Another Métis/Canadian French word loaned into Secwepemctsín: an unusual Thai-in :)
My thanks to Ethan Pincott for drawing my attention back to the Secwepemctsín language.
I’ve noticed yet another Métis/Canadian French word loaned into that British Columbia language, which has also been known as Shuswap, a member of the Northern Interior division of Salish.
Thai in the Shuswap! (Image credit: TripAdvisor)
This is a noun that we’ve previously found farther to the north, in Dene (“Athabaskan”) languages:
- lesesyém ‘turnip’ [Eastern dialect of Secwepemctsín]
As others have noted for this item when found in those other languages, this comes from le(s) chou(x) de Siam, literally ‘the cabbage(s) from Siam’.
And because ‘Siam’ means Thailand, and is an old Thai name (likely borrowed even earlier from another language), this is apparently the only Thai word in Secwepemctsín!


Really interesting I always wondered where this word came from!
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Yup, I never knew it in French till I dug deep into Pacific Northwest languages 🙂
Today I noticed another French word in you guys’ dictionary, sepelé for ‘rosary; prayer beads’…from “chapelet”.
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