Strange word for "stars"

[Francisc Czobor]

Thank you very much, Anthony.
I wonder why Hale gave it as Chinookan (or maybe it was just a typo: "C" instead of "S", for Salishan).
 
Indeed, the normal CW word for stars (ts'El-ts'El, tsil-tsil, chil-chil, sil-sil) means also "buttons" and you might be right that this last one was the original meaning: the early glossary of Ross (dating from 1810-1813) has: "Buttons  Cill-cill".
 
Francisc

Anthony Grant <Granta at edgehill.ac.uk> wrote:
It's Cowlitz. (At least it certainly occurs there.) I came across this fact quite by chance reading a handout from a paper that the late Dale Kinkade gave. I think the original form is something like /Lak'isi/. The usaual word for star may just once have only meant 'buttons'.

Anthony

>>> Francisc Czobor 19/07/2005 14:34:29 >>>
LaXayEm khanawi Laksta,

In several Chinook Jargon dictionaries appears a strange word for "stars", 
recorded in different forms:

Anderson (1857): Klakcee

Anonymous ("Old employee, formerly of the Hudson Bay Company"): Klakee

Hutchings&Rosenfield, publ. (1860), Macdonald (1863): Klakeece

Hibben&Carswell (1862): Klukeece

Hale (1890): Klaseess

It is difficult to draw a conclusion on which form is correct. My opinion 
is that it is the form quoted by Hale, because this is the most reliable 
source.

Regarding the etymology, Hale indicates "C.", that is, Chinook. The other 
sources don't have etymologies.

Is this really a Chinookan word? My only source for Chinookan, namely 
Curtis's "The North American Indian", has for "star":
Wishram: kíxanaba, 
Chinook: iekhixánap, 
Cathlamet: iekixánapx, 
thus, nothing comparable to Klaseess or the like.
I also didn't find it in other potential donor languages: Salishan, Nootkan 
(incl. Makah), Sahaptin (Yakima, Klickitat, Nez Perce).

In some Coast Salishan languages, there are words for "star" somehow 
similar, but they don't begin with kl-, rather with k(h)- or k(h)w- 
(Cowlitz: khási, Lummi: khwâsn, Klallam: hwásin, Nooksack: khósEn, 
Cowichan: khwásin, Saanich: kwasEn), thus I'm not sure if they could be 
related to "Klaseess".

So what origin could have such a word?

Another question: was this actually used in Chinook Wawa, or is it merely a 
lexicographic curiosity, carried over from one dictionary to another?

Hayu masi,
Francisc

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