PUYALLUP RESERVATION, Tacoma, Washington—The Puyallup Tribal Council and Puyallup Tribal Language Program celebrate the publication of a historic paper that for the first time gives a comprehensive linguistic analysis of the many Native names for Mount Rainier.
The paper, titled “An Analysis of the Names for Mount Rainier,” was published Feb. 21 – International Mother Language Day – in the Living Languages Journal. It was authored by Zalmai ʔəswəli Zahir, Ph.D., who works as a Lushootseed Language Consultant for the Tribe. Among the findings, the non-exhaustive research reveals that there are 20 different names for the mountain that are used by seven different Tribal languages surrounding the mountain, and 18 of the 20 names are Salishan in origin.
The Tribe contracted with Dr. Zahir to write the analysis to answer the longstanding community questions, “What is the original Native name for Mt. Rainier and what does it mean?”
Read the rest of Puyallup Tribal language consultant publishes first comprehensive analysis of the many Native names for Mount Rainier – ʔuhuyəxʷ ti dᶻixʷ pipa ʔə tiiɫ qa sdadaʔ ʔə tiiɫ skʷatač, ʔux̌alad ti ʔəswəli on Puyallup Tribe website.
Please do not change the name of Mt Rainier. This is part of our state and will always be Mt Rainier