1905: A known Jargon name for Mt. St. Helens!

For certain solid reasons, there are fewer place names in Chinuk Wawa than in other tribal languages…

But in a “Notes and Comments” column in a Settler journal, we learn one to add to our dictionaries.

George H. Himes actively interested himself in learning the history of the Pacific Northwest, by talking wtih Native people as well as old Settlers.

Mount Saint Helens during my lifetime (image credit: Fox Weather)

Here we benefit from his efforts:

“Rainier-Tacoma Dispute Again” by Leslie M. Scott

The present writer is indebted
to Mr. George H. Himes for the following episode: About
the year 1905, Mr. Himes was conversing near Rochester,
Washington, with Jim Sanders, a Nisqually Indian. Mount
Rainier and Mount St. Helens were both in clear view. Sud-
denly the Indian, without previous allusion to the subject, ex-
claimed (pointing at Mount St. Helens) “Ten-as Tuh-ko-bud,”
in guttural accents, meaning “Little Tacoma.” This Indian had
been reared a Nisqually. His father was of that tribe, his
mother, a Chehalis.

The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society (19:2) (Jun., 1918):167-175

That pronunciation < Tuh-ko-bud >, because it has a “B” and a “D” sound, is particularly Dxʷləšucid (Lushootseed Salish, traditionally spoken by the Nisquallies). Compare təqʷúbəʔ ‘permanently snow-covered mountain’ in the dictionary.

The “Chehalis” part of Jim Sanders’s ancestry is likely to be Lower Chehalis, because that was the usual meaning of the word to Settlers. However, Upper Chehalis folks traditionally live quite close to Nisqually territory.

Nisqually and Lower Chehalis people have an especially long history of speaking good Chinook Jargon, making them both good candidates for establishing CJ place names.

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