íktas from Salish (partly)??
A conversation in our Sunday Zoom session has given rise to this intriguing question:
Image credit: NPR
What if Chinuk Wawa’s word iktas ‘belongings; clothing; etc.’ doesn’t amount to ikta ‘thing; what?’ + a borrowed English-language noun plural -s?
What if, instead, it derives from a different long-ago pidgin/creole formation, ikta (which is from the Lower Chinookan language) + SW Washington Salish -s ‘his; her(s); their(s)’?
Either way, this wouldn’t be the only word of Chinook Jargon that sports a mixed ancestry.
- Think of lishát ‘shirt’, from both French and English!
- Think of lápʰusmu ‘saddle blanket’, from both French and Ojibwe!
- Think of lákámás ‘camas’, from both French and Nez Perce!
- And many more!
There are certainly other Jargon words, too, that involve the same Salish suffix, e.g. pálaks ‘penis’ which comes from Salish pálq-s ‘his penis’.
