More on Webster's 3rd New International

[Ros' Haruo]

>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>.)

I am not sure if I've ever heard "Sahalish", but if I had I'm sure I
dismissed it as a mispronunciation of "Salish". Another interesting
metathesis of the kind you mention is Spanish "palabra" from Latin
"parabola"; it involves interesting semantic field shifts, too.

lilEnd

        ROS' Haruo / 204 N 39th / Seattle WA 98103 / Usono
    lilandbr at scn.org / lilandbr at hotmail.com / tel 206-633-2434
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      ("la Esperantisto antauxe nomata Liland Brajant Ros'")





>From: "David D. Robertson" <ddr11 at COLUMBIA.EDU>
>Reply-To: "David D. Robertson" <ddr11 at COLUMBIA.EDU>
>To: CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
>Subject: More on Webster's 3rd New International
>Date: Tue, 19 Nov 2002 16:42:28 -0500
>
>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


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