“They speak like birds”: An Indigenous metaphor, as reflected in CW
I’m guessing it means “they speak like idiots”?
Monthly Archive: March, 2022
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1894: “scotty cooley” on the lower Fraser
Today’s note adds to my article of 2015.
tə́qsin ‘follow; pursue’ from Lower Chehalis Salish
Chinuk Wawa tə́qsin ‘follow; pursue’ in the 2012 Grand Ronde Tribes dictionary: “Of obscure origin. Possibly from a local Salishan form with the transitive suffix -n.”
1870s: Ling Fu proves he’s American by talking Jargon
Be a good citizen, read “Voices of the Pacific Northwest“.
1840s?: Willamette Natives bargain over Christianity
A great quotation from the old CHINOOK Listserv…
1878: An addendum to “Exploring the Olympic Mountains”
A reasonably clear record of míməlust-íliʔi (‘dead.people-place’) for ‘graveyard; cemetery’ turns up in a half-translated form.
1877: Chinuk Wawa etc. on the Little Bighorn battlefield, from a Nez Perce
Hugh Lenox Scott (1853-1934) was seen as an authority on Plains Indian Sign Language…
Chinuk Wawa təmstiyu, from Salish with Métis + Chinookan input
The Chinuk Wawa noun təmstiyu ‘arrowwood’ has stuck in my mind for quite a while, as have many others that “feel” Salish to me.
1930: Williams, “Logger-Talk”
Another in my sporadic series of gems from the old CHINOOK listserv that deserve more attention:
1886: Held for Passing Counterfeit Money
LATE-FRONTIER OREGON PAPER SKIPS TRANSLATING. —