YOUR CHINOOK WAWA WORD OF THE DAY: MESACHIE

MESACHIE

[me-SA'-chi] — adjective

Meaning: Bad; bitter; cruel; depravity; dissolute; dung; evil; filthy; grumpy; harm; immodest; immoral; iniquity;  insolence; malign; naughty; nasty; obscene; sin; sinner; treacherous; ungodly; unrighteous; unruly; unworthy; vice; vile; wicked. 

Origin: Chinook, masáchi “Bad”; “wicked” < Chinook masachi "evil","nasty","malign" (Chinookan languages of Washington and Oregon)

"Mesachie" (occasionally written as “mesahchie”, mesatchee”, or “masachi”) is used in Chinook to indicate anything worse than "Cultas" (bad). While there are other words in Chinook Jargon to describe spirits or malign forces and states of being, “mesachie” has only a negative meaning, representing something  bad, vile, vicious in the sense of vileness, filth, dirtiness, vice, rottenness, etc., whether in the abstract or in the concrete. It is probably more often used to describe things as being obscene or depraved than in any other sense, though it covers the whole catalogue of things or conditions that are "worse than the worst," "rotten to the core," and all like ideas where the term "bad" does not reach far enough. It also means dangerous or "danger-from" vile things. The words used before or after it qualify its meaning, or couple the vile meaning with the ordinary meaning of any other word.

It has sometimes been translated as "naughty" or "mischievous" when used to describe a child,  but this does not seem to embrace the malice and innate evil implicit in the context of this term, and appears to be used hyperbole (i.e. "evil child" as a scold). Generally it is a word understood to mean "the limit of human depravity" from all angles, and can be used to mean anything from simple “mesachie mamook” (misconduct) to a “mesachie tumtum” (mean spirited, malice) effort to “mamook mesachie” (to harm, to spoil) something. 

A “mesachie klootchman” (harlot) may “haul kopa mesachie” (tempt) or “mahsh mesachie kunamokst” (adulterate), while a “mesachie man” (transgressor) could also be a “delate mesachie man” (a very wicked man), who might be a “mesachie tillikum” (enemy, rascal, sinner, villain) or a “hyas mesachie tillikum” (outlaw).

If one were to “wawa mesachie” (to curse, swear) or “mesachie wawa” (curse, slander), that might be considered one type of severity, though a “mesachie wind” (gale, storm, bad weather) could be considerably "elip mesachie” (worse), though there are things that would be classified as something "elip mesachie kopa konaway" (worse than all, worst), such as “mesachie tamahnous” (demon, fiend, witchcraft, necromancy).

Characters in a horror film will undoubtedly find themselves in "mesachie mitlite" (danger, peril, the place where bad is) in a place that is likely “hiyu mesachie mitlite” (unclean), and in a state of mind that is best described as “hyas mesachie” (horrible, horrid) or “delate hyas mesachie” (terrible, terror).

“Mesachie”, like many words in Chinook Wawa, has lent itself to many place names in Cascadia, including:

Mesachie Lake is an unincorporated community in the Cowichan Valley region of Vancouver Island, located 5 km (3.1 miles)  west of the village of Lake Cowichan. Founded in 1942 by the Hillcrest Lumber Company, which built houses for its workers and their families, the community lies between the south shore of Cowichan Lake to the west, and Mesachie Lake to the east. The lumber company planted many non-native fruit and shade trees which have since been given heritage status.

Mesachie Nose is a glacial formation point in British Columbia southeast of Labouchere Point with an elevation of 31 meters (101.7 feet) that plunges straight down into the water. The water here is frequently whipped into steep chop by the wind, and when a south-western wind is blowing, the Nose is apparently a bad place to be, as an unpleasant backwash can form off its precipitous cliff.

Mesahchie Peak, located 0.25 mi 0.40 km (0.25 miles) east of Katsuk Peak at an elevation of 2,681 meters (8,795 feet), is the highest peak of Ragged Ridge, and is one of the hundred highest mountains of Washington. The pass resides in a neighborhood of rich alpine splendor, and it is the north side of the mountain which provides the most inspiring climbing. There is a North Ridge, a Northwest Ridge, and icefall on the Mesahchie Glacier and an icy couloir route which joins the East Ridge. The easiest route is the South Rib, which requires exposed class 3 climbing and some route finding skill. Both the Katsuk and Mesahchie Glaciers descended down the northwest and northeast flanks of the peak respectively.

Mesatchee Creek is a stream located near Chinook Pass, off Highway 410, east of Mount Rainier National Park. At an elevation of 694 metres (2276.9 feet) above sea level, Mesatchee Creek has cut a rather substantial canyon as it flows down the side of the well-sculpted glacial valley, creating several waterfalls along its journey. This is the final major drop, where the creek skips down a jagged face and into a rather desolate ravine. The forest opens up quite nicely around the falls and in addition to the falls, views out over the valley with Mount Rainier looming in the background are well worth the hike.

YOUR CHINOOK WAWA WORD OF THE DAY: KWASS

KWASS

[kwas] — Adjective, noun.

Meaning: Afraid, Awe; Distrust; Dread; Fear; Fearful; Shy; Tame; Timid

Origin: From a Chinookan particle k’wash ‘afraid’

Expressing notions of fear and hesitancy, the word “kwass” lends itself to an adequate description of a “kwass kalakala” (pigeon).

Scary movies are designed to “mamook kwass” (scare, frighten, alarm), and experience “hyas kwass” (horror) in order to “chako kwass” (frighten) us, or at least make us “kwass pe shake” (shudder).

A “kwass man” (coward) would be considered  “kwass tumtum” (cowardly; fearful), and would likely say "nika kwass" (I am afraid). But if one was “halo kwass” (fearless, bold, hopeful) and “halo nika kwass kopa yaka” (reliable), they would be expected to say “halo nika kwass” (I will risk it).

YOUR CHINOOK WAWA WORD OF THE DAY: TAMAHNOUS

TAMAHNOUS

 [ta-MAH'-no-us] or [tam-án-a-was] or [tamá-nawas] or [tah-MAH'-na-wis] — noun, verb, adjective

Meaning: Spirit; Guardian spirit; Personal Spirit; Ghost; Goblin; Witch; Magic; Luck; Fortune; Slight of hand; One's particular forte, specialty, or strength

Origin: Several possible, perhaps convergent etymologies:

Chinook, itamánawas 'guardian or familiar spirit; magic, luck, fortune; anything supernatural' >i-ta-mánwash (spirit creature) 

Sahaptin tamánwit ‘law, government’, esp. that of Nature as spelled out by Coyote, the mythological emissary of the creator and law-giver, who was known as tamanwilá > tamánwi ‘create, ordain’ 

Nimipuutímt tamálwi ‘lead, plan, legislate’

A word with multiple spellings and slight pronunciation variation, including, but not limited to: tomahnous, tamanass, tahmahnawis, tamánawas, tamanawass, and tamanawaz [This document will use the slightly more common ‘tamahnous’ for sake of clarity] to describe some form of spiritual or supernatural power. It is a concept similar in many ways to that of wakd or mahopa of the Oceti Sakowin; manitowi of the Algonquin; pokunt of the Shoshone; orenna or karenna of the Mohawk, Cayuga, and Oneida; urente of the Tuscarora; the iarenda or orenda by the Huron; kami of the Japanese; kamuy of the Ainu; fylgja or hamingja of the Norse; and mana of the Melanesian and Polynesian cultures.

One’s “tamahnous” can be their guardian spirit, who gives them their strength, or can be an evil spirit out to steal  one’s soul. The word is used as a noun, a verb or as an adjective according to whether it means a spirit is invoking the supernatural, or is ascribing magic powers either to men or to some object used as a charm. 

An invective level one step higher than “mesachie”, when used to mean "bad". “Mesachie tamahnous” (demon, fiend, witchcraft, necromancy) was a title usually assigned to an evil spirit of some kind, as seen in the expression "klale tamahnous" (black magic, the Devil).

A sudden or unseasonal storm might be referred to as a “tamahnous wind” (preternaturally big wind, very bad storm), while a particularly vile imperialist might be referred to as “tamahnous whiteman” (damned whiteman; devilish whiteman)

However, “tamahnous” also has a general (and potentially benign) meaning associated with magic or the supernatural that need not convey evil or malice, whereas “mesachie” has no such supernatural context and is always evil or malicious. People were often aided or helped by a “kloshe tamahnous” (good spirit). Traditional healers would “mamook tamahnous” (conjure, make magic) to cure many ills, and the title “tamahnous man” (sorcerer, wizard, conjurer) would be applied to an indigonus doctor or ‘medicine man’.

The book Ten Years in Oregon (Daniel Lee & Joseph H. Frost, 1844) features two references to the word:

It is firmly believed that [medicine-men] can send a bad “tam-an-a-was” into a person, and make him die.

[...] there were but two men in the whole clan that had the Elk “tamanawas,” that is, the spirit of the elk hunter.

There also exists a Chinookan word that made its way into Chinook Wawa, “tah” (a spirit;  supernatural thing or person), which together with “tamahnous” appear in The Forgotten Tribes: Oral Tales Of The Teninos And Adjacent Mid-Columbia River Indian Nations (Donald.M. Hines, 1991). An excerpt, collected April 1921 from an unknown informant, sheds some possible light onto the concept of “tamahnous” as a personal spirit power:

A band of Umatilla hunters were in camp. A great eagle was soaring, circled and soared overhead, far up in the skies. An aged Tahmahnawis man was challenged to bring down the eagle with his Tah.

He said: “I can do that.” The old hunter “shot” his Ta hmahnawis at the bird, but to no purpose. The eagle continued soaring.

It was then that a younger man said: “You are too old. You cannot kill the eagle with your Tahmahnawis power. I will now kill the eagle with my power.”

Suiting action to his words, the young man “shot” his tahmahnawis at the eagle which immediately came tumbling down through the air, falling dead neart the camp. The aged Indian made no comment. He had been beaten by his younger companion.

Early observers usually referred to these spirit powers by the Chinook Jargon term tamahnous, as in “tamahnous dancing” or “tamahnous spirit”. In the rather biased document Ten Years Of Missionary Work Among The Indians at Skokomish, Washington Territory (Myron Eells 1886), “tamahnous” is described at great length, stating:

Another great difficulty in the way of their accepting Christianity is their religion. The practical part of it goes by the name of ta-mah-no-us, a Chinook word, and yet so much more expressive than any single English word, or even phrase, that it has almost become Anglicized. Like the Wakan of the Dakotas, it signifies the supernatural in a very broad sense. There are three kinds of it.

Black Tamahnous Rattle.

First. The Black Tamahnous. This is a secret society. During the performance of the ceremonies connected with it, all the members black their faces more or less, and go through a number of rites more savage than any thing else they do. They do not tell the meaning of these, but they consist of starving, washing, cutting themselves, violent dancing, and the like.

Bird Mask Used in the Black Tamahnous Ceremonies by the Clallams.

It was introduced among the Twanas from the Clallams, who practiced it with much more savage rites than the former tribe. It is still more thoroughly practiced by the Makahs of Cape Flattery, who join the Clallams on the west. It was never as popular among the Twanas as among some other Indians, and is now practically dead among them. It still retains its hold among a portion of the Clallams, being practised at their greatest gatherings. It is believed that it was intended to be purifical, sacrificial, propitiatory.

Swine Masks Used in the Black Tamahnous Ceremonies by the Clallams.

Second. The Red, or Sing, Tamahnous. During the performance of its ceremonies, they generally painted their faces red. It was their main ceremonial religion. During the fall and winter they assembled, had feasts, and performed these rites, danced and sang their sacred songs; it might be for one night, or it might be for a week or so. Sometimes this was done for the sake of purifying the soul from sin. Sometimes in a vision a person professed to have seen the spirits of living friends in the world of departed spirits, which was a sure sign that they would die in a year or two, unless those spirits could be brought back to this world. So they gathered together and with singing, feasting, and many ceremonies, went in spirit to the other world and brought these spirits back.

Mask Used in the Black Tamahnous Ceremonies by the Clallams.

[The markings are of different colors. The wearer sees through the nostrils.]

This spirit-world is somewhere below, within the earth. When they are ready to descend, with much ceremony a little of the earth is broken, to open the way, as it were, for the descent. Having traveled some distance below, they come to a stream which must be crossed on a plank. Two planks are put up with one end on the ground and the other on a beam in the house, about ten feet above the ground, in a slanting direction, one on one side of the beam, and the other on the other side, so that they can go up on one side and down on the other. To do this is the outward form of crossing the spirit-river.

If it is done successfully, all is well, and they proceed on their journey. If, however, a person should actually fall from one of these planks, it is a sure sign that he will die in a year or so. They formerly believed this to be so, but about twelve years ago a man did fall off, and did die within a year, so then they were certain of it. Having come to the place of the departed spirits, they quietly hunt for the spirits of their living friends, and when they find what other spirits possess them, they begin battle and attempt to take them and are generally successful. Only a few men descend to the spirit-world, but during the fight the rest of the people present keep up a very great noise by singing, pounding on sticks and drums, and in similar ways encourage those engaged in battle. Having obtained the spirits which they wish, they wrap them up or pretend to do so, so that they look like a great doll, and bring them back to the world and deliver them to their proper owners, who receive them with great joy and sometimes with tears of gratitude. At other times they go through other ceremonies somewhat different. This form has now mostly ceased among the Twanas, but retains its hold among a large share of the Clallams. The Christian Indians profess wholly to have given it up.

Black Tamahnous Mask.

Third. The Tamahnous for the sick. When a person is very sick, they think that the spirit of some bad animal, as the crow, bluejay, wolf, bear, or similar treacherous creature, has entered the individual and is eating away the life. This has been sent by a bad medicine-man, and it is the business of the good medicine-man to draw this out, and he professes to do it with his incantations. With a few friends who sing and pound on sticks, he works over the patient in various ways.

This is the most difficult belief for the Indian to abandon, for, while there is a religious idea in it, there is also much of superstition connected with it. As the Indian Agent at Klamath, Oregon, once wrote: “It requires some thing more  than a mere resolution of the will to overcome it.” “I do not believe in it now,” said a Spokane Indian, “but if I should become very sick, I expect I should want an Indian doctor.” It will take time and education to eradicate this idea. It is the only part of tamahnous, which I think an Indian can hold and be a Christian, because it is held partly as a superstition and not wholly as a religion. Some white, ignorant persons are superstitious and, at the same time, are Christians. The bad spirit which causes the sickness is called a bad tamahnous. Soon after I first came here, we spent several evenings in discussing the qualifications of church membership, the main difference of opinion centering on this subject of tamahnous over the sick. I took the same position then that I do now, and facts seem to agree thereto; for, among the Yakamas, Spokanes, and Dakotas, who have stood as Christians many years through strong trials, have been some who have not wholly abandoned it, it remaining apparently as a superstition and not a religion.

Additional information can be gleaned from the book Life at Puget Sound: with sketches of travel in Washington Territory, British Columbia, Oregon & California (Caroline C. Leighton,1884), which details some cultural practices centered around the concept of “tamahnous”:

AUGUST 2, 1865.

We went this morning to an Indian Tamáhnous (incantation), to drive away the evil spirits from a sick man. He lay on a mat, surrounded by women, who beat on instruments made by stretching deer-skin over a frame, and accompanied the noise thus produced by a monotonous wail. Once in a while it became quite stirring, and the sick man seemed to be improved by it. Then an old man crept in stealthily, on all-fours, and, stealing up to him, put his mouth to the flesh, here and there, apparently sucking out the disease.

APRIL 30, 1866.

In the winter we were told, that, when the spring came fully on, the Indians would have the "Red Tamáhnous," which means "love." A little, gray old woman appeared yesterday morning at our door, with her cheeks all aglow, as if her young blood had returned. Besides the vermilion lavishly displayed on her face, the crease at the parting of her hair was painted the same color. Every article of clothing she had on was bright and new. I looked out, and saw that no Indian had on any thing but red. Even old blind Charley, whom we had never seen in any thing but a black blanket, appeared in a new one of scarlet.

NOVEMBER 20, 1866.

To-day we met on the beach Tleyuk (Spark of Fire), a young Indian with whom we had become acquainted. Instead of the pleasant “ Klahowya” (How do you do?), with which he was accustomed to greet us, he took no notice of us whatever. On coming nearer, we saw hideous streaks of black paint on his face, and on various parts of his body, and inquired what they meant. His English was very meagre; but he gave us to understand, in a few hoarse gutturals, that they meant hostility and danger to any one that interfered with him. We noticed afterwards other Indians, with dark, threatening looks, and daubed with black paint, gathering from different directions. The old light-keeper was launching his boat to cross over to the spit, and we turned to him for an explanation. He warned us to keep away from the Indians, as this was the time of the “Black Tamáhnous,” when they call up all their hostility to the whites. He pointed to some Indian children, who had a white elk-horn, like a dwarf white man, stuck up in the sand to throw stones at. I had noticed for the last few days, when I met them in the narrow paths in the woods, that they stopped straight before me, obliging me to turn aside for them.

These practices invoking, venerating, and practicing “tamahnous” were directly targeted by the Canadian government, as seen in the third section of the 1876 Indian Act, a totalitarian law of repression which declared that:

“Every Indian or other person who engages in or assists in celebrating the Indian festival known as the "Potlatch" or in the Indian dance known as the "Tamanawas" is guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than six nor less than two months in any gaol or other place of confinement; and every Indian or persons who encourages ... an Indian to get up such a festival ... shall be liable to the same Punishment.”

Today the word (and its many spellings) lends itself to a variety of place names and institutes:

Tomahnous Peak, located on the southeast side of the Tatshenshini River, on the divide between Tomahnous Creek and the Tkope River in British Columbia.

Tamanawis Secondary is a public secondary school located in in Surrey, British Columbia.

Tamanawas Falls forms a broad curtain where Cold Spring Creek thunders over a 33.5 meter (110-foot) lava cliff near the eastern base of Mount Hood in Oregon.

Tamanos Mountain is a 2,069.5 meter (6,790-foot) summit located in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington.

The Tamahnous Theatre Workshop Society (later Tamahnous Theatre) in Vancouver, British Columbia was founded in 1971 by John Gray.  It specialized in experimental theatre, particularly collective creation. Following the theatrical principles of Polish director Jerzy Grotowsky, Tamahnous (a Chilcotin work for magic), experimented with form and focused on inner experience realized through visual images. By 1981, Tamahnous had produced 38 plays, 21 of which were original. The first shows were performed in the Vancouver Arts Centre. When Larry Lillo succeeded John Gray in 1974, the company relocated to the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. The company eventually closed in the mid-90s, but the Tamahnous Archives are housed at Simon Fraser University Library in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Salal

SALAL 

[SAL'-AL]  — noun.

Meaning: The salal shrub or its berries.The salal berry; fruit of Gualtheria shallon.

Origin: Chinook klkwushala 'salal berries'.

Sometimes called ‘sallal’ or ‘shallon’, the salal (Gaultheria shallon) is an evergreen shrub, restricted mainly to the Cascadian coastline which possess clustered dark-purple berrylike fruit about the size of the common grape.  Before the coming of Euro-Americans, it was one of the most valued native fruits, and was gathered in large quantities by the coastal First Nations. Both its berries and young leaves are both edible and are efficient appetite suppressants, each with a unique flavor. Salal berries were a significant food resource for the people of the First Nations who would eat them fresh, make a sort of syrup, from them, or dry and press them into tick, brick-like cakes for winter storage. They were also used as a sweetener, and the Haida used them to thicken salmon eggs. The leaves of the plant were also sometimes used to flavor fish soup.

In modern times, salal berries are used locally in jams, preserves, and pies, and are often combined with Oregon-grape because the tartness of the latter is partially masked by the mild sweetness of the salal.

Gaultheria shallon has also been historically used for its medicinal properties; the leaves have an astringent effect, making it an effective anti-inflammatory and anti-cramping herb, and a poultice of the leaf can be used externally to ease discomfort from insect bites and stings. Furthermore, the leaves prepared in a tea or tincture are thought to decrease internal inflammation such as bladder inflammation, stomach or duodenal ulcers, heartburn, indigestion, sinus inflammation, diarrhea, moderate fever, inflamed / irritated throat, and menstrual cramps.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Shot Olallie

Shot Olallie

[shot O-lal'-lie] or [shat U-lal-i] — noun.

Meaning: huckleberry

Origin: English shot “bullet; lead” + Heiltsuk, olallie “salmon berry”; Chinook, ulali, “berry”

The Red Huckleberry (vaccinium parvifolium) is a species native to western North America, where it is common in forests of Cascadia. In the Oregon Coast Range, it is the most common variety, occurring mostly at low to middle elevations in soil enriched by decaying wood and on rotten logs, from sea level up to 1,820-meter (6,000 ft).

The First Nations of Cascadia found the plant and its small, shot-sized fruit very useful; the bright red, acidic berries were used extensively for food throughout the year. Fresh berries were eaten in large quantities, or used for fish bait because of the slight resemblance to salmon eggs. Berries were also dried and often into brick-like cakes for later use. Dried berries were stewed and made into sauces, or mixed with salmon roe and oil to eat at winter feasts.

The bark or leaves of the plant were brewed for a bitter cold remedy, made as tea or smoked.[2] The branches were used as brooms, and the twigs were used to fasten western skunk cabbage leaves into berry baskets.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Seahpo olallie

Seahpo olallie

[se-áh-po O-lal'-lie] or [se-áh-pult U-lal-i] — noun.

Meaning: Raspberry

Origin: French, chapeau  “hat”, “cap” + Heiltsuk, olallie “salmon berry”; Chinook, ulali, “berry”

There are several varieties of raspberry in Cascadia, including the Snow Raspberry (Rubus nivalis), which is native to northwestern North America: British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, and far northern California, and the White Bark Raspberry (Rubus leucodermis), who’s range extends from Alaska to as far south as Mexico.

Cascadia is also home to the Arctic raspberry (Rubus arcticus), a species found in arctic and alpine regions in the Northern Hemisphere from Alaska-Yukon all the way across Eurasia to the Fenno-Scandian peninsula, is sometimes known as the ‘nagoon’ or ‘nagoonberry’, a name which derives from the Tlingit neigóon. 

Raspberries and leaves are rich in iron and they also contain minerals-phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, which help build the blood by carrying iron from stores in the liver, spleen, and bone marrow to needy tissues.

Raspberry leaves can be used fresh or dried in herbal teas, providing an astringent flavor as well as relief from nausea women might experience while pregnant, as well as  assists contractions and checks hemorrhage during labor and delivery.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Amote

AMOTE

[a-MO'-teh] or [a-MU-tee],  occasionally corrupted into [al-mo'-ta] — noun.

Meaning: Strawberry (plant or fruit)

Origin: Chinook amuti; Clatsop tl’amōte, “strawberry”.

Fragaria chiloensis, the ‘beach strawberry’ or ‘coastal strawberry’, is one of two species of wild strawberries that were hybridized to create the modern garden strawberry. The plant’s natural range is the Pacific Ocean coast, from Alaska to California, though migratory birds have dispersed the plant from the Pacific coast of North America to the mountains of Hawaii, Chile, and Argentina.

In addition to serving as a food source, the whole strawberry plant, including leaves and roots, can be used for purposes of cleansing the system, both a blood purifier and blood builder; the wild strawberry is a laxative, diuretic and astringent, and the leaves and berries are rich in iron as well as contain small amounts of magnesium, potassium and sodium.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Olallie

Olallie

[O-lal'-lie] or [U-lal-i] — noun.

Meaning: Berry; berries; fruit

Origin: From a Lower Chinook úlili ‘salmon-berry'; Heiltsuk, olallie “salmon berry”

Originally this word referred only to salmon-berries (Rubus spectabilis), but in Chinook Wawa it grew to mean any sort of "pil olallie" (red berry), along the Salish Sea it became a catch-all for any sort of berry. One can collect “piah olallie" (ripe berries) to both eat and to make into  "olallie chuck" (berry juice). Though introduced by Europeans, grapes would come to be called “wain olallie” (wine berries), and naturally the grapevine was called “wain olallie stick” (wine berry tree). This also leads to two heady archaisms for wine, “wain ti” (wine tea) or “wain olallie yaka chuck” (wine berry’s water).

The unincorporated communities of Olalla, WA, and Olalla, BC are named after local adaptations of this word, as is Ollala Dam and its associated reservoir, Ollala Lake, which are located near Siletz. There is an Ollala Creek in Oregon and British Columbia, as well as an Olallie Creek in Washington.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Klahanie

KLAHANIE

[KLA'-ha-nie], [KLA'-a-ni], or occasionally [klagh-anie'] — adverb

Meaning: Out; outside; outdoors; without; exterior.

Origin: Chinook  tlakhani “out”; “outside”.

‘Klahanie’ (sometimes rendered as ‘klahani’, ‘klahhanie’, or ‘klaghanie’) means ‘outside’, but can be used to describe a variety of actions relating to the external, such as “mamook klahanie okoke” (put that outside), "chako klahanie" (to emerge from; to come out from; to be delivered), and "mahsh klahanie" (to throw out; eject). One mgiht be eager to get "klahanie kopa house" (out of the house) for a bit, or someone might suggest  "klatawa nesika klahanie kopa town" (let us go away from the city) as a prelude to a camping trip. Be careful with your phrasing though. If you’re “klahanie”, you’re ‘outside’, but to “klatawa klahanie” or “go klahanie”, it can mean you’re on your way to a “klahanie house” (restroom; outhouse).

Klahanie is often used in place names for “the great outdoors”; There’s a Klahanie Road on the way to Whistler, BC, a Klahanie Lodge in Port Angeles, Washington, and Klahanie, Washington is planned community between the cities of Sammamish and Issaquah.

Klahanie was also the title of a popular 35 minute-long TV series on the CBC about the wilderness and outdoor activities, while also taking viewers to see some of the flora and fauna of some of the most beautiful and inaccessible parts of the world. Attention was also given to the subject of environmental conservation and protection, as well as to skills required for survival in some of the more rugged realms of nature in the world. Originating in Vancouver, BC and produced by Andy Snider, the longtime popular program aired from 1967-1978, first being hosted by  Bob Fortune [1967-1972] and later by Don White [1972-1978].

Intro to Klahanie (1973)

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Illahee

ILLAHEE

[IL'-la-hie] or occasionally [ilee-ee]  — noun.

Meaning:  Country, land, ground, earth, region, district, soil, dirt, the place where one resides.

Origin: Chinook, ilahekh  ‘land’, ‘earth’ < From a Lower Chinook stem -lkh, preserved intact in the Kathlamet and Upper Chinook forms ilkh 'land'; contracted in Lower Chinook due to the presence of a following accented vowel: thus, ilíi 'land, country'

Sometimes rendered as ‘illahie’, ‘illahe’, or in the case of Grand Ronde Chinook Jargon, ‘ili'i’, the word encompasses concepts like “land”, "earth”, and "country", and lends itself to a number of terms related to these concepts.

A “stick illahee” (forest) differed from a “tupso illahee” (prairie; pasture), while “kloshe illahee” has a similar meaning, but could also be used to mean a garden, a plot of land, a farm, or a ranch. The phrase “saghallie illahie” (mountain; highland) would later take one the additional meaning of  “sacred ground” and even “Heaven” as seen in the Christian neologisms "Saghalie Tyee yaka Illahee" (God, His Country) and "Keekwullie Illahee" (Hell).

A graveyard or cemetery was referred to as a “memaloose illahee”, while explorers would mark "tzum illahee" (surveyed land) on their maps, and one could refer to something as “hyiu illahie kopa” (dirty), or state "okoke illahee yaka hyas kloshe" (this land is very good).

Of course, “illahee” could refer to the land in both a physical and a political senses; someone might ask "kah mika illahee?" (where is your country? where do you come from?), since Illahee could also be used to denote "delate yaka illahee" (one's native land), such as "Boston Illahee" (United States), "Passaiooks Illahee" (France), "King George Illahee" or “Kingchauch Illahee" (England). It is worth noting that, as far as members of the First Nations were concerned, all other white Europeans came from “Dutchman Illahee” or “Dutchman yaka illahee” as they commonly expressed it.

Within Cascadia, “illahee” could also be used to specify specific areas, such as "siwash illahee" (First Nations territory; Reservation), or even more specifically, “Chinook Illahee” would be the term for the Chinook-speaking region or the land of the Chinook people (the lower Columbia)

Of course, one could also go the opposite direction and apply illahee to big-picture concepts, such as "konaway okoke illahee" (the world) and "konaway illahee konaway kah" (the universe).

The word ‘illahee’ and its variations lends itself to a number of names in Cascadia:

The MV Illahee was a Steel Electric Class ferry operated by Washington State Ferries which served on the inter-island route in the San Juan Islands.

The entire Steel Electric class was withdrawn from service on November 20, 2007 due to hull corrosion issues. In the summer of 2009, the Illahee and her sisters were sold to Eco Planet Recycling, Inc. of Chula Vista, California.

In August, 2009 the ferry was towed out of Eagle Harbor and was scrapped in Ensenada, Mexico.

Illahe, Oregon is an unincorporated community located in the Klamath Mountains along the Rogue River about 13 kilometers (8 miles) upriver from Agness, Oregon. The area was home to Takelma people, then to white and Karok settlers, before becoming part of the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest. In the 21st century, it is a stopping place for hikers, boaters, and other visitors. The area has a riverside lodge and a nearby campground, both named Illahe.

Illahee, Washington is an unincorporated community that lays between Bremerton and Silverdale. The Port of Illahee community dock was built around 1916 to serve the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet, and in later years this port was used by the United States Navy to demagnetize ships.

Illahee State Park is an 82-acre (33 ha) Washington state park located in the hamlet of Illahee, just north of eastern Bremerton, on Port Orchard Bay, and is part of the Washington State Park System. The park was established when Kitsap County donated 13 acres to the state in 1934. The park's old-growth stand is home to one of the nation's oldest Pacific yews, which has been standing for approximately 400 years.

The Illahe Vineyards and Winery, located near Salem, Oregon, is an 80-acre vineyard in the Willamette Valley. Committed to dry agriculture and responsible water practices, the winery does not utilize electricity or machinery, and is one of Oregon’s few horse-powered vineyards, utilizing a team of Percheron draft horses to mow and deliver grapes to the winery at harvest.

Other locations include Illahee Meadows, which can be found 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) northeast of Clinton, British Columbia, and Illahee Elementary School is located in Camas, Washington.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Sitkum

SITKUM

[SIT'-kum] —  noun, adjective.

Meaning: Half; half of something; part of something; the middle.

Origin:  From Chinookan; both inflected (noun) and uninflected (particle) n-shitkum ‘I am half’; a-shitkum ‘she is half’; shítkum '(at the upper) half'; Clatsop asitko,

The word sitkum is used to describe either of two equal or corresponding parts into which something is or can be divided. This is best seen in the term for a "sitkum dolla" (half dollar; fifty cents), though it is also be applied to varying degrees of, or corresponding parts into which something is or can be divided, as seen in "elip sitkum" (more than half) and "tenas sitkum" (less than half; quarter; a small part of something)

Perhaps the largest use of the word sitkum was related to seasons, such as “sitkum kopa waum illahee” (midsummer), and times of the say, as seen in "elip sitkum sun" (forenoon), “sitkum sun” (noon; midday), “kimtah sitkum sun" (afternoon) and “sitkum polaklie" (midnight; half a night). It even appears in the locational descriptor “kah sun mitlite kopa sitkum sun" (south).

The word sitkum also lends it name to Sitkum Glacier, located on the west slopes of Glacier Peak, immediately south of Scimitar Glacier in Washington. Sitkum is also the name of an unincorporated community in Coos County, about 43.5 km (27 miles) north of the hamlet of Remote in the Southern Oregon Coast Range near the East Fork Coquille River. 

In 1872, John Alva Harry and his wife Chloe (Cook) Harry set up a roadhouse that they called ‘Sitkum’—later known as the Halfway House— as a stagecoach stop near a point halfway between Roseburg and Coos City on the Coos Bay Wagon Road. The establishment was a combination restaurant, tavern, rooming house, and telegraph station where travelers could stop to eat while horses were changed or spend the night.

James Laird Halfway House in Sitkum, Oregon

In the following years the small citizenry of Sitkum would also build a post office and grade school.

Sitkum Post Office

James, Daniel, and Nancy Belle (Harry) Laird property. Sitkum Post Office located in Laird house.

In 1915, the mail stages switched to a less steep road along the Middle Fork of the Coquille River. This route was favored by more and more traffic, and eventually there was little need for travelers’ accommodations in Sitkum. Even so, the Halfway House at Sitkum would stay in operation until 1964.

Today there is little left of the community, and the Sitkum School was converted into a residence, though the former teacher's house and the gym still exist on the grounds.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Klonas

KLONAS 

[klo'-NASS] — adverb. 

Meaning: Perhaps; probably; doubtful; might; may; maybe so; I do not know; who knows

Origin: Chinook tlunas ‘maybe,’ ‘don’t know’

Klonas (sometimes spelled as klonass) is a word used as an expression of indecision, uncertainty, or doubt in the mind of the speaker, and in many ways equivalent to the Spanish term quién sabe, “who knows?”.

A conditional or suppositive meaning is given to a sentence by the word ‘klonas’, though it should be noted that ‘klonas’ is used differently from ‘spose’ (suppose; if), something which is sometimes confused by novice learners of Chinook Wawa.

An unknown person would simply be identified as “klonas klaksta” (somebody), while finding your hotel room requires looking for a specific “klonas kunsih” (number).

If someone were to ask you if it was going to rain today, you could respond “klonas halo” (probably not) or "klonas nowitka" ( probably so, perhaps so; maybe). If both of something could equally apply to a situation, one could simply say “klonas klonas” (either-or).

Examples:

“Kah mika kahpho?” (Where is your brother?)

“Klonas.” (I don't know; who knows?)

"Klonas yaka chako tomollo." (Perhaps he will come tomorrow)

“Klonas nika klatawa.” (Perhaps I shall go; maybe I’ll go)

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Kull

KULL

[kul]  — adjective.

Meaning: Hard (in substance); solid; hard to do; tough; difficult.

Origin: From a Chinookan particle q’ul ‘strong’; q’ul-q’ul  ‘strong’, ‘hard’, ‘too difficult’.   

A word used to describe making something “hyas kull” (tight; fast), or changing the state of something such as "mamook kull" (to harden; to cause to harden) and "chako kull" (to become hard), as seen in “kull snass" (ice) and “kull tatoosh" (cheese) describing the solidifying state of rain and milk, respectively. Conversely, the expressions ”halo kull” (easy; not difficult) and “wake kull” (soft; tender) could also be used as alternative ways to describe something that is ‘soft’ or ‘not hard’.

It is occasionally seen in expressions like “hyas kull spose mamook” (it is very hard to do so), or describing a substance, like the “kull stick” (oak), which could be used as a byword for any sort of hardwood in Cascadia.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Lemooto

LEMOOTO

[le-MOO'-to] or [lam'-MU-to] — noun.

Meaning: Sheep; mutton.

Origin: French, les moutons, “sheep”

Sometimes spelled as lemoto or limoto, it refers to sheep, and naturally all things related to them, such as “man lemooto” (ram), "klootchman lemooto" (ewe),  “tenas lemooto” (lamb), and "lemooto house" (fold, sheepfold). The word was also used for “mutton”, though if one wanted to specify, they could say “lemooto itlwillie” or “lemooto yaka itlwillie".

The English word “sheep” was also used from time to time, such as in “hiyu sheep” (flock), “sheep yaka tupso lemooto yakso” (wool), and the heavily English “sheep yaka meat” (mutton)

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Tzum

TZUM

[tsŭm] or [chŭm]  — adjective, noun.

Meaning: Color; spot; spotted; stripe; writing; write; written; mark; marked; figures; colors; printing; pictures; paint; painted; ornamental colors; tint; mixed colors; festive colors.

Origin: From a Chinookan particle ts’am 'variegated (in color)', ts’em 'spotted' > Lower Chinook ch'əám, “variegated”

Oncorhynchus keta

Sometimes spelled as ‘chum’, the word is most famously applied to the Chum Salmon (Oncorhynchus keta), found from southern California to Alaska and off the coasts of Japan and Korea, while the term "tzum sammon" is used to refer to the steelhead and any number of spotted trout in the region.

The extremely versatile expression "mamook tzum" can mean anything from ‘to write’, ‘to mark’, ‘to draw’, ‘to paint’, ‘to print’, ‘dye’, ‘copy’, ‘engrave’, and ‘subscribe’.

Someone like a “tzum man” (writer; penman; clerk) would likely use a "tzum stick" (pencil; pen; paintbrush) and "klale chuck kopa mamook tzum" (ink) to create “tzum pepah” (picture; writing; a letter; printed material) or denote "tzum illahee" (surveyed land).

Likewise, a woodsman will “tzum kah” (track) or "tzum kah lepee mitlite" (mark where the foot was) while they, “mamook tzum illahee” (survey) or “mamook tzum iktas” (assess) the area to “mamook kunsih” (enumerate) items in it.

While this word also applies to a “tzum seeowist” (photograph; postage stamp), “tzum pasese” (quilt; bed quilt), or “tzum sail” (calico; printed cloth), it could just as easily have to do with colored stones or availability of ochre or other pigments.

The Sound of the Chinook Jargon language (Numbers, Greetings & Story)

Chinook Wawa (also known as Chinuk Wawa or Chinook Jargon, and sometimes Chinook Lelang) is a nearly extinct pidgin trade language that bordered on being a creole language which served as a true lingua franca of the Cascadia bioregion for several hundred years.

Partly related to, but not the same as, the aboriginal language of the Chinook people, Chinook Wawa actually has its roots in earlier regional trade languages, like Haida Jargon or Nookta Jargon, which itself was a simplified version of Nuu-chah-nulth combined with words and elements of the different Wakashan, Salishan, Athapaskan, and Penutian languages. With the arrival of European explorers, trappers, and traders, many new words were added from French and English, with modifications made in pronunciation, using only those sounds that could be pronounced with ease by all speakers. Grammatical forms were reduced to their simplest expression, and variations in mood and tense conveyed only by adverbs or by the context. With a relatively small lexicon of only a few hundred words, it is not only easy to learn but possible to say almost anything with a little patience and poetic imagination.

During the fur trade in the early 19th century,  Chinook Wawa had more than 100,000 speakers, spreading from the lower Columbia River, first to other areas in modern Oregon and Washington, then British Columbia, and as far as Alaska and the Yukon Territory. It was used as a common trade language between the hundreds of indigenous tribes and nations from the region and was incorporated by early English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and other immigrants, pioneers, and traders who made the area their home, and naturally became the first language in multi-racial households and in multi-ethnic work environments such as canneries, lumberyards, and ranches where it remained the language of the workplace well into the middle of the 20th century.

HOW IS IT PRONOUNCED?

As a trade language, Chinook Wawa is by its very nature meant to be usable by people from many different linguistic backgrounds, so naturally, there is no "correct" pronunciation. An individual's pronunciation of a word was necessarily going to be dependent on that person's own language and dialect, be it English, French, Salish, Nuu-chah-nulth, Chinese, or even Hawaiian.

Furthermore, all published lexicons were created by English speakers influenced by standard English spelling methods (and, as everyone knows, there is no consistency at all in English spelling). Still, the wide variation in spellings for many words can give a clue to their potential variation in pronunciation, or for a pronunciation that falls "in-between" the sounds represented (i.e. hiyu / hyiu / hyo is one example, and tikegh / tikke / ticky is another). Though existent in Chinook Jargon, the consonant /r/ is rare, and English and French loan words, such as ‘rice’ and ‘merci’, have changed in their adoption to the Jargon, to ‘lice’ and ‘mahsie’, respectively.

CHINOOK WAWA TODAY.

As a result of deliberate measures of genocide and cultural suppression in the United States and Canada, aboriginal languages, including Chinook Wawa, were suppressed or outright banned, resulting in a decline of speakers. While Chinook Wawa has fallen from use in the late 20th century, it has lived on in many toponyms throughout Cascadia, within many indigenous languages, and in some regional English usage, to the point where most people are unaware that the word or name is originally from Chinook Wawa.

Chinuk Wawa was classified as extinct until the 2000s when it was revived, notably in 2014 with the release of Chinuk Wawa—As Our Elders Teach Us to Speak It by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon, who have since launched the Chinuk Wawa Immersion Language Program. In 2018 a textbook for Chinook Jargon in Esperanto (La Chinuka Interlingvo Per Esperanto,] The Chinook Bridge-Language Using Esperanto) was published by Sequoia Edwards. In 2019 "Chinuk Wawa" became available as a language option on the fanfiction website Archive of Our Own. With a steadily growing interest in Cascadia and its history, Chinook Wawa is seeing a gradual resurgence.

Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Kalakala

KALAKALA

[KUH-lah-kuh-lah] — 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 an imitation of the notes of a wild goose when flying, hence flying bird. There may be an etymological link between this and the Chinook Wawa word kwalal-kwalal ‘gallop’, in the sense of a horse "flying" at full gallop.

‘Kalakala’, or occasionally, ‘kullakala’ and even ‘kgalakgala’, is the Chinook Wawa word for ‘bird’ which forms the bases for many species of birds, such “tenas kalakala” (sparrow; swallow; lark), “illahee kalakala” (quail), and “kwass kalakala” (pidgeon), as well as things related to birds, such as “kalakala house” (bird’s nest) and “kalakala tupso” (feather; bird down), “kalakala yaka tupso” (quill; the wings of a bird), and “sing kahkwa kalakala” (bird-song; warble).

The term “lapeep kullakala” (pipe bird) was given to a variety of raptors, whose feathers were often used to ornament smoking pipe-stems, and the word forms the base of the Chinook Wawa word “kalakalahma” (goose). It's even used to describe flying animals that aren't birds, such as “polaklie kalakala” (bat). Flies were also sometimes referred to as “tenas kalakala”, though the french loan-word “lemosh” was often used to avoid confusion.

The word also lends its name to the Motor Vessel Kalakala, a car and passenger ferry which plied the waters between Port Angeles and Victoria from 1935 until her retirement in 1967. The first commercial vessel to ever be equipped with radar to help guide it through fog and at night, the MV Kalakala was also notable for her unique streamlined superstructure, art deco styling, and luxurious amenities.

Kalakala mural painted in the town of Port Angeles, Washington.

The vessel was a popular attraction for locals and tourists, and was voted second only to the Space Needle in popularity among visitors to Seattle during the 1962 Seattle World's Fair.

The ferry was even immortalized in the 1951 song “Black Ball Ferry Line" performed by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters.

In 1967, Kalakala was retired from service and moved to the Washington State Ferries repair facility at Eagle Harbour. A year later she was sold to a seafood processing company and towed to Alaska to work as a crab cannery at Ouzinkie, Alaska. Later the Kalakala was beached in Kodiak in 1970 and used to process shrimp.

On January 4, 2015 owner Karl Anderson announced that the Kalakala would be dismantled for scrap metal, and eighteen days later the Kalakala was towed to a Tacoma dry dock and scrapping began immediately. By the first week of February scrapping was completed with only a few pieces such as windows, pilothouse, and the rudder saved and sold as souvenirs.

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 could also apply to deer meat, though if one wanted to be specific they could say "mowitch yaka itlwillie" (venison), and even be used to refer to wild animals in general, such as "huloima mowitch" ( an animal that is strange or different). The expression “hyas mowitch” (big game), on the other hand was sometimes used to refer to an elk, though they were usually called “moolock” or some similar pronunciation.

Mowitch is extremely common word throughout the Plateau and the Coast in use by both natives and non-natives alike, and is found as far southeast as Shoshone territory and up into Alaska, and is so widespread that most other language groups assume the word originated with them.