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• cayuse •

Pronunciation: kai-yus • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. An American Indian tribe of Oregon and Washington state, a member of that tribe, or the language they speak. 2. A small native Indian horse ridden by American cowboys.

Notes: Although today's Good Word is seldom used in speech, you may run into it in novels or songs about the Old West of yesteryear. Since it comes from a very foreign language (see Word History), it has not developed any family at all.

In Play: I was listening that old Cole Porter song, "Don't Fence me in", when I heard this seldom used word that was strangely familiar to me. It contains a verse that goes:
Just turn me loose,
Let me straddle my old saddle
Underneath the western skies.
On my cayuse, let me wander over yonder
Till I see the mountains rise.

Word History: Today's Good Word is a shortening and commonization of the noun phrase Cayuse pony. The word itself comes from the Cayuse language, a Columbian Salish language of the Pacific Northwest: qayus "horse". It might be a borrowing from Spanish caballos [kabayos] "horses", since the cayuse was a descendant of the original horses that the early Spanish explorers introduced to the Americas. Americans are fond of using beautiful Amerindian words for naming things, such as Susquehanna, sequoia, Allegheny, Savannah, Chautauqua—to barely scratch the surface.

Yes, I live in Omaha, a cousin of the Lakota,
and Nebraska means land of the flat water in the
Omaha (U-mah-ha) tongue. Omaha means upriver people. We have dozens
of counties with Native names.

I volunteer at the local radio station here at the mouth of the mighty Columbia. There are a LOT of native american names on towns, rivers, streets, etc. It's always fun listening to a new to the area on-air personality trying with some of them.

Neahkahnie Wahkiakum Willapa Clatskanie Chinook are among the most frequently tortured tongue benders.

I moved here from New England. Lots of good ones there, too, both native american, and those brought from jolly old england.

Faulkner added some to the already rich Mississippi vocabulary. Louisiana has many. My home parish is Ouachita (Wash-i-taw). And of course Mexico has all those impossible Mayan, Aztec, and related names.

Clarification please?

WASH ee tah

wash EE tah

wash eye tah

??

oops
long "i" variants, accent on first or second syllable?

(somehow they dropped out when I sent it)

WASH-i-taw, short i as in pit. The Ouachita was the tribal name, also in AR, where you can find Ouachita Baptist College.

thanks for the pronuniciation. Am always interested in how to pronounce, and guesses as to meaning.
If it is the name of a tribe or group, often means "the people" in one form or another in the original language. Of course that doesn't apply to Hopi.
Any idea on Ouashita?

What is Hopi, Debbie?

When I was there, the answer I was given was that anyone could be "hopi" or "Hopi", because it meant to be an upstanding person, one who would always try to do the right thing for others and the world as well as themselves.
The long answer is found on the site set up by the Hopi Foundation,
http://www.hopifoundation.org/the-hopi-way/values

Thanks, good site too!.

Even here in the New York City area we have them. Right here in Westchester County, where I live, we have the towns of Mamaroneck, Ossining (formerly "Sing Sing"!), and Tuckahoe, and hamlets like Waccabuc, Katonah, and Chappaqua. Long Island, home of the planned suburb, is full of them. And right in the heart of The City, which even "outer-borough" residents call "The City," is Manhattan, an Indian name.

WASH-i-taw, short i as in pit. The Ouachita was the tribal name, also in AR, where you can find Ouachita Baptist College.

The 'ou' spelling for the 'w' sound suggests French influence. As in Ouagadougou (pronounced 'Wagadugu'), the capital of Burkina Faso, Africa.

When I was there, the answer I was given was that anyone could be "hopi" or "Hopi", because it meant to be an upstanding person, one who would always try to do the right thing for others and the world as well as themselves. ...

In other words, a real Mensch!

stargazer, RIGHT!