Oolichan/Eulachon/Eflaxhan

[Mike Cleven]

>From: barbara harris <CHINOOK at uvvm.UVic.CA>
>To: Mike Cleven <mike_cleven at HOTMAIL.COM>
>Subject: Re: The word for communion (fwd)
>Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2000 14:25:52 PDT
>
>Catching up on e-mail after a couple of weeks away: Mike C. suggested that
>the
>spelling of oolichan as eulachan is due to French influence. My revered and
>now deceased supervisor, Harry Scargill (one of the editore of
>the_Dictionary
>of Canadianisms on Historical Principles_) suggested - though not in print,
>to
>my knowledge - that the <eu> was a desire on the part of local biologists
>to
>make the word look Greek, thereby conforming to the classical nomenclature
>of
>other native plants and animals. FWIW!

Hmmm.  Thereby underlining my stab at pronouncing it according to modern
demotic/koine, i.e. eflaxhan, and Liland's wondrous linkage of this to some
ancient elephantine-deity visit......hmmmmmm.....now if that's not cultural
cooptation, I don't know what is.

Fun to put together a webpage of all the different recipes for oolichan
grease, though.  Especially once they get the web-smell technology thing
down and everyone can smell the end products..... yuck ;-(

Mike
________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com