Fresh Batch #18: Salish, Pend d'Oreille, and Kootenai

Is the Qlispé Language a Kali Spell or is Kalispell, Montana a Pun?

From Montana Indians, “The three principal tribes of the Flathead Indian Reservation are known in English, and in this document, as the Salish, Pend d’Oreille (pronounced Ponderay), and Kootenai (pronounced Kootenee). The Salish and Pend d’Oreille are the easternmost tribes of the Salish language family, which includes some 23 languages and about 53 dialects, reaching from Montana west to the Pacific Coast, mostly to the north of the Columbia River. The Salish and Pend d’Oreille dialects are very similar.

“The term “Salish” is an English rendering of the name that the people of the tribe call themselves: Séliš (pronounced SEH-lish). From the early nineteenth century, the Salish have also been known to non-Indians by the misnomer “Flathead.” Sometimes the Salish are called the Bitterroot Salish, for their aboriginal homeland in the Bitterroot Valley. The term “Pend d’Oreille” is French for earring, and is a name used by early fur traders in reference to the shell ̓ earrings traditionally worn by both men and women of the tribe. The tribe’s name in their language is Qlispé (pronounced Kah-lee-SPEH), usually rendered in English as Kalispel. This term refers to the tribe as a whole, encompassing the numerous bands that were traditionally based in certain areas from the Flathead Valley and Flathead Lake area all the way downstream to eastern Washington, where today the Kalispel Reservation is located.”

When I first relocated to these parts, I couldn’t ignore Kali Spell (Kalispell, Montana), as in the spell of Kali. While spell is an English word, and suggests an English pun in the naming of the city after the phonetics of the Tribe, the root Qli, or Kali, is what has my attention, as it is an ancient Indian Goddess and I wonder if there was integration of this deity into California (Kali-fornia) or Qlispé.

A Tamil depiction of Kali.

The Mexican civilization had the same general flood diegesis as that of Noah and the Ark. Read my latest book Spirit Whirled: Terminalia to learn more. There is much more to say about these subjects so make sure you subscribe and get access to the whole batch.

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