Yakama Sahaptin & the number 9

[Dave Robertson]

Howdy,

A year ago we discussed some words from the Smithsonian (HNAI) sketch of Sahaptin that might be connected with Chinuk-Wawa.  One of these words was /kw'ayts/, meaning "nine".

This afternoon I had the privilege of inspecting a copy of the 1872 "Alphabet Yakama" primer by L.N. St. Onge, published in Quebec.  In the section that gives the Yakama numbers, the word for "nine" is <cemeskt>.  The letter <c> here stands for the [ts] sound.

So do we see here a pair of equally viable native Sahaptin words for "nine"?  Or dialect variation?  Or borrowing back from Chinook Jargon?

-- Dave
--
"Asking a linguist how many languages she knows is like asking a doctor how many diseases he has!" -- anonymous



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