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: 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: Burdash
BURDASH [BUR-dash] or [BAR-dash] — noun. Meaning: Hermaphrodite; intersex; neuter; genderless. Origin: Canadian French berdache > Italian bardassa > entering European languages via Moorish Spain from Arabic bardaj, “slave” > Persian bardah, “prisoner”. In Chinook Wawa, the word burdash was commonly used to refer to accidental or incidental hermaphroditism or…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Alki
ALKI [AHL-kee] (historical) or [al-KAI] (modern) — adverb. Meaning: Eventually; soon; someday; the future; times to come; in a little while Origin: Chinook alkekh The word “alki”, appeared as the slogan on the seal of Washington Territory, and is the current state motto of Washington, and is usually translated as…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Tillikum
TILLIKUM [TIL’-i-kum] or [TIL’-LI-kum] — noun. Meaning: Person; people; relative; relation; kin; friend; ally; associate; folk; tribe; nation; population; Origin: Chinook tilikhum people Commonly spelt “tillicum”, and sometimes pluralized in the english style as ‘tillikums”, the word means means “person” or “people,” and often has the connotation of a…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Tyee
TYEE [ty-EE’ ] or [tahy-EE] — Noun, Adjective. Origin: Nuu-chah-nulth ta-yi “elder”, “brother”, “senior”; allegedly resembles Inuktitut toyom “chief” Meaning: A chief; leader; a superior; a boss; an officer; a master; a gentleman; a foreman; a manager; an important person; superior; best; important Occasionally spelled tyhee in some place names,…...
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: 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…...
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