Maple

[Francisc Czobor]

LaXawya wEXt !

In Jacobs’ “Texts in Chinook Jargon”, the first text told by Thomas Paul, a 
Sanich of British Columbia, is entitled in English “Maple” and in 
Jargon “t’sáLElp”. Is this a Chinook Wawa word or just a word introduced by 
the narrator from his own Salishan language?
I didn’t see in any other CW source such a word for “maple”. In most 
dictionaries, maple is called isik stik “paddle wood”.
For shure it is of Salishan origin (tree names ending -lp or -Lp appear in 
many Salishan languages). But I found something similar only in Cowichan (a 
Halkomelem dialect): tsá-LaLp (in Curtis’ “The North American Indian”, vol. 
9). In the Saanich (North Straits Salish) Classified Word List 
(http://www.cas.unt.edu/~montler/Saanich/WordList/) there is 
t’ththe7ELch “broad-leaf maple” and p’iyne7eLp “Rocky Mt. maple; “vine” 
maple” (I transcribed with “th” the theta letter – voiceless interdental 
fricative). Thus a Halkomelem word in Straits Salish? Or rather a 
Halkomelem word in British Columbia CW?
Nayka tiki kEmtEks qhata
Francisc

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