Salishan compass-points in Chinuk Wawa

[David Robertson]

Hello, everyone.

A conversation on the CHINOOK list brings this up:  For at least "north"
and "south", in Chinook Jargon there are two possible terms each.

"North" may be periphrastically expressed as ~ "qha kol chaku" = "where
the cold comes from" -- or as ~ <stobelo / stopilo>, in nonscientific
notation.

Similarly, "south" may be ~ "qha san miLayt khapa sItkEm san" = "where the
sun is at midday", with an alternative single-word synonym ~<steh-wah>.

The question is about the origin of these two single words for directions.
Clearly the initial s- on them "looks Salishan", as does the ending -elo /
-ilo (a reflex of the lexical suffix for "earth, land"?)

My dictionaries of 3 Interior Salishan languages and Upper Chehalis show
no obvious cognates with this pair of terms, and in fact demonstrate a
great deal of variation.

Is it safe to assume that (a) Central Coast Salishan language(s), i.e.
from near Puget Sound, contributed these terms?  (Clearly many CJ items
such as <chotub / chodups> came from such a source.)  But from which
language(s) in particular?

Thanks for your attention!
Dave


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