CHINOOK Digest - 4 Feb 2005 to 5 Feb 2005 (#2005-12)

[Yakima Belle]

I wonder if the word donkey acquired its current form
as an onomatopeia? (Don't know how to spell it - a
word that emulates a sound.)

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> Topics of the day:
>
>   1. Chinook Jargon word for Donkey?
>
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>
> Date:    Sat, 5 Feb 2005 18:34:30 -0800
> From:    Leanne Riding <riding at TIMETEMPLE.COM>
> Subject: Chinook Jargon word for Donkey?
>
> A question at the Chinook-Wawa group on Yahoo ended
> up puzzling me too =
> -- the=20
> question was:
>
> "What is the Chinook Jargon word for Donkey?"
>
> Considering there are words for Mule (ie. "le mel"
> or "moola"), why not =
> Donkey?
>   Maybe "burro" or "l'ane"? For the question, "What
> is the Chinook the =
> Chinook=20
> Jargon word for Donkey?" -- Should the correct
> answer for the question =
> be,
>   "Donkey"?
>
> Did the word Donkey come from l'ane cay? "Mule colt
> / hoofed animal =
> which=20
> is a mule/looks like a mule?"
>
> :) I know, a stretch. The Cayuse thread has been
> putting thoughts in my =
> head.
>    However, I couldn't come up with anything better
> because the word =
> Donkey=20
> seems itself a little mysterious. Here is what
> Wikipedia had to say =
> about=20
> the etymology of the word Donkey:
>
> "The word "donkey" is one of the most etymologically
> obscure in the =
> English=20
> language. Until quite recent times, the standard
> word was "ass", which =
> has=20
> clear cognates in most other Indo-European
> languages; no credible =
> cognate=20
> for "donkey" has yet been identified, though it is
> possible that it is a =
> diminutive=20
> of "dun" (dull greyish-brown), a typical donkey
> colour; originally, =
> "donkey"
>   was pronounced to rhyme with "monkey". In the late
> 18th century, the =
> word=20
> "donkey" started to replace "ass", almost certainly
> to avoid confusion =
> with=20
> the word "arse", which, due to sound changes that
> had affected the =
> language,
>   had come to be pronounced the same way (/=C3=A6s/
> > /=C9=91:s/ and =
> /=C9=91:rs/ > /=C9=91:s/). The=20
> /=C9=91:s/ pronunciation of "ass" was eventually
> restored to /=C3=A6s/ =
> in order to reserve=20
> the distinction, but not without the curious
> consequence of American =
> English=20
> losing the word "arse" entirely and handing over its
> meaning to "ass".
>
> (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey,
> Saturday, February 5, =
> 2005=20
> 16:59:18)
>
> I also found "1785, slang, perhaps from dun "dull
> grey-brown," the form =
> perhaps=20
> infl. by monkey. Or possibly from a familiar form of
> Duncan (cf. =
> dobbin). The=20
> older Eng. word was ass."
>
> (Online Etymology Dictionary, =
> http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=3Ddonkey&
> searchmode=3Dnone, Saturday, February 5, 2005
> 17:21:06)
>
> I wonder the 1785 reference referred to George
> Washington's donkeys =
> which=20
> he received in 1785? He apparently also had a
> Chincoteague pony which he =
> called=20
> "Chinky." Need to know more...
>
> =3D( : ] )-[--<
>
> - Leanne
> - homepage: timetemple.com
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of CHINOOK Digest - 4 Feb 2005 to 5 Feb 2005
> (#2005-12)
>
***********************************************************
>


=====
I swear I seen a twelve-foot-high hump-shouldered elk
with no antlers and swan neck - 19th C. miner, quoted
in "Lonesome Dromedary", The Big Book of the Weird Wild
West, Paradox Press, 1998.


		
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