More on Webster's 3rd New International

[David D. Robertson]

A quick scan reveals:

This dictionary lacks <Sahalish>, a word I may have seen written somewhere
but mostly have heard spoken.  It's supposed to be the name of a tribe, but
mostly it's Whites who have talked about it to me; the location or nature
of the tribe hasn't been specified, and the word seems like a folk blending
of <Salish> and <Chehalis> to my ears.  <Chehalis> is usually pronounced
with an initial <sh> sound by Washingtonians, as is <Chinook>, and stranger
things have happened than a metathesis of /s/ and /sh/:  Take a look at the
origin of English <sashay> in the French word <chasse'>!  (Or at the
metathesis that supposedly turned <flutterby> into <butterfly>.)

Okay, that's a highly restricted dialect term, but how about some other
words I checked in this dictionary?...

***<sasquatch> is lacking.

***<stick Indian> is lacking.

***<stick game> is given a definition that fails to describe the NW Indian
game, and <bone game> is lacking, though sense 17 at <hand>, <hand game>,
serves very well.  <slahal> is lacking, too.

***<hooligan> as the mainly (southeast) Alaskan word for <eulachon> is
lacking.

***the etymology for <eulachon>, "from Chinook Jargon ula^ka^n", seems
slightly shaky to me; what are those (presumably) long vowel marks for?

***sense 10 of <chuck> is a good inclusion (mainly Alaskan) [ought to
specify southeast Alaskan], but the etymology "from Nootkan chauk" is a bit
imprecise, and the second example given should be placed under a separate
(currently lacking) entry for <salt chuck>.

***<salal> being etymologized as "from Chinook Jargon" may or may not be
accurate.

***<rock chuck> as a synonym for <woodchuck>, <marmot>, is lacking.

***the etymology of <camas> as being from a Nootkan word ~ "sweet" needs
revamping.

***ditto the etymology of <wapatoo> [sic] as being from Cree/Ojibwe.

Granted, this is an older edition of the 3rd International, more than 2
decades old, but I advocate updating it to reflect the current state of
research on Chinook Jargon and other etymologies for Pacific Northwest
words in English.  Likewise, several NW dialect words probably ought to be
included, as they are likely to appear in printed sources (at least
explorers' & settlers' journals, and regional fiction and journalism) by
this time.  Their presence is at least as merited as that of the thousands
of Scots and British dialect rarities you'll find here!

--Dave