History recorded in Cowichan placenames (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

History recorded in Cowichan placenames

Nanaimo News Bulletin

[photo inset - Arvid Charlie speaks after receiving his honorary doctorate
from Malaspina University-College earlier this month. Charlie received a
surprise gift from family and friends prior to the convocation — a cape
and headdress. The cape included a brand-new design on the back by Maynard
Johnny, carved silver paddles on the front by Stuart Paguadon and copper
paddles on the back by Tim Kulchysky.]

By Aaron Bichard
News Leader Pictorial
Jun 16 2007
http://www.cowichannewsleader.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=9&cat=43&id=1007692&more=0

Soil and development aren’t the only things covering First Nation artifacts
and culture in the Cowichan Valley.

Names are playing a part in hiding history.

Take Quw’utsun smeent for an example.

Most people now know it as Mt. Tzouhalem, named by Europeans after
Ts’ow-xilum, a murderous First Nation chief exiled to a cave at the foot of
the mountain. Known for his terrorizing need for multiple wives and his
indifference at murdering husbands to feed his desire, the chief was
eventually beheaded by a potential mate’s partner.

Before the tribute to Ts’ow-xilum was bestowed on the rock, the first
European settlers called it Bald Mountain, as First Nations would burn
parts to facilitate the growth of native plants.

But long before the HMS Hecate landed, depositing a horde of pioneers to
civilize the supposedly unused land, the mountain was known as Quw’utsun
smeent.

“That mountain is the giant frog, Pi’paam, with his head facing west and his
tail east,” said Arvid Charlie, respected Cowichan elder, protector of oral
history and fluent speaker of Hul’qumi’num.

Charlie recieved an honourary doctorate from malaspina University-College
earlier thi smonth for his work with the language.

“Pi’paam is said to be warming his back in the sun. The word for warming
your back is sh-quw’utsun. And the word for mountain is smeent. So the
mountain is called Quw’utsun smeent.”

Eventually, through the Anglicization of the Hul’qumi’num language,
Quw’utsun has been changed into Cowichan. As the roots meant warming in the
sun, Cowichan has come to mean Warm Land.

Uncovering the traditional names and the meanings of words in Hul’qumi’num
has become an important job for Cowichan elders, as the number of fluent
speakers of the traditional language keeps dropping.

Some traditional words continue to be sprinkled throughout the local
landscape, but the meanings have almost been relegated to obscurity.

“There are many places on the Cowichan River that have traditional names,”
Charlie said. “Sye’tun means widow or widower and is a bad place where you
had to be careful in the river. If you’re not able to handle the canoe
properly, you end up making your wife a widow.”

Skwuts in Hul’qumi’num means falls, making the literal translation of Skutz
Falls into a redundant moniker.

“There are other places known as skutz around the region,” Charlie said.
“And there are places called skwi’kwuts, which means small falls.”

In order to document the Hul’qumi’num words, the Elders’ Hul’qumi’num
Advisory committee worked on publishing two dictionaries, which can be
purchased through the Cowichan Tribes education department.

“We’re waiting on funding to start working again,” Charlie said. “It’s a
long process because there are so many variations of words. One word that
means break — lukw — has more than 87 variations and each word typically
has seven variations.

“It’s important we pass on this information because many of our traditional
names have been left out of written history.”

Editor’s note: Connecting the Cowichans’ three-part look at the federal
positions on treaty talks ended last week. It was illustrated with a photo
of Transformation, a fabric art piece created by Charlene George.