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Slhíxws

Illustration for slhixws - Wednesday

Wednesday

Slhíxws is the Halq’eméylem word for ‘Wednesday’.

Literally Sthíxws means ‘third period, third cycle‘.


Pronunciation

Slhíxws sounds like this: SLEECKss, except that instead of a CK you say the Halq’eméylem soft-x sound, in this case with rounded lips (xw).


Audio: Elizabeth Herrling, Elizabeth Phillips


Structure

Elders made Slhíxws based on lhí:xwthree, in the following way:

Wednesday-structure

The s- prefix marks nouns.

The -es ending here marks ‘period, cycle’.  This ending is also sometimes pronounced –ós or –ó:s.

In addition to marking time periods, –es/-ós  can also refer to the face,  to money, or to round things.  The four meanings (time cycles, face, money, and round) fit together perhaps because faces are somewhat round (☺), cycles go around, and money is round and has faces on it.


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