Dead meat!

(Image credit: KCET.org)

Short Saturday post.

Another mystery word in Chinuk Wawa: ‘Carrion’ is pu-pu in Gill 1909. I don’t reckon it’s found in other Jargon dictionaries.

I haven’t found a corresponding word in any of the many unrelated potential source languages in the lower Columbia River region.

Shot in the dark: it looks a little like other Chinook Jargon (and Salish etc.) words for ‘fart’.

Association thru the olfactory sense?

Interesting that a word for once scavenger locally ‘buzzard/vulture’ is hə́m-ləkú kə́ləkələ (stinky-necked bird).

Random blindfolded shot, so I don’t even know if it’s dark outside: a similar-sounding word for ‘owl’ is pʰupʰúp from K’alapuyan…but it refers to a little guy like a pygmy or screech owl…not much associated with carrion, although owls are connected with death across the Northwest.

Who knows?