kw’éts’tel

butchering knife

butchering knife

Kw’éts’tel is the Halq’eméylem word for ‘butchering knife’, or ‘butchering tool’. It is related to the verb kw’íts’et – ‘to cut (it) up, to butcher (it)’.

You can use kw’éts’tel for both the traditional Stó:lō tool (as in the first illustration above) and for modern butchering knives.

Pronunciation

Kw’éts’tel sounds like QUIT-still, except that:

• The first sound is a kw’. This sound is a k with lip rounding (lips slightly protrude, to make kw) and a ‘pop’ (made by combining the kw with a glottal stop).
• Note that there is also an apostrophe after the ts (ts’).  This marks that there is also another glottal stop after the ts.

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling, Elizabeth Phillips

Plural Form

The Elders have a special plural form for kw’étstel, like this: kw’éts’kw’ets’tel – butchering knives (audio here).

Elders make this type of plural by doubling (‘reduplicating’) the first part of the word.

Related words

Here are some other words related to kw’éts’tel:

• Kw’íts’et – to cut (it) up, to butcher (it)
• Skw’íts’òlès – cross eyes (literally ‘cut up eyes’; the -òlès ending refers to ‘eyes’)

The -tel ending in kw’éts’tel refers to tools or devices.  Some other words that use the same –tel ending include:

• Sch’áletstel – chair (literally ‘device for putting your rear end on’)
  

  chair

• X̲éltel – pen, pencil (literally ‘tool for writing or marking’)
  

  pencil, pen, writing implement

• Exwtel – broom (literally ‘tool for sweeping’)
  

  broom