'mula' also = 'machine'

[David Robertson]

A word that's in most Jargon dictionaries is "moolah" or "mula".  (Also in 
the name of Duane Pasco's "Tenas Wawa" character Moolah John.)  

This comes from Metis French "moulin" or "mill".  I guess in the Northwest 
it would originally refer to a sawmill; maybe also to a hand-held flour 
mill, etc.?

In Lushootseed and Upper Chehalis Salish, judging by the published 
dictionaries, this Jargon word also means "any machine".  It seems fairly 
safe to assume the same meaning existed in Chinook Jargon, although I'm not 
finding it in my quick check of S. Johnson.

This is probably an older way of saying "machine" in Jargon.  A newer one 
would be the word "mashin" in the Kamloops Wawa area, which I've found 
people using in the Jargon letters they wrote.  

For example, one man wrote Father Le Jeune a letter asking him to bring his 
writing machine [the mimeograph used for printing Kamloops Wawa) on his 
next visit.

An even more recent word for this idea would be "lakaset" (la cassette).  
Originally this meant "box", which is a meaning it held onto in all 
varieties of Jargon.  But at Grand Ronde this has also become a way of 
referring to devices like phones, computers, and so on.  

--Dave R

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