Turnips, potatoes

[David Robertson]

r.clark at auckland.ac.nz wrote [and Dave R. forwards it]:


> Potatoes:
> kwusi 'potatoes'  (Heiltsuk gwu`si' // Tsimshian sgusiit // Haida
> sgu'u'si'i't, sGa'wsiit // cf. Squamish sqawc // Nootkan qa:wac)
>
> ***Is the old story true, that the forms in the northern languages
> come from English 'good seed'?  And aren't the southern (Sq, No) forms
> separate, native (at least in Salish) terms?
>
>
> Now that I'm getting the opportunity to work on Kwak'wala a little,
> I'm grateful for Nater's listing so many similarities of form among
> Salish, Wakashan, and other languages.  This little book is a gem.
>
> --Dave R.
>

Kuipers' Salish Etymological Dictionary has PS *s-qawc "(Indian) potato",
quite widely attested in the family, and notes similar looking words
(qa:wac) in Quileute and Nootka. Is there one particular species we should
understand by "Indian potato"?

Ross Clark

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