Towees

[Ross Clark (FOA LING)]

Not etymologically connected, I don't think, but it's interesting if the
Maori word was used in describing it. A "patu" is a hand-to-hand fighting
weapon, a kind of flattened short club, whereas a "toki" (to'i) is not a
weapon but strictly a woodworking tool. Enough of the early visitors to the
NW coast had been to NZ and other parts of Polynesia that you get Polynesian
words turning up occasionally in their accounts. One of them compared a
fortified rock in the Queen Charlottes with the Maori fortifications they
called "hippah" (actually /paa/), and I think also used the Polynesian word
"kahu" (or 'ahu) in describing rain capes worn by the NW people.

Ross Clark



-----Original Message-----
From: phil cash cash
To: CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Sent: 27/01/2002 10:38 a.m.
Subject: Re: Towees
Importance: High

just a note,...i seem to recall that a Maori-type "patu" or "patu patu"
was collected during an archaeological expedition in the Columbia
Plateau during the 1890's.  it is (or once was) on display at the
Smithsonian Institution under the "patu" name.  in wonder if this [to'i]
or [towee] is of the same root as "patu".

phil cash cash
cayuse/nez perce