Fwd: Re: Chintimini

[hzenk at PDX.EDU]

Dave,

Don't have time/inclination to do a search right now.  "Chintimini" is an old
local name in the Corvallis vicinity, and mentioned in McArthur's Oregon
Geographic Names as the "Indian name" of Mary's Peak, directly west of
Corvallis (and the tallest mountain in that part of the Coast Range). As it
happens, Gatschet in 1877 recorded Tualatin "tchatimanui" (normalized:
Catimanwi, with C = c-wedge, stress on 2nd syllable) as the name of "a big mt'n
west of Corvallis."  Ca- is the Northern Kalapuya form of the Kalapuyan
place-prefix; a Central Kalapuya (Santiam-Marys River) form would have Can-.

So what is the reputed Jargon connection?  I've never heard or felt any reason
to suspect such a thing.  No etymology in Kalapuyan for this name that I know
of.  Interestingly, William Hartless, a Kalapuya at Grand Ronde who dictated
Mary's River texts to Frachtenberg around 1914, gave Can-Cinduu (in Jacobs's
respelling, normalized) as the name of Mary's Peak:  but Tualatin Ca-Cintu
appears as the name of Spirit Mountain at Grand Ronde.  Both Spirit Mtn and
Mary's Peak were places where young people were sent for their coming-of-age
spirit vigils.  Henry "this side" of ocean.

Quoting David Robertson <ddr11 at COLUMBIA.EDU>:

> Hi,
>
> I'd include a link, but the one I found was available only in cached form on
> Google.  So, go search Google for Chintimini for a nice little puzzle (now
> apparently solved) about a Jargon loanword into Kalapuyan.
>
> Cheers,
>
> --Dave R.
>



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