Why isn ’t Kwitshadi a good CW w ord?

[Tom Larsen]

LaXayam, Francisc,

No one ever said at the Chinuk Lu7lu that kwitshadi was not a good CW 
word.  The person who reported that on the list was misreporting the 
facts, apparently because they had other axes to grind.  If memory 
serves, this was even pointed out in another message to the list.  In 
any case, what was stated at the Lu7lu was that the word kwitshadi was 
not used at Grand Ronde.  It was explicitly stated that kwitshadi WAS 
used in other places besides Grand Ronde.  The author of the message on 
the list apparently didn't remember that.

aLqi nesaika wawa,

Tom Larsen

Database Management and Catalog Librarian
Branford Price Millar Library
Portland State University
P.O. Box 1151
Portland, OR 97207-1151

phone: 503-725-8179
fax:   503-725-5799

email: larsent at pdx.edu



Francisc Czobor wrote:

>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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>
>
>  
>

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