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Kephart writes of odd names in the Smoky Mountains

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  • found I could give a fair imitation by starting to say, "ben" and suddenly pinching my nostrils shut on the N. So, lately, in practicing Cherokee, I have discovered an infallible way to teach the Cherokee grunting UH. Stand in front of the pupil, teil him to say UNG as in "hung," and just before he gets to the G-sound, poke your finger suddenly into his midriff. He will speak Cherokee heap good! Combination Words In some cases a single Cherokee word combines a noun, a verb, and an adjective or an adverb, a preposition or a conjunction. To translate such a word requires a phrase or a whole sentence in English. One day I asked the, late James BIythe, our court "linguister." as the mountaineers call an interpreter, to explain some things relating to the sacrifice of Tsali or "Charley," who was executed by General Scott attire time of the great Removal. Tsali's youngest son, Wasituna, was spared from the firing squad because of his youth. The whites hereabouts called him "Washington." I asked Blythe if Wasituna was the Cherokee attempt to pronounce Washington. "No," said he. "It's the other way round. Wasituna is Cherokee, and it means Log-Iying-on-the-ground- pointing-straight-away-from-you." A prominent chief of the western Cherokees, In the first quarter of the 19th century, was Degataga (pronounced Day-gah-taw-gah.) TWs name of four syllables means Two- persons - stand - together - so- closely - bound - in - sympathy- that - they - have - but - one- i body. If : clarity and expressiveness are merits, then the Cherokee language certainly takes h'gh rank. Among our Indians on the Lufty are not a few who are well educated and speak English as' well as any of us, grammatically and without a trace of accent. There are others who do not speak it at all. And between j these extremes are many who use ■ broken English of a kind he-»rd only among themselves. Often their attempts are quaint and amusing, as the following actual example shows: My next-door neighbor, in Bryson, Is a "merchant. T. I. Hughes, who has considerable dealing with the Indians. One day a buck, known to the whites as Dawson George, came to Hughes's store and bought a cap. Sometime later he returned, with the top of his cap burnt off. Mr. Hugh?s ask«d h>ow it happened. The (Continued on Pa^e 5, Section B) iz:U0—News 11:30—CBS Hotel Paramount Orchestra Cherokee Indian Language Told Of Ey Kephart <Cor;tinued from 5*affC 1) Indian explained: "Morning my .wife he get up make breakfast. Dog he bark. I go out. Dog he bark up hollow tree. I punch stick in. Rabbit he run out. "Dog he run rabbit in brush-pile. I jump on brush. Rabbit he go other one brush-pile. My wife he get breakfast. "I set brush afire. Spark go tip. Fire go 'way up high. Dog he bark. My wife he get breakfast. "Bim'eby I smell heap stink-it. Take off coat; no fire. Take off shirt; no fire. Think mebbe-so rabbit he burn up. "Pretty soon head get hot. Hot like hell. Take off cap. AH burn up. Wife he say 'Breakfast ready.' Dog he ketch rabbit." It is not always easy to get information out of an Indian, even if he can speak English. If he does not know you. or if he suspects an ulterior motive, he will only grunt and turn away, or say "No talk"; and that is the end of it. Some years ago, when Felix Allay was our solicitor, he was trying a murder case in which the defendant, a Cherokee, took the stand in his | own defense. All of us knew that I this Indian could speak English, if he wanted to: but he stubbornly insisted on testifying in his native 1 tongue and demanded a "linguia- i ter." The solicitor (a gentleman of | irreproachable habits, by the way), : was annoyed by this palpable ruse to confuse him. He did his best to coax English out of. the redskin; but all ho got in reply was "No talk ran," At last Alley lost patience. He pounded the desk and roared at the Indian: "Now see here! Didn't you come to my room in the Cooper House, last Saturday night, and didn't you talk as good English as anybody, with Jim Ferguson and me. for two mortal hours?" Like a flash came the answer: "Yes; but I th!nk-it you both was drunk." Not another word of English could they get out of the red rogue. Needless to say, he was convicted. MONSTER CABBAGE h? m of "I in: mi taj ws- I 1 th ft* to se' ' I i bei, . dr> stf mi wl' th in drt. vav cot 19: got bo; San- toe kii be. in ear to< ed> hi: vir on me Dv th; klf off se. bu wi wa en he bu,
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  • This undated article is by Horace Kephart (1862-1931), a noted naturalist, woodsman, journalist, and author. In 1904, he left his work as a librarian in St. Louis and permanently moved to western North Carolina. His popular book, “Camping and Woodcraft” was first published 1906; the 1916/1917 edition is considered a standard manual for campers after almost a century of use. Living and working in a cabin on Hazel Creek in Swain County, Kephart began to document life in the Great Smoky Mountains, producing “Our Southern Highlanders” in 1913. Throughout his life, Kephart wrote many articles supporting the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.