How do you say “Cathlapotle”? How did the early Chinooks say it, where did it come from and what does it really mean?
The Pacific Northwest landscape is packed full of fascinating Chinook place-name mouthfuls such as Memaloose, Skookum, Ilahee and Tilikum. Henry Zenk, consulting linguist with the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde in Oregon, will visit the Cathlapotle Plankhouse at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge on the afternoon of May 11 to describe what we know about Chinook names, how they were constructed and how they were pronounced by the language’s last fluent speakers.
The title of Zenk’s talk is “Making sense of ‘Cathlapotle’: How Chinookans made (and said) names on the land.”
The event is part of the Cathlapotle Plankhouse’s Second Sunday lecture series, which runs through October and aims to “connect people with the natural and cultural resources of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge,” including the reconstructed Cathlapotle Plankhouse there, organizer Sarah Hill of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.
Until 1830, Hill pointed out, the area was the site of “one of the largest Chinook villages on the lower Columbia River,” so it is brimming with history and culture that too few locals know about these days.
“There are so many different place names and such a cultural legacy around here that the population isn’t aware of,” said Hill, who has been taking Chinook language lessons from Zenk for a few years. Her favorite example: The refuge regularly hosts student field trips from Ilahee Elementary School in Camas. Ilahee means “place,” she said, but students visiting from that place rarely seem to know it.
No shame, Hill said. The area has changed and “a lot of people who moved here or even grew up here just never learned” all those original words and names. That’s why she’s glad to host Zenk and have him spread the word(s).
The Second Sunday series always includes related children’s activities. Also available will be plankhouse tours and information on International Migratory Bird Day, which is generally, loosely the second Saturday in May — but really is all month long, according to its website (www.birdday.org/birdday). That’s for the convenience of the birds, who tend not to keep rigid calendars, as well as the people who watch them. The refuge always links the day to its Second Sunday event.
“The importance of migratory birds fits really well with this talk on Chinook culture and language,” Hill said. There will be displays of hunting technologies and related Chinookan names for both the tools and the birds, she said. There will also be binoculars to see through and bird lists for scavenger hunters.
Events at the refuge will run from noon to 4 p.m. May 11; Zenk’s talk is at 2 p.m. The Cathlapotle Plankhouse on the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge is at 28909 N.W. Main Ave., and there’s a $3 entry fee per vehicle. For more information, call Hill at 360-887-4106 or visit www.fws.gov/ridgefieldrefuges/ridgefield.
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