Jewitt etc [addendum]

[Mike Cleven]

>Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999 01:17:32 -0800
>To: David Robertson <drobert at TINCAN.TINCAN.ORG>,
CHINOOK at linguist.ldc.upenn.edu
>From: Mike Cleven <ironmtn at bigfoot.com>
>Subject: Re: Jewitt etc [addendum]
>In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.3.95.990119193149.1219E-100000 at tincan.tincan.org>
>References: <36A343E7.6B93 at adisoft-inc.com>
>
>At 07:36 PM 1/19/99 -0800, David Robertson wrote:
>>Howdy Jim,
>>
>>I dunno, that etymology just doesn't wash for me.  "Pasisi" doesn't sound
>>like "pasay-", and reduplication of syllables in Old Chinook wouldn't
>>operate in such a way as to produce a resemblance!
>
>I'm curious to know what the original source of "pasisi" (paseese) is.
The reason I'm wondering is because "cloth" was a new trade good in the NW;
the closest native parallel would have been kalakhwatie, which is not
exactly "cloth"; and the word bears no resemblance.  Is it from a
Plains/Woodland language, perhaps (like papoose?) brought in by the voyageurs.
>
>One idea - not linguistically viable perhaps - is that it is a corruption
of "tapis" (Fr. "cloth"), a word heard but ill-remembered by native traders
that became entrenched within the region for the new tradegoods.....
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