Jerry WINTERBOTHAM, "Umpqua: The Lost County of Oregon"

[Alan H. Hartley]

Dave,

> "[Hall J.] Kelley was five feet nine inches high, wore a white
> slouched hat, blanket CAPOTE, leather pants, with a red stripe down the
> seam, rather outre! even for Vancouver."  [Emphasis mine; note the Chinook
> Jargon word for "coat".]

CAPOTE and CAPOT were also words in standard English at the time.

>From the OED:

1775 R. CHANDLER Trav. Asia M. (1825) I. 195 Wrapped in their thick
capots or loose coats.
1812 BYRON Ch. Har. II. lii, The little shepherd in his white capote.
1836 W. IRVING Astoria I. 76 Emerging..like spectres from the hatchways,
in capotes and blankets.
1836 W. IRVING Astoria (1849) 47 They wear a capot or surcoat, made of a
blanket.

And from _Jrnls Lewis & Clark Exped._ vol. 6 (1990), p. 18, Clark writes
on 4 Nov. 1805 (note silent -t):

one of those Scoundals Stole a Cappoe of one of our interpreters

Thanks for the interesting extracts!

Alan