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: Hyak
HYAK [HY’-ak] — adverb. Meaning: Swift; fast; quick; hurry; make haste Origin: Chinook ai-ak Used to denote speed, urgency, or even frequency, as seen in “hyak hyak” (so often) or “hyak kilapi” (return quickly), and could even be used as an imperative simply meaning “Hurry!” or “Hurry up!” The word…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Chuck
CHUCK [chuhk] or [tsuk] — noun. Meaning: water; liquid; river; stream Origin: Nuu-chah-nulth chauk, chahak; Chinook, tltsuk; Clatsop, tl’chukw, fresh water Used to refer to any fluid or body of water, such as “cooley chuck” (river), “tenaschuck” (lake; pond), “sagalie chuck” (holy water; magical potion; hot spring), and “cultus chuck”…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Tenas
TENAS [TEN’-as] — adjective. [ten’-AS] or [dun’-US] — noun. Meaning: Small; few; little; lesser; weak; young; a child; a youth Origin: Nuu-chah-nulth tanassie; Toquaht tenas, “child” Opposite of skookum, hyas, and hiyu in differing contexts, tenas often occurs in place names in northern Cascadia, as at Tenass Lake, just north…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Cheechako
CHEECHAKO [chee-CHAH’-ko] — noun. Meaning: Newcomer; stranger; just arrived Origin: Lower Chinook t’shi ‘straightaway’ + Nuu-chah-nulth chokwaa ‘come!’ A common compound word formed from the Chinook Wawa words “chee” (new; lately) and “chako” (to come; to arrive), it was an primarily used to refer to a non-native person. While it…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Puss-Puss
PUSS-PUSS [puss’-puss] general, [pish’-pish] Puget Sound — noun. Meaning: A cat. Also used for cougar, lynx, bobcat, etc. Origin: English, An informal term of address for a cat. From a common Germanic word for cat, perhaps ultimately imitative of a sound made to get its attention. While the term for…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Hiyu
HIYU [hi-YU’] or [hy-IU’] — adjective, noun. Meaning: Much; many; lots of; plenty; enough (to go around), abundance. Origin: Nuu-chah-nulth, iyahish; Toquaht, aiya Used with reference to quantity and numbers rather than size or degree, the term hiyu is used to describe “many”, “several” or “lots of” something, If one…...
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…...
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