CHINOOK Digest - 2 Jul 2001 to 3 Jul 2001 (#2001-113)

[Forrest D. Pass]

The only person I have ever heard use the term COPACETIC was my boss a few
summers ago who grew up in Winnipeg and believed the word to be of
Ukrainian origin.

Forrest Pass

>
> Date:    Tue, 3 Jul 2001 12:21:11 -0700
> From:    Jeffrey Kopp <jeffkopp at QWEST.NET>
> Subject: COPACETIC rides again
>
> Long ago (five years) I asserted that "copacete" was from the Jargon,
> but after trying to hunt down a reference I concluded I had been
> mistaken.  Today I ran across one mention which links the two. (Well,
> at least I must have read it someplace.)  Has anybody heard of
> "copasenee"?
>
> 'Other accounts say it derives from a Chinook word copasenee,
> "everything is satisfactory", once used on the waterways of
> Washington State . . .'
>
> http://www.quinion.com/words/weirdwords/ww-cop1.htm
>
> Regards,
>
> Jeff
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date:    Tue, 3 Jul 2001 14:53:51 -0500
> From:    "Alan H. Hartley" <ahartley at D.UMN.EDU>
> Subject: Re: COPACETIC rides again
>
> The Amer. Her. Dict. (3d ed.) has a long note on the origin, mentioning
> several possible sources (not incl. CJ), and concluding that the origin
> is unknown. The OED first records it from 1919.
>
> Alan
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date:    Tue, 3 Jul 2001 13:19:03 -0700
> From:    Jeffrey Kopp <jeffkopp at QWEST.NET>
> Subject: Re: COPACETIC rides again
>
> I don't doubt that the origin of copacetic may be undeterminable.
> But I was glad to find there was some source for my initial
> impression, even if it is a misconception, and also interested to
> find a purported "Chinook" word ("copasenee") given for its source.
>
> (I thought I had seen it in Nard Jones' book Seattle, but upon
> reviewing it some time ago I couldn't find it.  I may have seen it in
> something written by the Seattle P-I columnist Emmett Watson.)
>
> J.
>