2-mouthed lampreys? Re: Origin of "Coquille"?

[Dave Robertson]

Another suggestion about Chinookan nouns with the dual prefix is not mine, 
I think.  It may have come up on this list a few years back.  Someone 
suggested the dual "s-" might carry the sense "a couple of____".  This use 
of dual number and its equivalents is common in the world.  In English we 
have "a couple of___" / "coupla", Hungarian, Slovak and Slovenian 
have "pAr" (pair) in the same sense, and so on.  Could Chinookan have 
used "s-" to refer to things usually harvested "a couple" at a time?  (By 
the way, I don't know how to fish for lampreys.)

--Dave R

On Sat, 5 May 2007 19:58:23 -0700, hzenk at PDX.EDU wrote:

>In a similarly speculative spirit, he [Dell Hymes] wondered if lampreys
>could be perceived as having two mouths, hence explaining the dual.  

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