Sahaptin words in CW

Tue Aug 2 10:50:31 UTC 2005

Good morning,

The only CW word where Gibbs gives a clear Sahaptin etymology is Tsolepat (= tsulpat) "shot pouch", which he sais is from "Klikatat".

He gives also a sole Sahaptin etymology for Kwahnice "whale": he sais it is from "Klikatat, KWADDIS"; but it seems to me that there must be some confusion somewhere, because I have found similar words in several Coast Salish languages (Nisqually Lushootseed: kwÉdis, Snohomish Lushootseed: kwEdís, Lummi: kwÉnns, Cowichan: kwÉnnEs, Saanich qwEnEs), thus the word is most probably of Salishan origin.

For many other CW words, Gibbs gives as possible sources similar Chinookan and Sahaptin terms (chance ressemblances? "Penutian" cognagtes? borrowings from Chinookan to Sahaptin or vice versa?):

Ats "sister": Gibbs gives: "Chinook, idem; Yakama, ATSE"

Hool-hool "mouse": Gibbs gives: "Chinook, KHOLKHOL; Kilikatat, KHOILKHOIL"

Keepwot "pin, needle" Gibbs has "Chinook, OKWÉPOWA; Yakama, KAPUS"

Kwahnesum "always, forever": Gibbs has "Chinook, KWÁNISUM; Yakama, KWÁLISIM"

Nawitka "yes, certainly, indeed": Gibbs gives: "Chinook, idem; Klikatat and Yakama, N'WITKA"

Sapolill "wheat, flour, meal": Gibbs gives as etymology "Chinook, TSÁPELIL", but adds: "Pandosy gives SAPLIL as Yakama for bread; Lewis and Clarke write it CHAPELELL"

Sikhs, Shikhs "friend": Gibbs gives "Chinook, SKASIKS´; Sahaptin, SHIKSTUA."

Talapus "coyote": Gibbs has "Chinook, ITALIPAS; Yakama, TELIPA"; according to other sources, a similar word means "fox" in Nez-Perce: tilípe (Curtis) or tilipa (Palmer).

Tamolitsh "tub, barrel, bucket": Gibbs has "Chinook, TAMULITSH (Anderson); Yakama, TAMOLITSH (Pandosy)"

Wayhut "road, trail": Gibbs has "Chinook, WÉHUT, a road; Yakama, WIET, far"

For Moosmoos "buffalo, horned cattle", Gibbs gives as etymologies "Klikatat, MÚSMUS; Chinook, EMÚSNUS", and continues: "The word, slightly varied, is common to several languages. Mr. Anderson derives it from the Cree word moostoos, a buffalo, and supposes it to have been imported by the Canadians; but Father Pandosy makes musmus Yakama."

About the particle Nah "Look here! I say!", Gibbs sais is common to several languages, and mentions that "In the Yakama language, it is the sign of the vocative; as, nah tehn! O man"

Another word which has cognates both in Chinookan and Sahaptin:

Kalis "raccoon" (Holton), kwalas "wildcat" (Demers): Chinook: iekwalás, Wishram: iekálalash, Yakima: kalás "raccoon" (all data from Curtis).

The CW word tamanawas (from Chinook: i-t’amanawas) is compared (I don’t know the source) with the Sahaptin root tama- "supernatural power".

Talapusha means, acording to Demers’ dictionary, "prayer", and the facsimile has a handwritten note (probably of St.Onge): "Nez-Percé"; somewhere I have seen that this CW word comes indeed from a Nez-Perce word tarapoca or talapóosa, but others (like Dr. George Lang) connect this word to CW talapas, Chinook i-talapas "coyote", in the sense of a supernatural being ("the Transformer"; according to Franchere, Etalapasse means "God or the Supreme Being").

A word which was demonstrated to be rather of Sahaptin origin is kamas / lakamas "camas".

The “traditional” etymology of this word, found also in Gibbs, is: "Jewitt gives CHAMASS as the Nootka for fruit, also for sweet, or pleasant to the taste". But camas is in Nez-Perce qém’es and in Columbia River Sahaptin Xmaash, thus "the word camas was first borrowed into English and French from Nez Perce in 1805 and was probably introduced through English and French into the flourishing Chinook Jargon of the Northwest Coast and its hinterland." (Alan H. Hartley, 2001).

Regarding the word for "nine", it's source in CW is definitely Chinookan, since it is found in all Chinookan languages: Chinook kwaí-itst, Cathlamet kwis, Wishram kwis (Curtis); Lower Chinook kui’tst (J. Deaton), Upper Chinook kweist (Tolmie & Dawson). But the word is found also both in NV Sahaptin: Walla Walla & Umatilla k’uyc (J. Deaton), and in Nez Perce: k’uyc (H. Aoki), kú-its (Curtis), kuis (Palmer). Thus it is a common Chinookan and Sahaptin word (again the questions: chance ressemblance? "Penutian" cognagtes? borrowing from Chinookan to Sahaptin or vice versa?).

In this context of numbers, it is remarcable the fact that the word for "six" (CW taXam) has similar forms in all Chinookan languages and in many Salishan languages (Comox, Halkomelem, North Straits, incl. Saanich, Klallam, Upper Chehalis, Cowlitz, , also in Interior Salish languages like "Flathead"-Kalispel, Spokan, and, with a suffix -kst, Thompson, Shuswap, Okanagan-Colville, Nespilim). Thus we have here a common Chinookan word similar to a common Salishan word.

Interesting, isn’t it?

Francisc

"Alan H. Hartley" <ahartley at D.UMN.EDU> wrote:
David Robertson wrote:

> There are a number of words that may come from an unclear source. I seem 
> to recall k'wayts "nine" being possibly from Sahaptin or Chinookan. And 
> Jacobs' sketch of NW Sahaptin grammar (page 285 note 40) has ats "sister", 
> which I had suspected was Chinookan.

cf. Nez Perce k'uyc 'nine' (Haruo Aoki, Nez Perce Dictionary).

> I'd be interested in looking through a comprehensive Sahaptin dictionary, 
> if there is one.

I don't think there is one. Aoki makes occasional mention of Sahaptin 
cognates. For Sahaptin natural history and social terms, there is Gene 
Hunn's Nch'i-Wana. Bruce Rigsby and Noel Rude have a Sahaptin sketch in 
vol. 17 of the Hdbk. of N. Amer. Indians, with a brief "selected 
vocabulary".

Alan

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