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The Cascadia SPOKE is a new community publication to promote place based realities and provide a written hub where diverse voices, artists, poets and communities can share topics, issues and news most important to them in a physical format. Our first issue, coming out this winter, features work from more…...
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…...
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,…...
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’…...
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…...
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,…...
