ITLWILLIE [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 < ikee’utan ‘horse’, though some sources claim it is of Mamachatpam (Yakima) origin. There are several words for horses used in Chinook Wawa, though kiuatan seems to have been used more in southern regions…...
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; someday; in the future; times to come; presently; directly; later; in a little while; after a while; shortly; will; shall; Origin: Chinook alkekh > From a Chinookan particle álqi ‘will be’, ‘later on’ The word “alki”, appeared as the slogan…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Tillikum
TILLIKUM [TIL’-i-kum] or [TIL’-LI-kum] — noun. Meaning: Person; people; relative; relation; family; kin; kindred; ally; fellow; associate; folk; tribe; nation; population; Origin: From Chinookan stems -lkh ‘ground, earth’ + t- ‘plural’ > Chinook tilikhum ‘people’ Commonly spelled “tillicum”, and sometimes pluralized in the English style as ‘tillikums”, the word…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Tyee
TYEE [ty-EE’ ] or [tahy-EE] — Noun, Adjective. Origin: From Nootka Jargon tayi(s) < Nuu-chah-nulth tayi “elder”, “oldest son”, “older brother”, “senior”; allegedly resembles Inuktitut toyom “chief” Meaning: boss; chief; foreman; gentleman; governor; an important person; landlord; leader; magistrate; manager; master; officer; a superior; any thing of superior order Occasionally…...
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 the second syllable) was a French loanword used to mean pig…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Delate
DELATE [de-LATEY’] or [de-LEYT’] — adjective, adverb. Meaning: accurate; authentic; certain; correct; correctly; direct; exact; definite; definitley; genuine; just; straight; plain; precise; real; really; sincere; sincerely; sure; thorough; true; truely; upright; undoubted; verily; very; without equivocation; without hesitation. Origin: Either a corruption of English, straight; or Norman French drette >…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Hyak
HYAK [HY’-ak] — adverb. Meaning: Swift; fast; quick; quickly; speed; speedy; hurry; hasten; make haste; instantly; prompt; sudden; suddenly; rapid; rapidity of motion. Origin: Chinook ai-ak, from a Chinookan particle áyaq ‘can; quick, quickly’ Used to denote speed or urgency, as seen in “hyak kilapi” (return quickly; hurry back), “mamook…...
Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Chuck
CHUCK [chuhk] or [tsukw] — noun. Meaning: water; liquid; river; stream Origin: Nootka Jargon chaak ‘water’ < Nuu-chah-nulth cha’uk ‘water’. Also from a Chinookan noun tlchuqw ‘water’ > Chinook, tltsuk; Clatsop, tl’chukw, freshwater. Evidently, a case of accidentally converging form/meaning. The word ‘chuck’ is extremely widespread in Chinook Wawa. While…...
