Alphabetical Vocabularies of the Clallum and Lummi

Alphabetical Vocabularies of the
Clallum
by George Gibbs

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Title: Alphabetical Vocabularies of the Clallum and Lummi
Author: George Gibbs
Release Date: August 3, 2007 [EBook #22228]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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ALPHABETICAL VOCABULARIES ***

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SHEA'S
LIBRARY OF AMERICAN LINGUISTICS.
XI.
AMS PRESS, INC. NEW YORK

ALPHABETICAL VOCABULARIES
OF THE
CLALLAM AND LUMMI.
BY
GEORGE GIBBS.

PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE SMITHSONIAN
INSTITUTION.

NEW YORK: CRAMOISY PRESS. 1863.

Transcriber's Note: Obvious printer errors have been corrected. All
other inconsistencies are as in the original. The following less common
diacritical marks have been transcribed as follows:
[=a] a with macron [=e] e with macron [=o] o with macron [=u] u with
macron
[)a] a with breve [)e] e with breve [)u] u with breve
[oe] oe ligature

^ is used to indicate 'superscript'
A table of contents, though not present in the original, has been
provided below:
Preface
Vocabulary of the Clallam A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P,
Q, R, S, T, U, W, Y.
Local Nomenclature of the Clallam Tribe
Vocabulary of the Lummi A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P,
R, S, T, U, W, Y.
Local Nomenclature of the Lummi Tribe
Names of Lummi Chiefs

PREFACE.
The tribe of Clallams, as they are usually called by the residents of
Washington Territory--by the neighboring Indians named S'klal´am,
and denominated by themselves N[=u]s-klái y[=u]m--inhabit the
southern shore of Fuca Strait, from about the Ok[)e]ho River on the
west, to Port Townshend on the east, bordering in the first direction on
the Makahs, sometimes called Classets (the Klaizzart of Jewitt), a tribe
of the Nootka family who inhabit Cape Flattery, and in the other on the
Chemakum, like themselves a branch of the Selish, though a yet more
remote one. Their language is the same, with some dialectic differences
only, as that of the Songhus and Sokes of Vancouver Island opposite. It
is this which has been referred to by Drs. Scouler and Latham as the
"Nusdalum," undoubtedly, in the first instance, a misprint.
The Clallam differs materially from the other Selish languages of the
Puget Sound country, though less from the Lummi than the rest. Its
noticeable feature is the frequent occurrence of the nasal ng.

The Lummi tribe live on the lower part of a river heading in the
Cascade Range, north-east of Mount Baker, and emptying by two
mouths, one into Bellingham Bay, the other into the Gulf of Georgia,
the upper waters of which are inhabited by the Nook-sahks
(N[=u]k-sák). They are, however, intruders here, their former country
having been a part of the group of islands between the continent and
Vancouver Island, to which they still occasionally resort. Their own
name is N[=u]kh´lum-mi. The Skagits call them N[=u]kh-lésh, and
some of the other tribes Há-lum-mi. Their dialectic affinities are rather
with the Sannitch of the south-eastern end of Vancouver Island than
with any of the Indians of the main land, and the two probably at one
period formed a single tribe, which more remotely was connected with
the Clallams and Songhus. The Simiahmoo (Si-mi-á-mu), a small
remnant, living on the bay of that name, north of them, belong likewise
to this group. On the south the Lummi adjoin the Samish and other
bands of the Skagits, who in language approach the Nisquallies.
Like the Clallam, their language abounds with the nasal ng, both as a
prefix and a termination. It has another peculiarity, in great measure its
own, in the broad sound of the letter a, somewhat as in the words mass,
pass, but even more prolonged. I have distinguished this in the
vocabulary by the italic. The letters f, r, v, z, are wanting in both
languages.
The Clallam and Lummi, as will be observed, contain three classes of
cardinals, which I have distinguished as simple, personal, and of
valuation, although these terms are not strictly accurate; certain objects,
besides men, being counted by the second, and others, as well as
money, by the third; I have never fully ascertained the distinctions
which govern their use. The words animate and inanimate do not apply;
those of noble and ignoble, by which the French Missionaries
designated the names of objects in the Algonquin