#halkomelem

[0ncorhynchus-k1ssez]

Fish Studies (stickers coming soon)

here are some Halq’emeylem words for you to learn alongside me as I prepare for my Halq’emeylem language class

Chum Salmon- kw'ó:lexw (kwa-lahck)

Sturgeon- skwó:wech (skwa-wehtch)

Salmon vertebrae- x̱ekw'óles (heh-kwales)

Gills- xá:y (zh-aye)

[lukas-andalus]

English Words from American Languages

In linguistics terms, the sounds we put together to create a word are arbitrary (unless they are an onomatopoeia!)—they carry no inherent meaning in and of themselves. But we give meaning to a particular set of sounds that becomes a word. These words we create have historical and cultural contexts--they are filled with meaning. If we listen, the words we use tell us of connections to peoples, stories, and cultures beyond our own individual context.

For example, the words in Spanish tell stories of peoples from many lands and cultures that have contributed to the story of Spanish. The thousands of Arabic words in the language remind us of when Spain was just as much a Muslim land as it was a Christian one. The many words from Nahuatl, Quechua, and other American languages tell stories about what happened when Spanish reached the Americas. These words remind their users of intertwined cultures and peoples. They speak of interactions, exchanges, of shared and liminal space between two ‘others’, leaving a lasting imprint of contact.

  When we observe the scores of indigenous American words that have contributed to the English language, we must ask ourselves: what stories do they tell us?

The following is a brief list of just a few American words that have enriched English: 

Sasquatch: Halkomelem (a Salish language from the Pacific Northwest)

Geoduck: Lushootseed (a Salish language from the Pacific Northwest; spoken in the greater Puget Sound area) *For those you don’t know what this is, it’s a large clam native to the Pacific Northwest. It’s pronounced GOOEY DUCK.

Squash: Narraganset (an Algonquian language spoken in today’s Rhode Island)

Persimmon: Powhatan (an extinct Algonquian language spoken in Virginia)

Moose: either Abenaki or Narraganset (both are Algonquian languages from New England)

Chipmunk: Ojibwe (an Algonquian language spoken in North/Central US and also in Canada)

Raccoon: Powhatan (an extinct Algonquian language spoken in Virginia)

Skunk: either Abenaki or Massachusett (both are Algonquian languages from New England) The word’s original meaning seems to have meant something along the lines of ‘urinating fox’. Good description.

 (BTW, I just learned that pet skunks are a thing: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/is-that-skunk-do-skunks-make-good-pets/4569/)

Caribou: Mi’kmaq (an Algonquian language)

By Nikater; adapted to English by Hydrargyrum - Wikimedia Commons - Image:Wohngebiet_Südneuengland.png, as of 5 July 2006, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5276243

Kayak: Inuktitut (an Eskimo-Aleut language)

Bayou: Choctaw (Muskogean language spoken in Louisiana and elsewhere in the South)

Coyote: Nahuatl (Uto-Aztecan language from Mexico; see my previous blog post)

Tomato: Nahuatl (Uto-Aztecan language from Mexico; see my previous blog post) The root meaning has to do with ‘swelling’ and also provides Nahuatl the word for fat: tomahuac.

 Jerky: Quechua (Quechuan language spoken in Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and elsewhere in South America)

Just wanted to bring this blog post full circle back to Sasquatch :)

[ubcic]

Ł'qalts - #Moon. S'ólh Téméxw. #Halkomelem ʔeldzi - Moon. Lheidli T'enneh (at Burnaby, British Columbia)