FW: Alotta re Western USA placenames & CJ

[Nadja Adolf]

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Nadja Adolf
> Sent:	Monday, January 25, 1999 10:31 AM
> To:	'David Robertson'
> Subject:	RE: Alotta re Western USA placenames & CJ
>
>
> 	* page 19:  'Camas takes its name from the Camas Prairie.  The
> town's name
> 	originally was Las Camas, and the name was taken from a delicacy
> of the
> 	western Indians, Camassia esculenta, a relation to the hyacinth.
> The word
> 	is derived from the Nootka Indian chamass, "fruit" or "sweet".
> This
> 	locality was where the Indians went to gather up the sweetish
> bulbs.'
> 	[Whether camas is sweet or not is open to debate.  :-)  Tastes a
> lot like
> 	kerosene when freshly dug in Eastern Washington.  Also debatable
> is the
> 	etymology of the word -- see earlier postings on this list.
> Elsewhere in
> 	Alotta's book, he defines camas in passing as "a sweet onion".
> Finally,
> 	where is the accurate attribution of this word to the Chinook
> Jargon?  I
> 	actually don't know of an indigenous language of the NW which
> has this
> 	word in the meaning of "camas".]
>
>
> 	[Nadja Adolf]  If you bury it under a fire (a Dutch Oven works)
> and keep
> 	it under hot coals for a couple of days it could be considered
> remotely sweet.
		[Nadja Adolf]
		I think the prolonged baking breaks some of the starches
down to sugars as well
		as gelatinizing them.