Clatskanie
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Please do not check in a dictionary or online before you try to pronounce the name just by looking at it.
The manager of the inn where I'm staying told me that people from out of town pronounce the name in many different ways. Never mind how they struggle with the first five letters, the greatest variation comes with how to handle the last three letters.
She herself, when she first came to the town from Portland about ten years ago, pronounced the ending as "nine", and many other outsiders do too. I have a theory about where that final "n" comes from, but will wait to see if anyone else can explain it first.
People from surrounding towns sometimes make fun of the name by jeering "Clatskaninny".
The town was originally called Bryantville after the large family who were among the first filers of Donation Land Claims in the area in 1852-53. However, the first postmaster, Enoch Conyers, who was married to one of the Bryant daughters, changed the name to Clatskanie after the Tlatskanai Native American tribe.
"Bryant" and Conyers are among the street names in the town still today.
Kwalhioqua–Clatskanie (Kwalhioqua–Tlatskanai, Lower Columbia Athabaskan) is an extinct Athabaskan language of northwest Oregon and southwest Washington state, along the lower Columbia River.
Also, does anyone have a theory about why "Tla-" evolved into "Cla-"? Again, I have an idea, but will wait to see if anyone else has one of their own.
Selected readings
- "The Dalles, Dallesport, Dallas" (10/17/24)
- "Local toponymic pronunciations in northwestern Ohio and northern Indiana" (7/4/22)
- "Southern Ohioisms" (9/23/17)
- "The many sights and sounds of 'Buchanan'" (8/26/21)
martin schwartz said,
October 27, 2024 @ 6:25 pm
Re "Tla-" > "Cla-", I'm sure the underlying Athabaskan phoneme
was a voiceless alveolar lateral stop. Look up the latter in Wiki,
and you'll get some audible examples. The phoneme occurred in Chinook, whence Klamath, north of us across the Oregon border,
has its Kl- as English approximation of such a sound such a sound. In Syria, '3' tlæ:ta is pronounced with such an initial, and in the dialect spoken by Jews I've heard klæ:ta.
Y said,
October 27, 2024 @ 7:46 pm
Indeed, Clatskanie/Tlaskanai are both English rederings of Chinook iłáck’ani 'those of the region of small oaks' (after Michael Silverstein, quoted in <Handbook of North American Indians 7:532). Klamath, also spelled Tlamatl in some early records, is a rendering of Chinook łámał 'they of the River' (id., ibid. 12:464). Likewise the ethnonym Tlingit, now usually pronounced /klɪŋkɪt/, represents łìngít.
Julian said,
October 27, 2024 @ 8:45 pm
Joke/urban myth:
A young Australian overseas has lost his passport. Goes to the consulate to get a replacement.
The official has to check his bona fides of course.
"Where do you come from, mate?"
"Mungindi."
"You're good. Only someone who comes from Mungindi would know how to say that."
Barbara Phillips Long said,
October 27, 2024 @ 10:05 pm
Initial reaction: CLAT skah nee
I grew up in Schoharie County which may have influenced my pronunciation. Many folks also find regional upstate New York place names such as Schoharie, Schenevus, or Schenectady challenging.
Chas Belov said,
October 28, 2024 @ 12:50 am
Here is my take:
KLAT skan ee
First two syllables to rhyme with CAT Scan.
Ee to rhyme with "bee".
Andreas Johansson said,
October 28, 2024 @ 2:03 am
My initial guess was that it was Slavic, so approx. [tslatskanie].
Philip Taylor said,
October 28, 2024 @ 3:41 am
For me, /klætskæni/ — although I can understand a possible uncertainty regarding the final "nie" (is there an implied y-glide ?), I cannot see how anyone could "struggle with the first five letters" ("Clats") which combine elements of two common words ("claps" and "spats").