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,…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
