Borrowing / exonyms (was...Re: Oregon/Washington Excerpts of Swanton now in HTML)

[David D. Robertson]

Jeff,

Thanks for putting Swanton on the web.  It's been quite a while since I
last looked at his encyclopedic listings of Northwest peoples, and now what
stands out is how tribal names were sometimes borrowed by other ethnic
groups.  Here, briefly, are examples -- got to get away from the computer
and do some chores --

>>>>>Nisqually. From Skwale'absh, the native name of Nisqually River. Also
spelled Quallyamish, and Skwalliahmish. Also called:

Askwalli, Calapooya name.
*****

>>>>>Chehalis. Meaning "sand," the name derived originally, according to
Gibbs (1877), from a village at the entrance of Grays Harbor. Also called:

Atchixe'lish, Calapooya name.
*****

In both of these cases, K'alapuyan speakers apparently knew the common (if
not self-designating) tribal name of Salishan groups, even of the Nisqually
who lived quite a distance away.  These names possibly underwent some
degree of morphological analysis, viz. "Nisqually" if that's the base form
of the K'alapuyan name, may have had its Salishan locative prefix /n-/
removed.  The K'alapuyan prefix /a-/ (masculine singular?) was then affixed
by a regular grammatical process.

It might be superb material for a study, if someone were to look at
patterns of ethnonymy in the Pacific Northwest.  We could learn something
of how tribes named each other and why, and from this maybe infer patterns
of contact that would help us to understand how Chinook Jargon spread.
Take a look at Swanton, and reflect on how widely the Klickitats appear to
have been known (e.g. even the Naltunnetunne in Oregon had a name for
them), in comparison with say the Hoh.

Here's one more example:

>>>>>Kwalhioqua [Athabaskan...]

Axwe'lapc, "people of the Willapa," by the Chinook and Quinault Indians.
*****

Here, what looks like a Chinookan name is said to have been used by the
geographically proximate Salishan Quinaults as well...the reasons for which
would be most illuminating to learn.

alta nayka Latwa.
-- Dave