Why isn ’t Kwitshadi a good CW word?

[Francisc Czobor]

Klahawya,

This question is addressed mainly to the people elaborating the Grand Ronde 
CW.
I have read in the Archives of the Chinook Studies List (Nov. 2002) that 
some years ago, at a Chinuk Lu’lu held at GR, was stated that Kwitshadi is 
not a good CW word, and that the descriptive yuLqat q’wElan “long ear(s)” 
should be used instead.

I agree that yuLqat q’wElan is a good CW espression – it was used by John 
Hudson in “Rabbit Races Mud Turtle” (M. Jacobs: “Texts in Chinook Jargon”, 
University of Washington Publications in Anthropology, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1936, 
page 14), but it doesn’t appear in the “classical” dictionaries of Gibbs, 
Hale, Shaw, nor in Demers/Blanchet/St.Onge or in Le Jeune’s gossaries.

But what is wrong with kwitshadi?

It appears in several old sourced, and since it transribed in different 
ways, it seems that these source (at least in part) have recorded it 
independently:

Gibbs 1863 (and after him Hale 1890, Shaw 1909, etc): kwit-shad-ie

J.M.R. Le Jeune: Chinook Rudiments (1924): kwitshati

The glossary appended to A.C. Anderson’s “Hand-book and map
” (1857): 
quitchaddy

The three very closely related glossaries (Hutchings & Rosenfield 
(publ.): “Vocabulary of the Chinook Jargon” (1860); Hibben & Carswell 
(publ.): “Dictionary of Indian Tongues
” (1862); and D.G.F. 
Macdonald: “Chinook Jargon and English Equivalents” (1863)): cuitchaddy

The “Mystery Dictionary” on Jeff Kopp’s website: kwet-shoot-ee

Gibbs noted that this word is “confined to Puget Sound”, Shaw included it 
in the “Supplemental Vocabulary” (Less Familiar Words—Not Strictly Jargon—
or of Only Local Use), Le Jeune listed it under “words used in other 
districts”; thus it was a word of local use, namely in the Puget Sound 
area, as shown also by its etymology (Lushootseed  - Nisqually dialect: 
kwÉchdi, Snohomish dialect: kwchdi), but nevertheless it was a good CW 
word, at least for the PS area, where CW was very actively used in the 19th 
century.

In my opinion, yuLqat q’wElan is not “better CW” than kwitshadi. Indeed, 
the later is borrowed from Salishan, but the former is a CW creation from a 
Chinookan (yuLqat) and a Salishan (q’wElan) element. The Proper Chinook 
word for rabbit is isinikás.

Thus, kwitshadi should not be rejected only because it was used in PSCW and 
not in GRCW. I think it should be considered as a “legitime” synonym for 
yuLqat q’wElan.

Francisc

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