75: More on Chinook Jargon
Written and published by Linden Alexander Pentecost, originally published on the 11th of September 2025, updates added on the 20th of September 2025. No AI was used in this publication, and is not used in any of my publications. This article was only published on my BookofDunBarra website (the website you are currently on). This article discusses Chinook Jargon, aspects to possible ancient history, etymologies (three are discussed in detail) and other points about possible ancient connections, the name "skukum" and similarities to two Manx words, and "Scania" and others. This article contains 1054 words. Update 20th of September 2025: Note I have also recently published an unrelated PDF-book on a different website to this, titled: More on Britain's linguistic past, and prehistoric, runic, slate and copper mine related and other aspects primarily to Western Britain and connected topics, this pdf-only book is published via clwaideac-na-cuinne in the UK on the 17/09/2025 (This book is also unrelated to the content of the website via which it is published as are all my pdf-only books from the website content)
Chinook Jargon is I think a fascinating language. I have discussed various aspects to it and its etymologies elsewhere in a small way. In official history, Chinook Jargon or Chinuk Wawa is only a few hundred years old, and its similarities to languages in Europe are entirely due to contact between French and English traders with indigenous American peoples of the Northwest Pacific. But, another idea is that Chinuk Wawa is much older, and that it was already used in some way as an inter-tribal language in the Northwest Pacific. This I think is more likely. Whilst some of the “European” roots in Chinuk Wawa are seemingly of more recent origin, the connections with for example, Asian languages* and European languages could be older in my opinion, given that I have already observed a lot of similarities between Northwest Pacific languages and languages elsewhere, indicating a complex system of possibly ancient relationships. I will discuss some of these below. I personally think it likely that ancestral peoples in the northwest Pacific have deep connections to peoples in Africa, elsewhere in the Americas, and also to Europe. Take for example the occurrence of Haplogroup X in both parts of Scotland and among indigenous peoples in parts of the northwest Pacific. I have discussed much of this elsewhere in terms of connections from Salishan and Wakashan, and Tsimshianic languages for example – but particularly with Salishan languages. I have discussed some other Chinook Jargon words in terms of etymology which are not included below. Note that Chinook Jargon or Chinuk Wawa is not the same as the Chinookan languages, which Chinuk Wawa does share strong etymological connections to.
1). ikt or ixt – “one”, apparently of Chinookan origin, and indeed Chinookan languages do possess a similar looking form. This word is also similar to Finnish yksi, Estonian üks and other forms in Uralic, e.g. Northern Sámi okta, all meaning “one”. Similarities, as I have discussed in a lot of detail elsewhere, also exist in Quechuan languages in South America, e.g. Quechua huq or shuq – “one”, Kallawaya uxsi or uksi – “one”, which is nearly identical to the Finnish word, even though Kallawaya is spoken in Bolivia, and Finnish is spoken mainly in Finland, but I have dedicated a lot of work to these subjects in other publications.
2). nayka – “I”, first person singular pronoun. Compare Quechua noka, nuqa, ñuqa, Ancient Egyptian jnk and other forms I have discussed elsewhere. The second person singular pronoun mayka seems to be based upon the sound system of nayka albeit with m- prefixed, which in many indigenous American languages implies the second person.
3). taxam – “six”, compare for example Quechua suqta/soqta – “six”, and Indo-European forms e.g. what might be reconstructed as the Indo European root *sweks-*swexs – “six”, also Uralic and Afro-Asiatic comparisons can be found, some of which I have discussed elsewhere.
Some of my other favourite words in Chinuk Wawa are pchix̣ - green or blue, lilu – “wolf”, siyapuɬ – “cap”, k'anawi – “oak tree” or “acorn”, tsəqw – “water”, təmtsəqw – “waterfall” – literally meaning “beating water”, with the prefix being from the word təmtəm – “heartbeat”, “heart”. I also like the word pish, meaning “fish”, which can be compared to English and French but also to indigenous words for “fish” in some of the northwest Pacific languages. There is also a word I have discussed before, skukumtsəqw which refers to for example powerful tidal streams or to rapids, from the word tsəqw – “water”, prefixed by the word skukum, which has connotations of meaning “powerful” but which can also refer to a powerful, dangerous spirit, something which is in some ways akin to what we might call as Sasquatch.
The word does not necessarily imply these beings are evil – I do not believe they are, but I would be very cautious of them and avoid them all the same. "Skukum" in Chinook Jargon is often described as something similar in a concept to that of the "stallo" in Sámi oral tradition, which I have discussed in detail elsewhere. Interestingly the origin of skukum seems unknown, but Celtic and Germanic languages, and presumbly pre-Celtic and pre-Germanic languages have some words beginning with a *sk- sound which also imply some kind of powerful spirit being or ghost, for example Manx Gaelic scaa or scaan meaning “ghost”. I also wonder if these is a connection here to the word “Scania” and to the word “Scandinavia”, and I wonder if the term Scania relates to some kind of powerful spirit beings. Germanicists have reconstructed this word as originally having an intervocalic dental fricative or a d, this form deriving the the word “Scandinavia”, but I suspect that a form without -d – may have also existed alongside the one with an intervocalic d or dental fricative.
There are many other aspects to this picture, include possible indications of pre-Germanic peoples in Vancouver, and of strong similarities in the totemic systems of the northwest Pacific, and the totem poles, and certain pre-Germanic and pre-Celtic beliefs. Take for example the focus on ravens in both some Norse mythological traditions and northwest Pacific traditions.
I hope this article was an interesting read! Written in honour of Northwest Pacific Indigenous people, and of the nature there, and of my family in the UK.