Monday, October 20, 2008

Lesson #1 A simple greeting.

Hi gang! It's time for an Esselen Lesselen! Where we get to learn how to walk like an Esselen and talk like an Esselen, the native group who inhabited the area around camp.
Let's start things off with a simple greeting, so when you meet somebody on a trail or encounter a mystical acorn, a PALÀTSA, you'll what to say if you truly want to walk like an Esselen and walk like one, too.
So let's first translate a simple greeting in english, "good day."
The Esselen word for good is SALÈKI (saw-lay-kee), and the Esselen word for day is ASÀTSA(ah-sought-saw). So if you wanted to say "Good day" in Esselen, you would say "SALÈKI ASÀTSA!"
But let's round things out a little by adressing our greeting to somebody. We're all friendly here, and there's plenty of friends around, so let's adress our message to a freind, which, in Esselen, is NIShFE(Neesh-fay). So if you wanted to say "Good day, friend" in Esselen, you would say "SALÈKI ASÀTSA NIShFE."
So next time you encounter a friend, forget boring old "hello." Stir things up and say
"SALÈKI ASÀTSA NIShFE." and then he'll say "Get away from me, you weirdo!"
We'll see you next time, where we'll talk about how to not look foolish saying "good day" after dark and give a guide to pronunciacion.
All words and phrases taken from The Esselen - English Dictionary 1998 Edition

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Shortride said...
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