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…...
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;…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
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…...
