Did k’áynuɬ reference ‘getting high’ in K’alapuyan?
I credit CWDP (2012:121).
That’s the “Chinuk Wawa Dictionary Project”, who created the brilliant 2012 dictionary of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
Nicotiana quadrivalvis Pursh. (image credit: Oregon Encyclopedia)
For the Chinook Jargon word k̓áynuɬ meaning ‘tobacco’, CWDP 2012 notes Chinookan-language forms.
CWDP also cites effectively the same root/stem in use in K’alapuyan languages of the Willamette River valley:
- the more northerly Tualatin /a-k̓é·nuɬ/
- and the more southerly Mary’s River-Santiam /an-k̓áinuɬ/.
They cite Henry B Zenk 1976:84, which is one of the more enduringly useful MA theses in my research library; a source I trust.
I’d be honored to add to the story.
Fascinated by learning the K’alapuyan connection, I did some looking around, and found this:
K’alapuyan apparently has a root /k̓ay/ ‘to be drunk; to be dizzy; to be tipsy; to be inebriated’ (McCartney’s gigantic dictionary of 2021, Kalapuya-English (I), page 391.
I think of traditional smoking practices that we’ve read of, involving deep inhaling of prodigious quantities of tobacco smoke.
Only in K’alapuyan am I aware of any chance that we can meaningfully analyze k̓áynuɬ.
So I’m leaning towards seeing K’alapuyan as the ultimate source of the word.
Both of the tobacco species native to Oregon, Nicotiana quadrivalvis and N. attenuata, grow only outside Lower Chinookan territory, viz. Oregon Flora (n.d.).
To me this implies possible sourcing from the neighbouring K’alapuyans previous to contact with Euro-Americans.
For the sake of thoroughness, we can also note from an unrelated language the specifically Lower Chehalis Salish lexical suffix /-n̓ɬ/ ‘plant, tree’.
Hmm!
𛰅𛱁𛰃𛱂 𛰙𛱁𛱆𛰅𛱁 𛰃𛱄𛰙𛰃𛱄𛰙? qʰáta mayka tə́mtəm?
kata maika tumtum? Qu’en penses-tu?
What do you think?
And can you say it in Chinuk Wawa?
Hey! Teach Yourself northern-dialect Chinook Jargon!
And join free Zoom sessions…
Contact me for the Zoom link.
