Talk:List of Chinook Jargon place names

Organization

Because of the search parameters of BC Basemap, I've added the NTS topo listings, and when USGS searches are incorporated will do the same for the name of the USGS quads; it occurs to me that lat-long positions are de rigeur, also, as well as locational desciptors like the range, river or region the locality/placename is in...gotta go to bed, though; but at least this is started. Some kind of overall organization is needed, and it may be that in cases like Skookum/Skook all the placenames should be on a separate subpage of this/ or/and on the Skookum page itself..Skookum1 08:03, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Variant words

This section notes words which may be local Chinook adaptions, but are not in regular lexicons:

• Klahkowit - "one who arrived openly" (klah=wide, ko-knock, arrive, wit - from ikt, "one", "person/thing who/that is something"; location is on Thompson River between Lytton and Spences Bridge, may be of Nlaka'pamux origin instead
• Skookoleel - unknown; maybe skook(um)+olallie (big berry)
• Wakeawasis - unknown; "not 'something'" if Chinook, but awasis is not recognized by this editor; could be Chinookan
  • Wakeawasis Creek Lewis County WA stream Vanson Peak Quad 46.449ºN 122.234ºW

Debatables

Halo

• Halo Creek Douglas County OR stream Yoncalla Quad 43.598ºN 123.276ºW
• Halo Creek Lane County OR stream Huckleberry Mountain Quad 43.788ºN 122.260ºW

Halo can be the negative or "nothing", as also "wake"; but it's hard to say how these names were conferred, and/or if English "halo" was intended

Boston

Boston' in WA, OR and BC, and most of ID, is almost invariably of CJ origin for "American"; there are some instances in MT and maybe UT, NV, northern CA where they may be Chinook in origin; those in Alaska are in areas far from the CJ ecumene, but even so one near Fairbanks may have been conferred from CJ usage, depending on who named it and why.Skookum1 05:34, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Till

Till in the Jargon means "tired" or "heavy" (in spirits); there's a Till Bay and a Till Point, and both may be of CJ origin.Skookum1 05:34, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Lum and Lumme

Lum is CJ for "rum" or any kind of spirits (when not whiskey, that is). Lum Creek and Mount Lum on NTS 82G/11 may be derived from this; or not. There's also Lumme Lake on the Naikoon Peninsula on Graham Island in the Charlottes; that may be of Haida origin, but if not Lumme would appear to be a mutation of lummi or lummieh, meaning "old woman" (from fr. la vieille, "widow") (as with, presumably/traditionally, Lummi Island and the Lummi Nation.Skookum1 06:03, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Cole

Cole is CJ for "cold", and implicitly also "winter" (cole illahee - when the ground is cold). The similarity to the English surname Cole makes it difficult to tell when this is CJ or English, so none have been listed unless provenance information is found for the various "Cole" placenames searchable in BC Basemap or in the USGS search; Cole Canyon in Idaho seems likely, "but". ....Skookum1 00:04, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Need research: Klaskanine

• Klaskanine Fish Hatchery Clatsop OR locale unknown Green Mountain 46.089ºN 123.716ºW
• Klaskanine River Clatsop OR stream unknown Olney 46.093ºN 123.775ºW
• Klaskanine Summit Clatsop OR gap 1050 feet Green Mountain 46.047ºN 123.669ºW

Klaska is "they, them, theirs"; the -nine ending I don't recognize; this may be old Chinookan or it may be a Jargon-English hybrid. "There's nine (of them)", e.g.Skookum1 16:47, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Tetachuck Lake, Tetachuck River

I'm uncertain if this is CJ or Carrier; if it's CJ it would be "headwater(s)", although "head" is usualy "latet" instead of "tet(a)". Nearby is Eutsuk Mountain and Eutsuk Lake, which AFAIK are Carrier, so the -chuck ending may not be CJ.

Uchuck Lake, Uchuck Creek

Near Alberni Inlet, might be Nuu-chah-nulth language. No idea what u-prefix would mean if CJ.

Yensischuck Indian Reserve

Near Fraser Lake, BC. As with Tetachuck this may be a Dakelh/Carrier term, and "Yensis-" I don't know what it would mean...Skookum1 (talk) 14:10, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Till Lake/Till Bay

near Summit Lake N of Prince George; this is most likely CJ - "till" means "tired" - but because of the English-word similarity it's hard to say, pending finding somethign about the naming of the lake/bay and why....Skookum1 (talk) 17:31, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Kilippi or Killipi Creek/Glacier

In the Silverthrone area, normally kilapi or other spellings; just to lazy to add it now, it's cleary CJ (upside-down, topsy-turvy meanings prob from steep descent of glacier/creek, or could be from "turn back" from someone coming up the river below deciding to not continue).Skookum1 (talk) 17:31, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Tatoosh Island, Washington

According to various sources the island's name comes from a Makah chief who was known to Europeans by various names such as Tatoosh, Tatooche, Tetacus, Tutuzi, etc. I'm not sure what his Makah name was, but perhaps it sounded close enough to the Chinook Jargon word that it ended up spelled that way. Pfly (talk) 03:26, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

It may have been his name in Chinook, don't forget; and Makah/Nuu-cha-nulth is one of the two main root-languages of CJ "as we know it"; tatoosh may be Nootkan in origin, in other words, and may have been part ofa chiefly name ("breasts" and "milk" being typically associated with wealth and prosperity - as well as femininity of course; Tatoosh Island's shape suggests that its corerspondence with the CJ word/meaning had more to do with it staying on the map than an assocaition with a Makah chief; they get told, say, "Tutuzi" and hear "Tat6oosh". So it is and it isn't, at the same time; but again, the releevant chief's name may simply have been Chief Tatoosh but his ceremonial/proper Makah name was something else entirely. Only the fly on the wall (or the rainswept cliffside, as the case happens to be) knows for sure.Skookum1 (talk) 04:03, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

There are so many places taht were named for the mammary organs it's silly how many there are; and the prurient have sometimes insisted on cleaning 'em up - "Sheba's Teats" was the long-time name of Mount Sheba in the Bridge River Country. And any francophone finds the name of Grand Teton National Park very amusing especially in French Parc national de Grand Teton - "National Big Boob Park" or "National Park of the Big Tit", with something of the taint of connotation difference between the North American and British meanings of "fanny"`, though not quite so obscene. The Lions in Vancouver were also named similarly until given a more PG name....Skookum1 (talk) 04:07, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

Mimulus

I think it's likely that the two "Mimulus" names in Garibaldi Park were named after the botanical genus Mimulus, rather than a Chinook Jargon word. Some common plants (known as "monkey-flower" in English) in the park belonged to that genus before it was restructured in 2012. Paul Clapham (talk) 01:03, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

Schools and shopping centres

I just linked Chinook Park, Calgary, and as you'll see on Chinook there's a shopping centre of the same name; there's also the Chahko Mika Mall or Chahko Mika Shopping Centre in Nelson BC, and the Tillicum Mall shopping centre in Victoria (which has become the neighbourhood-name in that area, which is on the south side of the head of The Gorge (Victoria); I've stuck with gazetted placenames so far only but I can see there's an argument for including commercial names if schools names etc are on here....speaking of which I redlinked the schools, did the best I could without knowing more; there might be articles on some of these already, but with different titles; the King C or how, if it was one only it would appear on three different USGS quads; they appear to be three different schools, not sure why that would happen in the same school district. The unincorporated area in Calgary now is I thi8nk part of the city of Calgary.Skookum1 (talk) 14:34, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Scappoose, Oregon

I live in Scappoose, Oregon, and I have been told that Scappoose is the Chinook word for "gravelly plain". Actually, people say its the "indian" word, but I thought they must have meant Chinook. Maybe its a different language. --ErinHowarth (talk) 15:55, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Not a Chinook Jargon word, but certainly possible of that meaning in the Chinookan language, which I don't know any lexicon for. You could try writing the language office at the Grand Ronde Agency about it, given the town's location it pretty well must be in one of the Chinookan languages (Cathlamet, Clatsop, etc...).Skookum1 (talk) 16:00, 18 March 2009 (UTC)