The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon, or, Trade
Language of Oregon, by George Gibbs

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Title: Dictionary of the Chinook Jargon, or, Trade Language of Oregon

Author: George Gibbs

Release Date: April 20, 2005 [EBook #15672]

Language: English and Chinook

Character set encoding: ASCII

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SHEA'S

LIBRARY OF AMERICAN LINGUISTICS.

XII.

DICTIONARY

OF THE

CHINOOK JARGON,

OR,

TRADE LANGUAGE OF OREGON.

BY GEORGE GIBBS.

NEW YORK:

CRAMOISY PRESS.

1863.

PREFACE.

Some years ago the Smithsonian Institution printed a small vocabulary of
the Chinook Jargon, furnished by Dr. B.R. Mitchell, of the U.S. Navy, and
prepared, as we afterwards learned, by Mr. Lionnet, a Catholic priest, for
his own use while studying the language at Chinook Point. It was submitted
by the Institution, for revision and preparation for the press, to the
late Professor W.W. Turner. Although it received the critical examination
of that distinguished philologist, and was of use in directing attention
to the language, it was deficient in the number of words in use, contained
many which did not properly belong to the Jargon, and did not give the
sources from which the words were derived.

Mr. Hale had previously given a vocabulary and account of this Jargon in
his "Ethnography of the United States Exploring Expedition," which was
noticed by Mr. Gallatin in the Transactions of the American Ethnological
Society, vol. ii. He, however, fell into some errors in his derivation of
the words, chiefly from ignoring the Chihalis element of the Jargon, and
the number of words given by him amounted only to about two hun