A note on the Nez Perce Language! Nez Perce is a highly endangered language. While sources differ on the exact number of fluent speakers, it is almost definitely under 100....
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Kalakala
KALAKALA [kuh-LAHK’-uh-lu] or [kal-lak’-a-la] (modern) or [ku-lah-ku-la] (historical) — noun. Meaning: Bird; a fowl; goose; a flock of birds; a winged insect; a wing. Origin: Chinook i-ku-la-ku-lu ‘(male) goose’; i-k’lak’la ‘(male) geese’; ultimately derived from a Chinookan verbal stem -ka or -ga ‘to fly’; -galal ‘flying’ , said to be…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Mowitch
MOWITCH [MÓW-itsh] [ MAH’-witsh] — noun. Meaning: A deer; venison; game; wild animal Origin: Nuu-chah-nulth, mauitsh; Ditidaht, moitsh, a deer While the word itself refers to deer in general, as seen in “man mowitch (stag)” and “klootchman mowitch” (doe), it was occasionally applied to mountain goat or mountain sheep. It…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Itlwillie
ITLIWILLIE [itl’-wil-lie] or [itl’-u-li]— noun. Meaning: Flesh; meat; muscle Origin: Upper Chinook, i-tlgwul; Lower Chinook i-tl’uli ‘meat’ If one had “itlwillie sick” (bruised/sore muscles), they would naturally complain “konaway nika itlwillie sick” (all my muscles are sore), a likely outcome for one’s “lejam itlwillie” (leg muscle) on Leg-Day. The meat…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Kiuatan
KIUATAN [KIU’-a-tan] or [KHI-YU-tun] — noun. Meaning: Horse Origin: Generally believed to be from Chinook i-kiuatan ‘horse’, though some sources claim it is of Mamachatpam (Yakima) origin. There were several words for horses in Chinook Wawa, kiuatan seems to have been used more in southern regions of Cascadia, and is…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Cosho
COSHO [ko’-SHO] or [KU’-shu] — noun. Meaning: Hog; pig; swine; pork; ham; bacon. Origin: French, le cochon, ‘pig’ “Oink, oink indeed,” said the Harbor Seal. Sometimes rendered as gosho, legosho, or lecosho in older sources, “cosho” (with the accent on second syllable) was a French loanword used to mean pig or…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Delate
DELATE [de-LATEY’] or [de-LEYT’] — adjective, adverb. Meaning: Physically straight, direct, true, truly, exact, definite, definitely, sincere, sincerely, sure, authentic; accurate; without equivocation; without hesitation. Origin: Either a corruption of English, straight; or Norman French drette > standard French droite ‘right’, both the directional and legal senses. Often used to…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Saghalie
SAGHALIE [SAGH-a-lie] or occasionally [SAH’-ha-lie] — adjective. Meaning: Up, above, high, heaven, sky, celestial, top, uppermost, over, upwards, holy. Origin: Chinook, sakhali; Clatsop, ukhshakhali. Up; above; high. Sometime rendered as ‘sagalie’, ‘sagalee’, ‘saqalie’, and even ‘sahhalie’ or ‘sahali’, this word was usually pronounced as if it were spelled ‘sockalie’ by…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Hyas
HYAS [hy-AS’] or [hay-ASH]— adjective, adverb. Meaning: Big, great, vast, large, auspicious, powerful, important, celebrated, very. Origin: Possible corruption of Nuu-chah-nulth, iyahish “many” While similar in use to the word skookum, hyas generally has connotations of greatness, importance, or auspiciousness rather than outright strength or power. “Hyas Sunday” was a…...
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