sapolil

[hzenk at PDX.EDU]

Also sapli, sable, etc., probably reflecting a folk-etymological derivation
from a French word.  This is another toughy.  Some historical citations suggest
ts- or ch- as the initial segment.  The "Chinookan" word for bread in Moulton
is the same word for bread shared by other lower Columbia languages.  As far as
I know no one has made a clear case for tracing it to any particular local
language.  The fact that Lewis and Clark recorded it in 1805-6 and attributed
it to local Indians is our strongest evidence of local origin, and to my mind
weighs more heavily than various proposals of an Algonkian or
Algonkian-via-French etymology.  Henry

Quoting "Alan H. Hartley" <ahartley at D.UMN.EDU>:

> If you all get tired of Lewis-and-Clark questions, just cry uncle. I'm
> trying to finish up a lexicon of the expedition, and I have trouble
> knowing when to stop!
>
> Sapolil, which occurs in CJ in the senses 'wheat, grain, flour, bread',
> apparently originally meant 'root-cake'. Sapil [barred i with acute; sic
> with only one ell] occurs in Sahaptin (Hunn _Nch'i-Wana_ p. 99) in that
> sense. Is Moulton, in his footnote to the first passage below, correct
> in deriving the word from Chinookan a-sablal [second a acute] 'bread'
> and if so, which Chinookan language is the source? Is the Sahaptin word
> thus a loan from CJ, or might the etymon actually be Sahaptian? Moulton
> also says "the term in Chinook Jargon is saplil [i-acute]". (I presume
> he is incorrect in identifying cha-pel-el as the cous plant, Lomatium
> cous, rather than as the bread made from it.)
>
> those beed the[y] trafick with Indians Still higher up this river for
> roabs, Skins, cha-pel-el bread, beargrass &c. [1 Nov 05  WC  5.371]
>
> for these [European trade goods] they receive..from the natives..a kind
> of buisquit, which the natives make of roots called by them shapelell.
> [9 Jan 06  ML  6.187]
>
> purchased Some wood and 4 dogs & Shapillele..the party purchased a great
> quantity of Chapellell and Some berries [22 Apr 06  WC  7.158]
>
> Thanks,
>
> Alan
>