Origin of "Coquille"?

[jlarmagost]

I understand exactly what you're saying, Henry, and especially given my
neophyte status in the field I'm a bit nervous about making this suggestion
public, but here goes.

Following up on the logic of examples like Kathlamet sp'iasx 'salmon.tail',
for which the dual s- has a clear referent, it seems a reasonable hypothesis
that Chinookan speakers' attention might have been attracted to some
distinctive dual physical attribute of lampreys. For me that would be the
sort of weird and un-fish-like two dorsal fins exhibited by many of those
critters.

I haven't found pictures of the various lamprey species Chinookan speakers
would have known but even if they all had the requisite dual fins, that
wouldn't move what I'm saying out of the realm of a suggestion, of course.
Still, especially if 'lamprey' is at all an old word I'd like to think there
was a reason for the s-. Wouldn't it be a kick if one of the Penutian
savants had a helpful etymology up their sleeve?

hayu masi (for your forebearance),

Jim

jlarmagost at verizon.net

-----Original Message-----
From: The Chinook List [mailto:CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG]On
Behalf Of hzenk at PDX.EDU
Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 1:12 PM
To: CHINOOK at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: Origin of "Coquille"?


> "Finally, Scott Byram pursues the origin of the name Coquille and its
> pronunciation. He traces the evolution of the name for the river from
> Coquell (pronounced "kå-kwel" and derived from the Chinook jargon word for
> lamprey) to Coquille (pronounced kå-keel"), with its supposed origin in
> the French word for shell."
>

I like this proposal, but am troubled by the lack of any attestation
of CJ skakwal 'lamprey' without the Chinookan dual s- (if there is any
such, I'm not aware of it offhand).  The dual here makes about as much
intuitive sense as it does in 'robin', making the point that gender is
more conventional than always rational in Chinookan.  Henry

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