go round a bend
Q’ewílem is the Halq’eméylem word for ‘go round a bend in the river’. It can also mean ‘go round a turn’, or ‘swerve around an obstacle’. Many Stó:lō place names are related to this word.
Pronunciation
Q’ewílem sounds like COW-wee-lum, except that:
- The first sound is the Halq’eméylem q, which is made at the uvula.
- That q is also ‘popped’, by combining it with a catch in the throat (glottal stop).
Audio: Elizabeth Herrling, Elizabeth Phillips
-ing form
If you want to talk about an ongoing action, i.e. going round a bend, you use a partly doubled (‘reduplicated’) form of q’ewílem, like this: q’ewq’ewílem (audio here)
Related words
Many place names, containing the root word q’ew, are related to q’ewílem, including :
- Sq’éwlets – Scowlitz (old Scowlitz village, about two miles from present day Skowlitz Indian Band)
- Sq’éwqel – Seabird Island (the ‘bend’ here was the route around the upper end of the island)
- Sq’éwqé:yl ~ Sq’éwqí:l – Scowkale
No comments yet.