"Eulachon" among the Kwakwaka'wakw - PLUS a full accounting of variants etc.

[Terry Glavin]

 That should have been "Oregon," as in the state. I wrote an essay about the Byram-Lewis analysis some time ago but can't lay my hands on it at the moment. Do look up Byram and Lewis, though, for a convincing case that the mystery of the origin of "Oregon" can be solved by reference to the oolichan that was such a valuable trade commodity from the rivers of the Pacific.

 Anyway, I did find "Oolichans," a chapter in my book This Ragged Place, where there's this:

 "Varieties of grease are at least as numerous as the variant spellings applied to the Chinook-jargon word for the fish, which includes oolichan, eulachon, hoolakan, hoolikan, oloachen, ollachan, oulachon, oulacon, ulchen, ulichan, and uthlecan. Oolichan is often pronounced "hooligan," and it is also widely known as "candlefish" from its reputed ability to be stood on end and burned with a wick, like a candle, because it's so oily. On the Lower Fraser, the Sto:lo people called them swavie, and they nicknamed them chucka, which means old woman. In the early days of the maritime fur trade, ships' captains called them "shrow," and the grease from the fish was called "shrow tow," words that appear to have been derived from the Haida word for oolichan and oolichan grease. . . Central coast natives sometimes called them "salvation fish" for the fact that the oolichans' arrival after a long cold winter provided the year's first great flourish of marine flesh. certain salvation if the winter had been particularly rough. Their arrival was a true sign that winter was truly gone, that it was not the end of the world, and that the cycle of the seasons could begin again. Salvation fish became "saviour fish" in some native communities, which was pleasing to the first Methodist missionaries until it became apparent that the oolichans' ascent from the sea, triggered partly by river temperature and partly by the tide (which is itself determined by the phases of the moon), tended to coincide with Easter. Easter Sunday always falls on the first Sunday after the paschal fool moon, which is the first full moon after March 21, so the arrival of the oolichan often meant deserted church pews on the holiest day in the liturgical calendar because everybody was away "making grease."
 
Why chucka? 

 Could be some relationship to the fact that in an important Katzie genesis account, Swaneset's sky bride brought oolichans into the world, releasing them from her dowry box at a back eddy in the Fraser near what is now the foot of Bonson Road in Pitt Meadows. 

 NB "gow" is a common term for grease on the north coast, and it, too, is said to be a "Haida word," although I seem to recall Tsimshian people using the term. Also the "Klinaklini" (Kleena Kleene) river, as I recall, is from the Kwakwala for "lots of grease"; the Klinakini is the most productive oolichan river in the Kwageulth region. 
  
 TG

  

 
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Terry Glavin

 transmontanus.blogspot.com
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  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ros' Haruo 
  To: CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG 
  Sent: Sunday, October 01, 2006 9:54 PM
  Subject: Re: "Eulachon" among the Kwakwaka'wakw


  Oregeon? ;-)

  lilEnd
  betting on an unmotivated epenthetic "e"


  On 10/1/06, Terry Glavin <terry.glavin at gmail.com > wrote:


     Along the Lower Fraser, spelling varies - oolichan, eulachon, oolichen, etc - and among fishermen is almost exclusively pronounced "hooligan".

    Byram and Lewis, in the Oregon Historical quarterly a couple of years back, argue that "Oregeon" owes its name to oolichan, in a roundabout way. 

    t 
      


    NOTE MY NEW E-ADDRESS: terry.glavin at gmail.com
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    Terry Glavin

     transmontanus.blogspot.com
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      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Thomas R. Speer 
      To: CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG 
      Sent: Saturday, September 30, 2006 8:04 PM
      Subject: "Eulachon" among the Kwakwaka'wakw



      As a young man in the late 1960s, I had the privilege of enjoying Eulachon oil in the company of Kwakwaka'wakw chiefs and elders at 'Yalis (Alert Bay Reserve, Cormorant Island , B.C.)  These are the First Nations whom the Whites collectively called "Kwakiutl", a corruption of the name of the Fort Rupert Band.

      Chief Peter S. Smith, Sewidanakwula, of the Tlawitsis Band of Kalokwis (Turnour Island , B.C.) was our host.  We had it as thick gravy served over boiled potatoes.  Although it had a very strong aroma, it was delicious!

      Chief Peter Smith pronounced it `OO-lah-kun.  He also called it "Tleena", the Kwakwaka'wakw name in their Kwakwala language.  People also refer to it as "Grease".  The famous "Grease Trail" on Vancouver Island was the trade route overland for trading this precious commodity.

      Is the name "Eulachon" originally a Tsinuk (Chinook) word, or was it brought into the Chinook trade jargon like many words of foreign origins?  I would be curious to know.

      Hayu masi!

      Lakw'alas
      Tom Speer
      Duwamish Tribal Services Board
      Seattle

        
      James Crippen <jcrippen at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
      This is only tangentially related to Chinook Jargon, but I think it's
      the best place to ask this question. I'm interested in the "eulachon"
      fish (Thaleichthys pacificus, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eulachon),
      also occasionally known as the "candlefish". It's the little
      herring-like smelt fish that has cream-colored flesh and is extremely
      oily. It is traditionally processed for its oil which was used in
      trade along "grease trails" up and down the coast. I believe the name
      comes from CJ. But the name for this fish, has a few different
      regional pronunciations in English in the PacNW. In Alaska where I
      grew up it was pronounced "hooligan", as with the British soccer fans.
      I'm curious about its pronunciation elsewhere along the coast, and the
      different ways people write it.

      Hayu masi,
      James Crippen

      To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'. To respond privately to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'. Hayu masi!


      To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'. To respond privately to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'. Hayu masi!
    To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'. To respond privately to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'. Hayu masi! 

  To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'. To respond privately to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'. Hayu masi! 

To respond to the CHINOOK list, click 'REPLY ALL'.  To respond privately to the sender of a message, click 'REPLY'.  Hayu masi!
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