SHORT PAPERS AND NOTES THENAMES OF ECONOMICALLY IMPORTANT OR CONSPICU- 299 represent differences inlocaldialects or the use of different synonyms for a OUS MAMMALS AND BIRDS IN particular bird. I believe my list has names from all THEINDIANLANGUAGES OF THE DISTRICT OF MACKENZIE, Indian languages still spoken inthe Mackenziedistrict.Yellowknifeseems N.W.T. AND IN SARCEE The lists of Indian animal names in to have disappeared as a separate lanthis short paper are presented for two guage through merging of the survivors reasons. Until very recently most adult of the tribe with Chipewyans. Cree is natives of thearea, having had no also not represented, for though it may formal education, spoke no English. It now be usedbysomepeople inthe was therefore judged that the lists, with Mackenzie district, they are relatively a simple code of pronounciation, could recent immigrants and their language aid the work of game wardens, Indian is a well-known one. I have no inforagents, and others working with the mation on the Nahani language possibly natives. The more important reason is, still in use in the mid-western part of however, that the native languages the district. dealt with are almost certainly on the Sarcee has beenincludedbecause way to extinction, mainly because the this language is classifled as belonging schooling for the local Indians now to the same group, Athabaskan or provided by the Canadian Federal DbnC, asthe Mackenzie Indian IanGovernment is in English only. guages, and the Sarcee are believed to Publications listing animal names in have migrated to their present home the languages here dealt with are few. from an area adjacent to the southern There seemtobenone on Dog-rib Mackenzie districtb. I was interested to apart from a few bird names, without see to whatextent thekinship of Sarcee guidetopronounciation in Wheeler’s with the more northern languages was ornithological paper1. The names given evident in animal names. Examination by him, which are not listed in Table 3 of Tables 2 and 3 does in fact show some below, are: robin: goshi, Bohemian correspondence between the Sarcee waxwing: krobine, and rusty blackbird: name and the name in one or more of keottsi. For Loucheux, Hare Indian and the northern languages, i.e., in the Chipewyan, there is an extensivedicnames for wolf,dog, otter, lynx, and tionary byPetitotz, but many native porcupine among the mammals and, in nameshaveundergonechangessince spite of the very few Sarcee bird names he worked in this area and some of his known to my informant, for eagle, French animal namescannot be as- ruffed grouse, great horned owl, crow, signed withcertainty to specific animals. and raven.Also the Sarcee for white Irving3 has published a complete list of and big, which occurs as part of some the names of birdsinthevariant of animal names, is clearly related to Loucheux spoken at Old Crow, Y.T., as the correspondingword in the other written down by one native informant. languages. Further evidence for the The last named is said to have used relationship between Sarcee andthe the system of Loucheux orthography Mackenzie Indian languagesis to be derived and described by the late found inthe names of the first four Archdeacon McDonald4. This system numerals (see Table 1). is complex and to my mind not without The settlements in which my names ambiguity. McDonald’s Loucheux Dicwere secured are indicated in Table 1, tionary4 contains very few animal row 2. The bulk of the material was names.Makingallowance for the use collected in 1949, when I worked during of McDonald’ssystem of sound rep- the summer as temporary medical ofresentation by Irving’s informant,about ficerfor the Canadian Indian Health two-thirds of the Loucheux bird names Service. During a preliminary stay at listed by Irving and in my Table 3 cor- Fort Resolution I learned that virtually respond. Those that differ probably none of my future patients at Fort Rae 300 SHORT PAPERS AND NOTES (where I was to spend the rest of the summer) knew English and I therefore tookdailylessons in Dog-rib from a tri-lingual half-breed then at the Fort Resolution hospital. In 2 weeks at Fort Resolution and 2 at Fort Rae I was able to obtain an introduction into the language and a list of the names of animals that I judged important to the people. An unforeseen transfer to Aklavik brought my Dog-rib studies to an end, but I continuedtolist native animal namesfrom Indians of the Mackenzie Delta and the part of the river valley upstream Norman to Wells, which formed my medical district. The names were secured from bilingual natives or half-breeds, oftenwhenwebothsaw the animal in question, or by showing my helper a book illustration, which I discussed to make sure that we had the same animal in mind. I would record the namegiventomeand read out myversion and amend and reread it until my instructor wassatisfied with my pronounciation. This end point was almostalwaysindicatedby a sudden grin on his part. A draft of the list was sent for comment to several Oblate missionaries in the Mackenzie district who were familiarwithone or more of the languagesinvolved. None of these were naturalists but the few corrections they suggested are incorporated inthe tables. Additionalinformationon theliteral meaning of somenames,givenin parentheses, wasalsoobtained in this way.Help of this nature, which I am glad to acknowledge, was received from Fathers F. J. Dauvet forChipewyan, V. Phillipe for Hare Indian and Slavey, and J. Colas for Loucheux. I have also gone over some of the lists with several patients at the Charles Camsell Indian Hospital in Edmonton. The present distribution of the languages in question is still muchason the mapfor the tribes of this area in the eighteenth century givenby JennessB,but Yellowknife has disappeared and the former area of this tribe is now inhabited by natives who speak either Chipewyan or Dog-rib. Speakers of Chipewyannowalsolive farther west along the south shore of Great Slave Lake than indicatedon this map, as far as Fort Resolution, and I a m uncertain whether there are still Indians whospeakNahaniin the District of Mackenzie.Loucheux and Chipewyan are still spokenin areas outside the district. The Indian tribal populations confined to the district, and hence roughly the people who use the tribal language, numbered, according tothe “Census of Indians inCanada 1957”7, Loucheux 687, Hare Indians 597, Slaveys 1,192, Dog-ribs 703 and Chipewyans 572. Anumber of halfbreedsnotlisted in this censusgenerallyknow the local native language as well. Thescientificterminologyused for the EnglishanimalnamesinTables 2 and 3 follows Anderson’s Catalogue of Canadianrecentmammals8formammals and the A.O.U.Check List of North American birdse for birds. The Indian nameslistedshouldbe pronouncedexactly as if they were Germanwords,with the proviso that “ch” isalways harshas in“Loch”or “Dach”, and with the following exceptions: theletters“th” are tobepronounced as in English “with”, the syllables“on”,“oin”, and “aw”,when printed in italics are to be pronounced as follows: on as in French long, oin as in French coin, and aw as inEnglish awe. An apostrophe between twoletters emphasizes that they are tobepronounced separately. A sound recordingof all native names listed can be borrowed through the Secretary of the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Alberta. A transcription of the names into the alphabet of the International Phonetic Associationlo,made with the help of Dr. R. G . Motut, is also available from this source. E. 0. HOHN* * Department of Physiology,University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alta., Canada. on the IWheeler, B. E. 1912. Notes springmigration at timber line north of GreatSlaveLake.Auk 29:199-204. “etitot, P. E. 1876. Dictionnairedela Table 1. Numerals. __ __ __ _ -~ ________ Loucheun Ft. McPherson and Aklavik ” ~ _ _ _ 1 ichluk 2 nekchee 3 tchik 4 dang 5 ichlon chuinli (one hand) 6 nekui tchik (twice three?) 7 nekchee tchik ichluk (twice three [and] one) 8 nekchee dangcha (twice jour) 9 wentcho nekcha cha 10 ichlo tschu tschin loo . . . . . . . . . . . lo00 . . . . . . . . . . . * One thousand, using the ~ ~ Hare Indian Slavey Dog-rib Chipewyan Ft. Good Hope Ft. Norman Ft. Rae Ft. Resolution Sarcee Sarcee Reserve Calgary, Alberta _ illek rakee trai din lakee chlee nakchee trai ding solai ichee nakiee trai din silla chlka nakee trai dingi sonlari k’chluk a sa ekchi’i trai kchu dikchee guuta etsa trai (twice three?) la din tsen trai (twice three?) chla dingee enkee tra (twice three) inkcha din kee tra (twice three) chles di in guustraniee etse din (twice jour?) loch0 tron horenno tsen dingee (twice four?) chlo tro chelag onno . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . enkchee din (twice four) ethon tron honno ichee kua no honno M honno kee di in (twice fow) thlon tron thlon M thlon nom c h k a le mil* French word for the latter. tschi s’tschit di gunee s’nonnee gunee snotee gunee snotee tschu (hundred big) Table 2. Mammals. w 0 N English name Indian Loucheux Hare Dog-rib Slavey Black bear Euarctos americanus s’scho betetsjen or sa denint lee Grizzly bear Ursus hmribilis Polar bear Thalarctos maritimus s’chiee sa tscho Red fox Vulpes fulva Arctic fox Alopex lagopus Wolf Canis lupus Dog Canis familiaris nego Marten Martes americana Fisher Martes pennanti Weasel Mustelaerminea and rixosa Mink Mustela vison Wolverine Gulo luscus Otter Lutracanadensis tsuk sach tscho (bear big) (bear big) sa tscho dekai sa dekai or sach dekalee (bear big white) or taza (bear white) nokeree detalee jachwuee dafo (fox yellow) (fox red) jachwuee dekchalee nokeree dekalee (fox white) (fox white) betee or tikai dikai tli kchli tw nochwee . . . . . . . . Skunk Mephitis mephitis Badger Taxidea taxus Lynx L y n x canadensis Snowshoe haregach Lepus americanus s’chi dekai (g~izzly white) sach denint lee black) (bear Chipewyan sa sas deltseni sa tscho (bear big) sas tscho (bear big) sas delgai (bear white) ........ Sarcee ninjiru disch kraschee (black) ...... ninjiru di kchallee (white) nunkiee naggitse ........ tssibajee ........ diga thlin chwa nunnjee ’lin scha norasinee thli tsu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . thiwui nampa or napa nampa . . . . . . . . scha tscho (marten big) t’elk ailee tschithee netschu tschu tawua or trewua non ra rapee or napiee teechua t’etschu nora sa nabee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nonta nota ga . . . . . . . . s’schu thlai or hlon nitschi ghee or kee . . . . . . . . nabee deti . . . . . . . . donda ha t’etschjutsee nanpajee nambiee (swimmer) muul’tsin . . . . . . tschitsee gatscho dikchajee (also used for coyote) . . . . . . . . sokosara . . . . . . . . . . . na mi’jee tsuskla nikcha ti hi nitaw nikchu di ra 2 v %M + 3 White-tailed jack rabbit Lepus townsendi Beaver Castor canadensis Muskrat Ondalra zibethica Hoary marmot Marmota caligata Richardson’s squirrel Citellus richardsoni Porcupine Erethizon dorsatum Elk Cervus canadensis deer Mule Odocoileus hemionus Moose Alces americana Barren Ground caribou Rangifer arcticus Woodland caribou Rangifw caribou Reindeer Rangifw tarandus Horse Bison Bison bison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tsee sa tsa tsa tsa tsunn tsen tekchai ts’chen tsenn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tsutra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tsuskla ts’it tschunn tschoa . . . . . . . . tsi tschi hoa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tsentsil dinidschi gijanee tenschik intsee ntsee deintee deni’i tsussi wetsoin etiee ekoin ekon edschenn . . . . . . . . betsi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . wetsoin de kai (caribou white*) thlai tro (dog big) aki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Domestic cattle . . . Mountain sheep tiwui Oois dalli and canadensis * Perhaps aikchu dira tschu (rabbit big) mitschu di kchadee (flat tusk ajee tantsiee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . isklee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . chonnee tchi (bufalo real) chonnee tsak u domu . . . . .edscheree edschiree . . . . . . . . ........ doi because albinos are more common than in caribou. ........ etschere tscheta ontenen W 0 W (0) Hare Loucheux name Table 3. Birds after a name indicates that it is onomatopoeically derivedfrom a call of the bird in question. English Common loon Gavia immer Yellow-billed loon Gavia adamsii Artic loon Gavia arctica Red-throated loon Gavia stellata Red-necked grebe Podiceps grisegena Horned grebe Podiceps auritus American bittern Botaurus lentiginosus Whistling swan 0107 columbianus Canada goose Branta canadensis Black brant Branta nigricans Snow goose Chen hyperbmea Ross’s goose Chen rossii White-fronted goose Anser albifrons Dog-rib ti tso SarceeChipewyan t’da tsennee (bill black) or tu tsiee t’thalkoi (bill white) thilbee . . . . . . . . thiantsi . . . . . . . . opa tchai or tree t’chai notcha . . . . . . . . . . . o’ai ........ tutsiee tutsi . . . . . . . . . . . . . k’chwuipee tretschee thimpee (white head) iannoa trekchai trakcheetee nota chluk or tlok trakchee tsellee (small) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ........ ........ darei dekai (white) cha (0) dekao ga goss ha ’ah (0) da tsain . . . . . . tselwit cah (chefor the small races) nekchee che 07 . . . . . . nischoree gukee OT kukee (0) goga or koka gukeetsel (snowgoose small) detscho kuimbee . . . . . . . . . . . . . (0) . . . . . . . . (0) nota tscho (grebe large) notcha tso (grebe small) tu kong (0) goga dekchalee (white) datee (0) tsis de kchallee (duck white) gao tschi* . . . . . . . . dettani tsennen (flier black) oga or haka (0) ....... ........ ........ gogatiee . . . . . . . datee (0) oga lurasee (snowgoose scab on bill) dateth . . . . . . . . ........ ........ . . . . . . . . netai Mallard Anas plafyrhynchos Pintail Anas acufa nagotsche dakai white) (nape darree gacha Green-winged teal Anas carolinensis Shoveller Spatula clypeata Canvasback Aythya valisneria Greater scaup Aythya marila Lesser scaup Aythya aftinis Common goldeneye Bucephala clangula Barrow’s goldeneye Bucephala islandica Bufflehead Bucephala albeola Oldsquaw Clangula hyemalis Harlequin duck Histrionicus histrionicus White-winged scoter Melanitta deglandi Surf scoter Melanitta perspicilata Red-breasted merganser Mergus serrator Goshawk Accipiter gentilis Golden eagle Aquila chrysaetos de dschee . . . . . . de d s c h i . . . . . . tschi dakai (duck white) netsidin . . . . . . . . a onluk (0) tschu t’chi tscho tschel tscho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tschen dee atchel chethee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tschitsoa eltsoathee . . . . . . . tiiri daka (o)? ........ . . . . . . . . daskaree ( j l u f bill) t’the iowee jawilon . . . . . . . . takasee . daskaree asee betsero de tellee (both [sides of chest] red) nag0 dakai (neck white) eschunnee jawilon tsellee (scaup small) fiktschunn . . . . . . . . . . . . . jacha or a aonlii . . . . a anlii . . . a aonwa 07 (0) a aonlii (0) (0) n’tscha jawulee tee tschuk edsee de dsche a jawulee sellee (small) folee tschuk edsee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tee wuli ........ tscha tchrain (duck fish) achrai tschruntsik (long skinny fool) eschinn . . . . . . . . . ........ . . . . . . . . . . . . de tschannade (waterfall bird) uetsa go iasoin (dark) kwoo . . . . . . . . . on det tscho (flier) big) (flier (flier big) . . . . bedschi jel asee (big head) bedschi netcha asee (jair-sized head) dschi iel asee M tha gel kiasee honk allee E i U . . s M v1 t’thee iaree tschel (of rocks duck) tulsi etsching koi (scoter wing white) tulsi kwoo, thoth OT tsothee tschissee tscho (grey j a y big) det one tscho 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . dittonee W 0 el re Loucheux name legs English eagle Bald thuk or thok Haliaeetus leucocephalus tsee Marsh hawk Circus cyaneus . . . . . . . . Osprey Pandion haliaetus tchinit’thren Peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus Pigeon hawk tschitchro Falco columbarius taich or tain Spruce grouse Canachites canadensis Ruffed grouse . . . . . . . . Bonasa umbellus tako or dako Willow ptarmigan Lagopus lagopus Sharp-tailed grouse atchel 07 at’thral Pediocetes phasianellus (long tail) . . . . . . . . Whooping crane GTUS americana dscha or dschia Sandhill crane GTUScanadensis American coot . . . . . . . . Fulica americana Killdeer schinnee dschatai Charadrius wociferus white)(neck tschitra mluk Semipalmated plover Charidrius sem$almatus (among the stones) Common snipe sche scha Capella galinago yellow Lesser chwuiri trekchee tsel Totanus jlavipes Slawey tchuta Chipewyan Dog-rib det on tscho Sarcee det one tscho mitsi dekchallee white) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . det on tscho (head uekui ilea** ts’thloatai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tst’thiee estsassee (hawk in general) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ta se tsa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . di (o)? di (o)? t’di (o)? . . . . . . . . di rekuo et’thrif idschitra di s’didaft di (o)? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . fgrouse buff) kappa kappa gamba gaspa . . . . . . . . etralee etalee etscho etchai nitiirru or nitora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . dilee dee t’del delkoi (crane white) t’del . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . tsonth annee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sa di reiee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iawitscho iarat’theree same as jar killdeer . . . . . . . . detlastsaiee (0)song? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ia ewiree (0)song? dellee tschut arra na sinnee (sun looks at) (having a necklace) W 0 Q, B2 M % k= 3 2 4 E: g (leaf (snow trekee dischon Northern phalarope Lopibes lobatus Gull (generic) tedekee (0) etscho Bonaparte’s gull Larus Philadelphia wui itsee Great horned owl bedsee Bubo virginianus wui saiwee Snowy owl Nyctea scandiaca Woodpecker (generic) detchran tscha schietso neta Cliff swallow Petrochelidon pyrrhonota commom €row . . . . . . Corvus bradzyrhynchos Common raven detschun Corvus Grey jay estigutan Perisoreus canadensis Blue jay . . . . . . . . Cyanocitta Black-billed magpie . . . . . . . . Pica pica Yellow warbler tsil tschro petechia Dendroica Robin schu or schu Turdus migratmius Rusty blackbird tsiltschro Euphagus carolinus Snowbunting gukee schu nivalis Plectrophenax goose small) . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . beko or mekwo ra tra tsellee . (on top [of water] little) beka (0) . bedsi (eared) betsee ka (white) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . beskaiee . . . . . . . . missee b’in’ldsapee motsa gokwiaikwi tscho (white owl big) iahlaba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . detschen tschihin tsanlsi betsee dekchallee (whzte) dikchalee missee tratsonka . . . . tratsonka tratson . . . . . . . . tratson datson tsellee (raven small) datson onkai . . . . . . . . inka tschissee corax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (white) idschi iguttee . . . . . . . . tsausee 1p sutscha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GU 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . etonta f o l k 2 tsausee tschu (crow big) . . . . . . . . cristata etsale tlotsanen iglis’schi (Pied) itsadetsu s M v, mimitagutikrase (chesf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .soskaitsiira . . delatsusee . . . geka (rock whife) * A generic term, i.e., goose. Sarcees, among themselves, also call Blackfoot Indians geese. ** Apparently also used for buteos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . bird) t Name said to tt In woods ai (whife refer to the drumming. calls. W 0 4 308 SHORT PAPERS AND NOTES “iensus of Indians in Canada, 1954. Otlangue DBnb-Dindji6. Paris: Maisonneuve. aIrving, L. 1958. Naming of birds as tawa 1955: Queen’s Printer. part of the intellectual culture of Indians ghderson, R. M. 1946. Catalogue of at Old Crow, Yukon Territory. Arctic Canadian recent mammals. Natl. Mus. 11:117-22. Can.,Bull. 102. rMcDonald,Archdeacon. 1911. A gram9A.O.U. CheckList of NorthAmerican maranddictionary of the Tukudh lanbirds. 1957. 5thed.AmericanOrnithologuage. London: Society for Promoting gists’Union. ChristianKnowledge. IoInternational PhoneticAssociation. SJenness,D. 1955. TheIndians of Canada. Natl. Mus. Can., Bull. 65, 3rd ed.: 378. 1949. Theprinciples of theInternational Association. London: Secretary eJenness, D. 1938. The Sarcee Indians of Phonetic I.P.A.,UniversityCollege. Alberta. Natl. Mus. Can., Bull 90. TEMPERATURE NORMALS,AVERAGES, AND EXTREMES IN THE YUKON TERRITORY AND THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES The following tables contain monthly andannual normals andaverages of mean daily temperatures and extreme maximum and minimum temperatures for those stations in the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories that were in operation during the complete 1951 to 60 decade. The values of mean daily temperature have been obtained by averaging the mean daily maximum and mean daily minimum temperatures. In keeping with international recommendations that 30 years of continuous records are necessary to give a reliable mean value for temperature, the averages are classed as normals at stations where the uninterrupted record of observation extends over the full 30-year period 1931 to 60. Although records date back to the turn of the century at scattered localities in the Subarctic, the history of climatological observations in the Arctic is not as long, and throughout this vast area only a handful of stations have continuous records from 1931. The temperature values are classed as averages at those stations where the period of record is more than 10 but less than 30 years. Included in this class are the many stations that were established in the Subarctic in support of militaryair routes to Europeand Asia during World War 11, and the stations on the islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago that were established jointly by the governments of Canada and the United States in thelate 1940’s. Although noadjustmentshavebeen made to these data at this time they will be standardized to the 1931-60 normal period infuture publications of the Meteorological Branch of the Canada Department of Transport. To facilitate climatic comparisons over a homogeneous period, the decadal values of average maximum, minimum, and mean temperatures for all stations inthe Northwest Territoriesand the Yukon Territory having complete records during the 1951 to 60 decade are now available in the Climatic Data Sheets of the Meteorological Branch. These DataSheets also listaverage values of temperaturefor sections of the North not previously covered, and include short-termrecords from the Distant Early Warning line of radar stations. H. A. THOMPSON* * Canada Department of Transport, MeteorologicalBranch.
© Copyright 2024 Paperzz
