlᵃka, "recht, gerade"); koʼiku, after ētnēs, itnēs, "its mother", is the postposition "to" (Halász IV s.v. ḳoaikā, with the forms koaiku, kuoiku, "zu; in; an"). Supcas … pirra is "a tale about" (Wiklund s.v. supcase-, "Erzählung"; Wilbur Table 9.3, birra, "about"), and supcast is "told" (Wiklund s.v. supcaste-, "erzählen"). Tolēn is "long ago, once" (Wiklund s.v. tole-, "tolen adv. in alten Zeiten, einst"); nûrra is "young" (Halász IV s.v. nuora, "jung"); mānāp̣ čēhkam is "had hidden a child" (Wiklund s.v. čękate-, "verbergen, verstecken"), and vurhkim likewise (Halász IV s.v. vuorhket, "verwahren, verbergen"); ī aktaḳėsī hōlō is "told no one" (Wiklund s.v. akta-, "i a-k niemand"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. HÅLET, "loqui, tala"); modde jāpē tān mañgēl is "some years after that" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. MÅDDE, "plures, många", s.v. JAPE, "annus", and s.v. MANGELT, "bak efter"); vällṭum is "married" (Wilbur Table 8.21, välldut, "marry"); stāððai is "to the town" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. STAD, stada, "urbs, stad"); kēinūp̣, kēinuit are "road", "roads" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. KÅINO, "via, väg"); koggo is "where" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. KOGGO, "ubi"), and jura is "just, the very" (Wiklund s.v. jur(a), "just, gerade, eben"); khuidna is "woman, wife" (Wiklund s.v. kuiʽna-, "Weib, Frau", from Norse kvinna), and ahhkā "wife" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. AKKA, "uxor"); muńi is "to me" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. munji, "mihi"); ouṭēp āikin is "in former times" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Gång, "pale, aike", with the comparative -p of Wilbur §7.4). In the man's orders, ača is the auxiliary of purpose, "that she should" (Halász IV s.v. ača-, "verbum auxiliare cum infinitivo = «ut» finale", 3rd singular ača); ouṭon is "ahead" (Halász IV s.v. autᵉnā, "vorn; vor", with the Lule form outon); vuďďet is "to drive" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. WUOJET, "vehi equo aut alio animali, åka, köra", with auten wuojet, "åka förut, köra främst"); tọ̄ji is "broke" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. TÅJET, "frangere, bryta"); raʼudno-rissit are "rowan twigs" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. RAUN, raudn, "sorbus, rönnträd", and s.v. RISSE, "virga, ris", with the example rissin swaskot, "virgis caedere"); svaškoḳōhta and svaškui are "began to lash" and "lashed" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. SWASKOT, "flagellare, piska"; Wiklund s.v. švąšku-, "Rute, Peitsche", and švąškute-, "schlagen, peitschen"). Uihto is "indeed" (Halász IV s.v. oihte, uihte, "in der Tat, wirklich"); vallūḳōhta is "began to wail" (Wilbur §8.5.4, vállut, "cry", with the inchoative -ḳōht-); tobba-tabbai is "this way and that" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. TABBE: tabben ja tobben, "hic & illic, här och där"); pära is "just, only" (Wiklund s.v. para, "nur, bloss", from Swedish bara). In the second part, kahčam is "asked" (Wiklund s.v. kaɔča-, "fragen"); jus is "whether, if" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. JUS, "si, om"; Wiklund s.v. jus); kᵘœddam is "left" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. QWODET, "relinquere, lämna qvar"); čācē rasta is "across a water" (Wiklund s.v. rąsta, "quer über; joka r. über den Fluss"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. RASTA, "trans, på andra sidan"); jute is "that" (Halász IV s.v. jukte, "dass, so dass, damit"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. ATTE, "cfr. jutte"); ī lam is "had not", the perfect form of "be" used only with the negative (Wilbur p. 179, lam). In the man's answer, vēďďin is "we two can" (Wiklund s.v. vęɖe-, "vermögen, können", with the first person dual -n of Wilbur Table 8.3); ihkep̣ is "perhaps" (Wiklund s.v. ɪɔkape, "vielleicht"); lik is "yet" (Wiklund s.v. lɪḳ, "doch, jedoch"); pēssat is "to get away" (Wiklund s.v. pæša-, "los, befreit werden; zu etwas gelangen"), and so is pēsaiḳan, "the two of them got away", while pēsa lahkanėt is "could get near" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. LAKKANET, "appropinquare, nalkas"). Sadna is "truly" (Wilbur p. 132, sádna, "true"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. SADNAN, sadnast, "adv. vere, i sanning"); čōvvu is "followed" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Påfölja, tjuowot); ēnū is "river" (Wiklund s.v. ætnu-, "Fluss"); raďďai is "up to" (Wiklund s.v. raɖe-, illative raɖaɪ, "bis, bis zu"); ädnāsis is "to its mother"; in the ehpér's words, kuit is "indeed" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. KUIT, "quidem, certe"), li’ the shortened conditional of "be" that appears whole in the woman's ličč, māi is "surely" (Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Fuller, "maj, maj kuit"), čēpọ̄htat is "your throat" (Wilbur p. 41 n. 2, tjiebot, "throat"), and kaskat is "to bite" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. KASKET, "mordere, bita"). Sa is the particle that is added to a verb of the third person in place of the pronoun "he, she, it" and looks to what will surely happen (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. Så, "particula, quae verbis tertiae personae saepe additur vicemque pronominis sodn sustinet … futurum tempus respicit", with påta så, "han kommer visst"); so te sa lī māi čēpọ̄htat kaskat is "then it would surely bite your throat", with lī and the infinitive as the conditional "would" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. FATTATET, "Jus to lulib fattatet … om jag hade fått dig"). The same particle stands in the woman's ī sa ličč tiste muńi purrē, "no good will come of this for me". Nauhte is "so" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. NAUTE, "ita, så"); lihkan is "by good luck" (Wiklund s.v. lɪɔkate-, "gelingen", from Swedish lyckas); villē is "any more" (Wiklund s.v. uɖnɪḳ, "vɪl u. noch"); toggo is "there, thither" (Wiklund s.v. toɔku, "dahin, dorthin"; Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Dit, tokko); ēčā is "other" (Wiklund s.v. ęɔčate-, nom. ęča, "ander, plur. andere"); minnin is "they went" (Wilbur p. 189, ex. 13, minni-n, "go-3pl.pst"); kiʼrĕvin is "went around" (Wiklund s.v. kar've-, "einen Umweg (pira um etwas) machen"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. KARWATALLET, "sedulo vitare, noga undvika"); sajēb is "place", which Wilbur gives as saddje (p. 136, ex. 13), and saďďai is "to (that) place".

Read from context, or not settled by the dictionaries, and named here: sūimai, "slowly", is read from Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. SUOIMEN, "sensim, lente, långsamt", and Halász IV s.v. soajĕmohka, "langsam", which refers to Lindahl–Öhrling's suoim, suoimak; Halász's form itself is not in any dictionary. Lǟḳėm kaʼihka in "the man was already prepared for everything" is the least certain phrase: lǟḳėm is taken as the participle of "be" (Wiklund p. 56, læɔḳɪt, "infin. von dem stamm læ- sein") and kaʼihka as "all" (Halász IV s.v. kaihka, "alle"), literally "the man had been all [ready]"; "ready" is supplied from what follows. Vālūhti sijāp̣, "wailed at them", is taken from the verb "wail" with a causative ending; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. WALOTET give it as "ejulatum efficere, förorsaka gråt och jämmer", "to cause weeping and wailing", so "brought them to grief" is also possible. Kossek in iččiḳan … kossek manā, "never went", is taken as "ever" with the negative (from Wilbur Table 6.10, gåsse, "when"). The ending of pōhtēp̣an ("the two of them came") and the plural -it of raʼudno-rissit, read as "twigs", are read from context. In the ehpér's words, vāi is taken as introducing the condition, which the shortened conditional li’ with kᵘœddam carries: the dictionaries give vaj as "dass, damit; oder" (Wiklund s.v. vaj), not "if". Whether the "it" that would bite (the particle sa) is the ehpér itself is not said. Aktan, "together", kita, "until", and tahte, "that" (in tahte mañgēl, "after that"), are read from context, as is "he", the husband, for the verb pọ̄hti in ko tē pọ̄hti tan saďďai, which has no subject. The ehpér can reach the woman only on the side of the water where it was left; this is the sense of the man's question and of the ghost's words, and the English adds nothing to explain it. 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 ähhpāren pirra, kuhte rahča ētnēs koʼiku

The Pite Sámi text as printed by Halász (1893), no. 32, transcribed from the page images in his phonetic spelling. Line-end hyphens are joined; Halász's two paragraphs are each divided here at the same place as the English.

te lī tolēn akta nûrra näʼiṭa mānāp̣ čēhkam, vala ī aktaḳėsī hōlō. te modde jāpē tān mañgēl ja tat näʼiṭa lī jō vällṭum, tē mannā aktan olᵒbmaines stāððai ja tat olmaj manāi tap̣ kēinūp̣ koggo jura tut sū ahhkā tolēn lī mānau vurhkim. ko tē pọ̄hti tan saďďai, jahhtā khuidna olᵒbmāsis: «ī sa ličč tiste muńi purrē!» ja āi supcast, māp̣ son ouṭēp āikin lī tahkam.

tē hollā olmaj, ača ouṭon vuďďet sūimai ja tē son ēhča tọ̄ji raʼudno-rissit. ja ku tē sōi pōhtēp̣an tān saďďai, tē uihto vallūḳōhta ēhpēr. tē lī jō olmaj lǟḳėm kaʼihka ja ku tē ēhpēr pōhta, svaškoḳōhta tut olmaj tobba-tabbai, koggo pära pōhta. rahča ēhpēr ńoʼlĕḳa itnēs koʼiku.

tē lī jū olmaj kahčam ahhkāst, jus lē kᵘœddam tāp̣ mānap̣ čācē rasta. vala khuidna jahhta, jute ī lam. tē hollā olmaj: «vēďďin ihkep̣ lik tē pēssat.» tē sadna ēhpēr čōvvu ja vālūhti sijāp̣ kita pọ̄htėn ēnū raďďai ja kū ēnū rastā pọ̄htin, jahhtā ēhpēr ädnāsis: «vāi ta kuit li’ kᵘœddam čācī rastā, te sa lī māi čēpọ̄htat kaskat!»

tē nauhte lihkan pēsaiḳan. ku tut olmaj svaškui tui raʼudnū-rissī, tē iččī pēsa lahkanėt ētnēs koʼiku. iččiḳan sija tiste villē toggo kossek manā; ēčā kēinuit sijā tahte mañgēl minnin ja kiʼrĕvin tau ēhpēr-sajēb.

Source Colophon

Ignácz Halász, Svéd-lapp nyelv V: Népköltési gyűjtemény a Pite-lappmark arjepluogi egyházkerületéből (Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1893), no. 32, pp. 43–44. 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 circumflex of û, raised vowels, ð, ď, ǟ, œ, the raised stroke of the checked syllable (written here ʼ), and the apostrophe of li’. His Hungarian translation and his notes are not reproduced.

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