spakram

[Dave Robertson]

<spakram> in the shorthand should stand for something like /sp(')at'm/ 
or /sp(')et'm/.  (And local Salish languages have an alternation of [t'] 
with [tL'].)

This "spakram" of Le Jeune's should come from Shuswap Salish, I would have 
expected.  That's the language spoken in Kamloops as well as the 
surrounding region.  

But Shuswap has /spit'Em/ for "bitterroot", according to Kuipers' 1982 
community-use dictionary.  That's pretty different from Le Jeune's form.

Le Jeune spoke Thompson as well, though.  That language has /sp'et'm/ for 
bitterroot with the skin removed.  (And a separate word for bitterroot in 
general.)  This information is in the 1996 dictionary.

Whatever the origin, I've never seen the term <spakram mun> used in 
anyone's Chinook Jargon.  Le Jeune's list of month names is interesting but 
more as a curiosity, probably conveying translations of Salish-language 
words.  Everyone used English (and in a few cases French) month names in 
the CJ of that region, as far as I've always found.

--Dave R

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