NAMES: Sharing several thoughts

I often try to think “outside the box” and challenge conventional wisdom (although I’m not always right!).

First and most paramount is that French Canadian fur trappers did not name a landmark after the first tribe they encountered in the area. That would be useless information for those who followed after them. Thus, for example:

1) Lake Pend Oreille is shaped like an ear with a dangling pendant.

2) Flathead Lake has a relatively slow moving river flowing into it. Thus prime beaver country. The head of the lake is flat, not the heads of the Indians.

3) The Nez Perce have no oral history of a time when their ancestors pierced their noses. However, in a geological sense, Nez Perce means a notched ridge or point of land in an identifiable landmark.

4) Most importantly for Kootenai County, Coeur d’Alene is grammatically incorrect. Please consider that French Canadian fur trappers ascending the Spokane River from the Spokane House would have portaged around Post Falls into the Cottonwood-lined Spokane River arm of Lake Coeur d’Alene. Cottonwood “fluff” would have appeared floating on the surface in the spring and summer. This fluff would have the appearance of tufts of wool (they wore leather and wool, not cotton). In French, the term for a river course of wool is Cour d’Laine.

I truly believe that this term was entered into a fur trapper’s journal, but misspelled or that an English translator misinterpreted it.

BOB RIDOUT

Hayden

P.S. By the way, and way off the subject, please consider this: The term “England” for many centuries has been defined as “land of the angles,” allies of the Saxons on their various raids. In French, England is Angleterre.

However, Vikings from Norway, etc. besides raiding for plunder, were looking for more permanent wealth in the form of land on which to settle and raise livestock. Where would such a land be? Somewhere with lots of available pasture land.

“Eng” in both Old Norse and modern Norwegian means “meadow.” “Land,” as in English, means “land.” Therefore, “England” means meadow land or pasture land.

Now, I’m not presumptuous enough to think that I’m always right. However, if you can think outside the box, it can be an intellectual adventure.