Folk etymologies

[Francisc Czobor]

Clark, how are you !
   
  Very interesting the folk etymologies that where circulating in order to explain the origin of some CW word.
   
  They seem to prove that some people had the impression that CW was a sort of corrupted mixture of English and French and tried to expalin it as such.
   
  Beside classics like “Clark how are you” for klahowya [LaXayEm], or “Clatter away” for klatawa [Latwa], many other specimens are to be found in handwritten side notes in the copy of the first edition of Hibben’s “Dictionary of the Chinook jargon” that was scanned at Early Canadiana Online (http://www.canadiana.org/ECO/PageView/37625/0002).
  Some examples of such folk etymologies for words that are actually from Native languages:
   
  “Oh no!” for Anah [aná] (exclamation denoting pain, displeasure or depreciation); 
   
  Chuck [cEqw], water, is explained as “the noise the streams make”; 
   
  “Chuck in, out” for Chukkin [tsEkEn], to kick; 
   
  “Canard” for Ehkahnam [ikanEm], tale or story
   
  “Lend a hand” for Elahan [ilihan, ilan], aid, assistance; 
   
  “Unlock” for Hahlakl [XalaqL], wide, open; 
   
  “Alone” for Halo [hilu], none, absent; 
   
  “How could?” for Howkwutl [XawqwEL], inability; 
   
  “Hullo!” for Hullel, to shake; 
   
  “Hurrah” for Hwah [xwa], exclamation of surprise or admiration; 
   
  “Hie on!” for Hyak [ayaq], swift, fast, quickly, hurry; 
   
  “Upset” for Ipsoot [ipsut], to hide; 
   
  “Equal” for Kahkwa [khakwa], like, similar to, equal with; 
   
  “Clear” for Klah [LaX], free or clean from; 
   
  “Acquaintance” for Kumtuks [kEmtEks], to know, understand, be acquainted with; 
   
  “Quack-quack” for Kwehkweh, mallard duck; 
   
  Also some French words, although recognized as being of French origin, are given unusual explanations:
   
  “La mère” for Lammieh [lamiyay], old woman, usually derived from “la vieille”; 
   
  “La plage” for Laplash, board, usually derived from “la planche”. 
   
  Alta niker clatter away,
   
  Francisc
   

		
---------------------------------
Love cheap thrills? Enjoy PC-to-Phone  calls to 30+ countries for just 2¢/min with Yahoo! Messenger with Voice.

To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'.  To respond privately to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'.  Hayu masi!
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/chinook/attachments/20060410/49bcee44/attachment.htm>