Questions re Allison 1892

[Leanne Riding]

I'll bet that the first is going to be Spring Beauty or Claytonia 
Lanceolata or some other kind of Claytonia. Claytonia perfoliata is 
called Miner's Lettuce by my dad. He just eats the green part though. 
There are apparently lots of different kinds of Claytonias.

If lebine is a soapberry used for making “Indian Ice Cream,” then it is 
going to be some kind of Shepherdia berry, probably Shepherdia 
Canadensis aka buffaloberry or soopolallie (CJ). But I agree it sounds 
like she's referring to the foamed-up product rather than the berry.

Suggestions for "lebine":

"le bière" or beer in regards to the foam? I know thats an "n" there, 
but thats the only other foamy thing I can think of... :) Maybe there 
was some nice foamy beveragy treat that I am not aware of... other than 
good ol' "sasparilla"

lepan, for bread? now I'm really stretching it. But yeast bread IS 
another thing that gets fluffy.

I'm puzzled why a french or CJ word might be used for this product 
though I have read that these berries were a trade item.

- Leanne


David Robertson wrote:

>Mrs. S.S. Allison's 1892 article, that is: "Account of the Similkameen 
>Indians of British Columbia" in J Anth Inst of Great Britain and Ireland 
>vol. 21, pgs 305-318.
>
>She uses some words I'm unfamiliar with, which I don't find in Google 
>searches:
>
>- stitome (a sort of wild potato) (no cognate in the Okanagan or Thompson 
>dictionaries?)
>- lebine (made from soapberry; apparently = Indian ice cream?) (no cognate 
>in the Thompson or Okanagan dictionaries?)
>- nic-a-nic (a variant of "kinnikinnik")
>
>I'd appreciate information on the first two.  I wonder if there's a remote 
>chance they're from the old Nicola Athabaskan language?  (Allison gives one 
>word that's definitely Nicola [though she isn't explicit about that]: <ike> 
>= kinnikinnik berries.)  
>
>She also uses Chinook Jargon terms:
>
>- papoose stick (cradle board)
>- kee-kee-lee fire (fire underground in the mountains according to 
>traditional stories; ?volcano; compare missionaries' CJ <kikuli paia> 
>= 'Hell')
>- kee-kee-lee (pit house) (this word entered regional English with the same 
>sense)
>
>Note: 'Papoose stick' is pretty certainly CJ, though Allison doesn't 
>comment on its origin.  'Papoose' is actually found in CJ documents from 
>that region, and this use of 'stick' is obviously less like English than 
>CJ.  
>
>--Dave R
>
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