"God" in Tsimshian (fwd)

[Dave Robertson]

[I forward this from the SSILA Bulletin, received today, partly because of 
the CJ tie, and partly because there are ethnographers and historians on 
this list who may be able to help Chris.  --  Dave R.]


* "God" in Tsimshian
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>From Christopher Roth (cfroth at earthlink.net) 7 February 2007:

I am interested in the Tsimshian (Coast Tsimshian, Sm'algyax) word
for (the Christian) God, 'Wii Sm'oogit ts'm Laxha, literally Great
Chief in the Sky.  This to me is suspiciously similar to the Chinook
Jargon term Saghalee Tyee (variously spelled), with the same literal
meaning.  The ethnographic record is ambiguous as to whether or not
the Tsimshian were monotheists before contact, and one hears
conflicting opinions on this point from contemporary Tsimshians as
well.  Certainly that term does not appear in any of the hundreds of
Tsimshian narratives collected by Barbeau, Boas, etc., nor does any
other term for a Deity.  I am curious whether other languages in the
areas where Chinook Jargon was used as a medium of missionization
(i.e. Alaska, BC, Washington, Oregon), and especially languages of
peoples geographically and culturally close to the Tsimshian, contain
similarly constructed words for "God" or whether they use other forms
entirely, such as loanwords, unanalyzable terms, etc.  Secondly, if
respondents happen to know, is the ethnohistorical evidence for or
against precontact monotheism in these cases?

Thanks in advance.

                                                     --Christopher F. Roth
                                        University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
                                     rothc at uwm.edu or cfroth at earthlink.net

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