Duwamish Tribe - Names

Names

See also: Lushootseed

In the era since contact with people of European descent, names have changed along with tribal societies.

The present-day name Duwamish is an anglicization of Dxʷ'Dəw?Abš or Dkhʷ'Duw'Absh, "the People of the Inside", or more literally "the People Inside the Bay". This tribal designation also includes the historic "People of the Large Lake" (Xacuabš, Xachua'bsh, hah-choo-AHBSH or hah-chu-AHBSH, People of HAH-choo or Xachu, "People of a Large Lake", "Lake People").

The identical anglicization Duwamish has also come to designate the Duwamish River, which, since its straightening in the early 20th century, has been officially known as the Duwamish Waterway. The People of the Inside called the river, including what is today known as the Cedar River, Dxʷdəw. The names all originate with dəkʷ or dəgʷ from dəw for "inside something relatively small" (in this case Elliott Bay with respect to Puget Sound).

The name Seattle is also of Lushootseed origin. The famous Duwamish leader from whom the city name derives is now best known as Chief Seattle, from si'áb Si'ahl, "high status man Si'ahl". The form Sealth is also used, as in the name of Chief Sealth High School. His gravestone gives his name as a baptized Roman Catholic: Noah Sealth. Another transcription of the name Si'ahl is see-YAHTLH. Lushootseed (Skagit-Nisqually) Coast Salish did not have political chiefs in a European sense, so "chief" is also rather arbitrary. Chief Seattle was prominent in both the Duwamish tribe and the Suquamish tribes(Suquamish is an anglicization of Dkhʷ'Suqw'Absh; this has no English translation beyond "People of Suq'ʷ." Suquamish is also found as, ).

The name Seattle for the city dates from as early as 1853; the naming is attributed to David Swinson 'Doc' Maynard.

The Duwamish language, Southern Lushootseed, belongs to the Salishan family. The tribe is Lushootseed (Whulshootseed) (Skagit-Nisqually) Coast Salish. The Lushootseed (pronounced ) pronunciation of the people of the Duwamish Tribe is or Dkhʷ'Duw'Absh, or less accurately, Dkhw'Duw'Absh (see the footnote for a pronunciation brief). English does not have equivalents for half of the sounds in the language.

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