Cutting deeper into the etymology of t’ɬəmínxwət “tell a lie”
Taking a sec to point out something I’ve not said out loud before…
Chinuk Wawa’s word t’ɬəmínxwət ‘to lie, deceive’ is definitely not a Chinookan-sourced word — even though we only find its direct ancestor in Shoalwater-Clatsop Lower Chinookan.
Image credit: Shutterstock
What it is is Salish in origin, and here’s where I need to direct your attention to its ancient Salish roots: Proto-Salish *ƛ̓əm ‘cut, chop, sharp’, as well as its definitely Salish suffix for ‘mind; heart; etc.’.
This is to be compared with Chinuk Wawa’s t’ɬə́mxwən ‘to prick, stick, stab’. In my analysis, that word comes from an otherwise undocumented Lower Chehalis Salish ƛ̓ə́m-xʷ-ən ‘chip/stab – motion – it’, i.e. ‘stab at it’…
…or else ƛ̓ə́m-w̓-ən ‘chip/stab – Intransitive- (s)he.Imperfective’, i.e. ‘(s)he is stabbing/spearing at things’.
This second view is possible because in t’ɬəmínxwət we see the Salish suffix –ínwət as having mutated to –ínxʷət, in a sound change that’s very common in Southwest Washington Salish languages. We can reasonably infer that in CW’s t’ɬə́mxwən, another original “W” sound has also turned to a “xʷ“.
That /w/ => /xʷ/ shift is not usual within Chinookan, to my understanding of the scholarly literature on those languages. Therefore, we’re able to place that shift within SW WA Salish, previous to these 2 words’ borrowing into Chinookan (and then into the Jargon).
Beyond specifying its old Salish root here, I’ve previously written in some depth about Chinook Jargon’s word for ‘telling a lie’: Lie-Telling, Salish, and Natural Gender on the Lower Columbia.
Bonus fact:
Let’s not fail to connect this metaphor of heart-stabbing with the Idaho tribal name, Coeur d’Alene — the ‘awl hearts’. That’s from the Métis/Canadian French of the fur-trade employees in the same era that t’ɬəmínxwət became a Jargon word, around 1800. It’s said to have connoted that tribe’s keen bargaining skills.
