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: 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…...
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: Itlwillie
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…...
