Geoduck (1882)>McLoughlin

[A. Maberry]

Yesterday Larry asked about the spelling of geoduck which would be a very
poor rendering of the pronunciation 'gooey-duck'. Well, I don't have an
answer but upon reflection but something similar has happened in the
Washington place name Puyallup, which pronounced PyuAllup not *PuYAllup
or *PUyallup, although the latter two might be expected from the spelling.

The place is named for the Puyallup Indians. The name was variously said
to mean "shadow from the dense shade of the forest" or was given to the
tribe because they were so generous, "pough" = "to pile up, to add more"
and "allup" means "people". (cf. Mazama magazine, Dec. 1918, p. 251)
If the latter is true, Puyallup is the only place name in the state which
contains the element -allup "people".

allen
maberry at u.washington.edu