Native metaphor: FAST ~ ABILITY
qʰáta máyka tə́mtəm? Observe…
qʰáta máyka tə́mtəm? Observe…
While working on Father St Onge’s old dictionary manuscript, a word for ‘snare’ brought me up short.
How far had Chinuk Wawa spread, two years after the gold rushes brought it to southern interior BC?
If you love some “Cannucks” and some Chinook, I have the late-frontier travelogue for you.
nawítka: I have a more detailed etymology, and a newly discovered Native metaphor, to propose for an extremely well-known word of Chinuk Wawa.
Three weeks ago, my readers helped find a pair of 1920’s letters in Chinuk Wawa; today I’m presenting the first to you. It’s very rich, fluent, heartfelt material.
For an amazing document of late frontier life around Vancouver, BC, as known by a Skwxwú7mesh elder, I say you simply can’t top this book.
Edited 11/09/2017 to add: read the Comments to see why my readers are a priceless resource. It turns out we’ve found the most southerly occurrence of one obscure Chinuk Wawa word! Ironically, today’s… Continue reading
Look what turned up in my net! Some brief but vivid notes about Chinook Jargon as used in Washington Territory’s Makah Indians, 1880.
More than half a century into the reservation era, Chinuk Wawa had quite a presence at the major interethnic social event of the year for Siletz, Oregon.