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

The "communion children" of the title are children who had come to the priest for confession and communion and were staying at his house. This legend of the dead was told in Pite Sámi by Sámi of Arjeplog parish and taken down by Ignácz Halász at Saltdalen in Norway in 1891. A boy and the priest's farmhands shoot at a target set up beside the church; that evening two of them see an endless crowd come out of the church; when the bells are rung, the heaviness of that crowd falls still, and the crowd proves to be the dead, kept from their rest by the shooting.

Translation

There was a time, too, and not so very long ago after all, when the communion children were staying at the priest's. Then a boy ǟjihtilli together with the priest's farmhands, and they began to shoot, and set up a target close beside the church. And when they had shot, as soon as they had grown weary of it, they left off. But when evening came, the dogs began to bark, and went up and down toward the church.

Then one of the priest's farmhands and one of the communion children too ran by a way off to the side and went into the shed, and through a hole they saw them: just then a great crowd was coming out of the church and going to the town, a crowd so endless that it never came to an end. Then, when that crowd had passed the shed and vanished into the town, they ran over into the šäkkčaja and went into the room. They heard this too: that the great crowd was talking; but they did not understand what they said.

Then both of them had to dress in the priest's church clothes and go into the church. Then after that they rang the bells, and then that heaviness from the endless crowd fell still. But the priest had to forbid the farmhands and the communion children, so that they should not shoot any more at the tǟffu by the church; and from then on the children no longer dared to shoot, and so there was peace, too, from that time on.

That endless crowd was the dead, who could get no peace to sleep when those farmhands and communion children were shooting over there into the churchyard. So, you see, they could get no peace to rest.

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. 41, pp. 54–55, in the section of the dead. 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). Skallū is confession and holy communion (Halász IV s.v. skälluo, "Beichte; das heilige Abendmahl"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. SKALLO, "confessio sacra … sacra communio"), so the skallū-mānā are "communion children"; jǟmiḳī, jǟmiḳa are the dead (Wiklund s.v. jąmikaha-, "der Schatten eines Abgestorbenen, Gespenst", from jąpme-, "sterben"); herrā is the priest (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. HERR: herra, "sacerdos, präst"; Halász IV s.v. hiärrä, "Herr; Priester"); lutne is "at" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. LUDNE, "apud"); svaʼidnas is a farmhand (Wiklund s.v. svai'nase-, "Knecht"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. SWAINES, "famulus, dräng"); pāhča is a boy or lad, in the singular (Halász IV p. 175 s.v. pāča, which gives pāhča as the singular and pāhč' as the plural, "Knabe, Bursch"); vûhčit is "to shoot" and vûčačit its frequentative (Halász IV s.v. wuočet, "schiessen", and wuočečet, "vb. frequ. = wuočet"; Lindahl–Öhrling, Swedish index s.v. Skjuta, wuotjet); kûrrai is "close beside" (Wiklund s.v. kuɔra-, illative "nahe hinzu, neben"); liče is the conjunctive of "to be" (Halász IV s.v. liččep), read with the participles that follow as "had shot", "had grown weary"; tasak ko is "as soon as" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. TASSAK, "illico"); suhhtam is "grown weary" (Lindahl–Öhrling p. 443 s.v. SUTTET, "tedio capi, blifva ledsen"; Wiklund s.v. suɔṭa-, "überdrüssig, zornig werden", whose second sense, "angry", is the other reading); hījhtė is "left off" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. HEITET, "deserere, relinquere, dimittere"); cēlahtėt is "to bark" (Wiklund s.v. cɪeḷa-, "bellen"); vēhkal and vēhkalėn are forms of "run" (Wiklund s.v. vɪeɔka-, "laufen"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. WIÅKATET, "currere", with the frequentative WIÅKELET), their exact form not decided; tōrās is "off to the side" (Halász IV s.v. tōres, "abseits liegend"); čǟkñin, čākñin are "went into" (Halász IV p. 96 s.v. cänat, "eintreten, hineingehn, hineinkriechen"; Wiklund s.v. čąŋga-, "eintreten, hineingehen"); raikē is a hole (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. RAIKE, "foramen"); älᵉbmuk is people, a crowd (Halász IV s.v. almoka, "Volk", Lule ālămuk); stāðða is a town (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. STAD, stada, "urbs"); kēčēhtes is "endless" (from Halász IV s.v. kiečie, "Ende"); ī nokō kossek is "never came to an end" (Halász IV s.v. nahkat, "vergehen … sich endigen"; Wiklund s.v. -ḳe, where ɪ kose-ḳ is "niemals"); vassam is "passed" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. WASET, "praeterire"); kähtum is "vanished" (Halász IV s.v. kātet, "verschwinden"; Wiklund s.v. kaɔtu-); stōhpu is a room (Halász IV s.v. stōąpa, "Stube, Zimmer"); rutni is "talked" (Wiklund s.v. rutna-, "sprechen, schwatzen"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. RUDNET); tāďďaṭe is "understood" (Wiklund s.v. tąḍate-, "verstehen"); họ̄llė is "said" (Wilbur §8.5.2, hållåt "say"); koppāčak is "both" (Halász IV s.v. koappāčak); kärvọtėt is "to dress oneself" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. KARWOTET, "induere vestem, kläda på sig"), with the illative plural kirĕhkū-kārvuiṭa, "into church clothes"; eskan is "then, after that" (Halász IV s.v. äskä, "dann, nachher"); pēlluit are bells (Wiklund s.v. hɪra-: pęḷu hɪra, "die Glocke klingt"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. BJÄLLO, "campana"); ringihtijin is "rang" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. RINGET, "campanam pulsare"); šǟvūtī is "fell still" (Wiklund s.v. šąvune-, "still werden, schweigen"; Halász IV s.v. šāvot, "still"); pọrọkut (purŭkut) is "to forbid" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. PUORGOT, "vetare, prohibere"); apmā is "so that … not" (Wiklund s.v. apme, "damit nicht"); ville is "any more" (Halász IV s.v. vielie, "mehr; noch; wieder"); tuosta is "dared" (Halász IV s.v. tuostet, "wagen"); rāffē, rāfēp̣ is peace (Wiklund s.v. rafe-, "Friede, Ruhe"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. RAFE); ta’te rājēst is "from that time on" (Wiklund s.v. rāḍe-: tat rājes, "seit dieser Zeit"); ōððit is "to sleep" (Wiklund s.v. ote-, "schlafen"); vᵘoiñastet is "to rest" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. WUOIGNASTET, "quiescere, hvila sig"); kirĕ’kū-kaʼrĕṭai is "into the churchyard" (Wiklund s.v. kar'te-, "Zaun; umzäunter Platz"); käč is "look, you see" (Halász IV s.v. keähč', "siehe!", Lule keähča); lihkan is "after all" (Halász IV s.v. läikan, "doch"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. LIKAN, "tamen, dock"); man is "how" (Wilbur Table 6.10, man (+adj.) "how (big)").

Read from context, or not settled by the dictionaries, and named here: ǟjihtilli is found in none of the dictionaries consulted, and neither its sense nor its part of speech is decided; it is kept in Sámi in the English. Mōllun is read as "a target", from the shooting at the church that follows; no dictionary has the word, and a loan from Swedish mål, "target", is only a guess. Skihčū is read as "shed": the dictionaries do not have it, and the reading rests on the story (a building near the church with a hole to look through) and on a word skihhča that Halász glosses in Sámi as a "hay-house" in another text of this collection (no. 24). Šäkkčaja, into which the two run before they go into the room, and tǟffu, at which the shooting is forbidden, are found in no dictionary and are kept in Sámi; for tǟffu, Lindahl–Öhrling's TABLO, "tabula, … tafla", shows that the Swedish word for a board was taken into Sámi, but the form does not match, so it is a lead only. Herrā, "the priest's", is read with the church clothes that follow it; the word order would also let it go with koppāčak, "both". Lōssom is taken as a noun from the verb "to grow heavy" (Wiklund s.v. lǫse-, lǫsone-, "schwer werden"; Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. LOSSOT, "bli tung") and rendered "heaviness"; what it names (a noise, a weight on the air) is not decided. Minnė, "went", after "began to bark", is taken as a past form of "go" with the dogs as its subject. Wiklund gives the derived verb cɪeḷaɔte- as "make bark", which does not suit the dogs as subject, so the exact force of the suffix in cēlahtėt is left open. Halász's bracketed variant (purŭkut) 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: Skallū-mānai ja jǟmiḳī pirra

The Pite Sámi text as printed by Halász (1893), no. 41, transcribed from the page images in his phonetic spelling. Line-end hyphens are joined; Halász's first paragraph is divided here at the same place as the English.

tē lījėn ai aktan āikēn, vala ī lē lihkan tat man kuhkē, kū skallū-mānā lijin herrā lutne. tē pāhča ǟjihtilli aktan herrā svaʼidnasī, tē sija aʼlĕḳė vûčačit ja mōllun pīďďin kirŏhkū kûrrai. ku sija talle liče vûčačam, tasak ko liče suhhtam, tē sija hījhtė. vala kū ēhkēt šaddā, äʼlĕḳė pētnaḳa cēlahtėt ja minnė pajās ja vûlus kirᵉhkui.

tē vēhkal akta herrā svaʼidnasist ja āi akta skallū-mānaist tōrās kēinū ja čǟkñin skihċū sisā ja raikē ċaða vuidnē sijā, āhte tē talle pōhta stûrra älᵉbmuk kirhkūst ja mannā stāððai, nau kēčēhtes älᵉbmuk, āhte ī nokō kossek. tē kōh tē lī tat älᵉbmuk vassam skihčūp̣ ja kähtum stāða sisā, tē vēhkalėn tuh šäkkčaja sisa ja čākñin stōhpui. kulli āi tā, āhte tat stûrra älᵉbmuk rutni, vala ē sija tāďďaṭe, maiṭe sija họ̄llė.

tē virhtijėn koppāčak herrā kärvọtėt kirĕhkū-kārvuiṭa ja mannat kirĕhkui. tē sija eskan pēlluit ringihtijin ja tē šǟvūtī tat lōssom ta’te kēčēhtės älᵉbmuḳest. vala härrā virhtī pọrọkut (purŭkut) svaʼidnasit ja skallū-mānait, apmā ville vūċačėt kirᵉhkūn tǟffui ja tē iččin tiste ville mānā tuosta vûhčit ja tē āi rāffē šattai ta’te rājēst.

tat kēċēhtės älᵉbmuk lījėn jǟmiḳa, mah iččin rāfēp̣ oččū ōððit, ku tu’ svaʼidnasa ja skallū-mānā vûčaċin tohku kirĕ’kū-kaʼrĕṭai. tē sija käč iċčin oččū rāfēp̣ vᵘoiñastet.

Source Colophon

Ignácz Halász, Svéd-lapp nyelv V: Népköltési gyűjtemény a Pite-lappmark arjepluogi egyházkerületéből (Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1893), no. 41, pp. 54–55. 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, both of the marks he sets over c, the caron (č) and the dot (ċ), each as printed, the raised stroke of the checked syllable (written here ʼ) and the curly apostrophe he prints in a few words (written ’), and his bracketed variant (purŭkut). His Hungarian translation and his notes are not reproduced.

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