The etymology of mitás ‘leggings’
I thought I had pointed this out previously in this space.
I also thought it was in the 2012 Grand Ronde Tribes dictionary of Chinuk Wawa.
Well, here it is: it’s presumably due to Métis people, in more than one meaning of that word, that Chinook Jargon has its well-documented word mitás ‘leggings’.
This word is definitely of Algonquian-family origin, and we can look to the Algonquian languages that the biggest number of overland fur-trade employees famously spoke: Plains Cree and Ojibwe. (Let it be understood, several other Algonquian languages were known by spouses and employees in the same working communities.)
The handiest reference source to point you to is the online Plains Cree Dictionary, a marvelous product made by some dedicated folks.
Here is its entry for ᒥᑖᐢ / mitâs, as they spell the word that means ‘pair of pants, trousers; leggings’:
The prefix mi- signals an indefinite possessor, I suppose something like how English says “someone’s…”
The root -tâs- is of less obvious meaning to me. Can any Algonquian experts help out here?
The same form is found in Moose & Eastern Swampy Cree.
Another reasonable place to look for the etymology of Chinook Jargon’s mitas would be Ojibwe, a language pretty closely related to Plains Cree and also spoken by early fur-trade workers in the Pacific Northwest. But there I find the rather different-sounding mdaas, with the rather different meaning ‘sock, stocking’.
The word goes back to at least 1669 in North American French, long before the Pacific NW fur trade. It’s apparently reconstructible to Proto-Algonquian, as *metaᐧhsi.
