Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1904-12-16
PRIMITIVE NAMES.
NOMENOLOGY is A NEW WORD
IN SCIENCE.

tN 0SIGNSG.
It Is Adapted by fiili-Fout. a WeIi.Known Sci
enlist Of Vancouver, B. C., to Include the
Subject Of Names and Their Or;sin-A Name
Means Something Among the Aboriginal
Races.
Cor. Puget Sound American.
Prof. Hill-Tout, the well.knOwn SCI
enlist Of Vancouver, who is the organ
izing secretary OF the chronological sur
vey of Canada, has just returned from
very successful visit among the Lii.
looet tribe of Indians. He has been
to gather additional information upon
that new branch of chronological in
quiry which is designated by the term
nomenology, word given to science
by Prof. Hill-Tout. This subject deals
with very important primitive beliefs
of the aborigines OF this country.
Names amongst primitive peoples, il
has been discovered, are not used in
the way they are commonly employed
amongst ourselves.
a name with the Indians is not q
mere tag by which one person is dis.
tinguished from another, but has re-
ligious significance with them. And
whoever assumes q name is thought to
partake Of the nature and character of
the thing from which the name is de.
rived. Those names are always taken
from some object in nature, most com.
monty some animal, but also any OBJ.
ject in the vegetable world may be the
source of a name. Insnimate objects
and celestial phenomena are also
sources of names, for with the Indian
in his primitive state, as with other
aboriginal peoples, there is no distinc'
ton between animate and insnimate
objects; all are equally possessed el
ghosts or spirits.
When therefore an Indian takes a
name, with that name there is also
bestowed upon him the guardianship
of the spirit Of the object from which
that name is taken. Those names are
obtained in various ways by the abor'
igines Of this country. but the com
monest mode OF acquiring them is by
means OF visions or dreams. The In
dian when he reaches the age of pu
berty separates himself from his fel'
lows and goes to some secluded spot in
the mountains or forest and there en-
ters upon rigorous course of bodily
exercises, in which fasting and bath
ing and scrubbing form an essential
part. For four days be eats nothing
At the end of this period his bodily
faculties are necessarily weakened anG
his mind is peculiarly open to all kinds
OF impressions and suggestions, and
visions, dreams and hallucinations
come readily to him at these times
Whatever object. animate or inani
mate, the ghost or spirit OF which ap
pears to him in dream or vision be
comes his "sulis," his manitou Of
guardian spirit. These ghosts OF
spirits are all possessed of mystic
names, which they reveal to the youth
and this name thereafter becomes his
BY means OF this name thus acquired
he is able to enter into communion
with his guardian spirit, from whom
he expects help and assistance in timel
of trouble and difficulty. If his guard
ian spirit be of the edible kind, suct
as a bear, or q deer, or salmon, or othel
such like object, that man will be sblt
more easily than his fellows to secur.
bear, or deer, or salmon.
These names are sometimes trans
mitted from father to son, when tn,
spirit from which they are derived ha
proved to be q powerful helper. Th'
name then becomes family name, q
it were, and here it is that the totem
pole, or sculptured object, makes it
appearance-the totem carving being
but a symbolical representation OF th'
family and Individual guardian
spirits. Names are also derived amoul
some tribes from the supposed ances
tors of that tribe who are conceived Il
have been mystic beings, psrtaking o
the nature of man and animal, or mar
and vegetable. 1t is commonly be
lieved amongst primitive peoples in al
parts OF the world that in the earl!
days this world was peopled by being
OF this kind. These became changed
in various ways, some to the anims
proper and some to human beings
Amongst the Fraser River Indian
this change was effected by demi-go'
whom they called "khals."
This being is supposed to be the off
spring of the large red-headed wood
pecker and the black bear. He was
great magician or transformer, an,
went up and down the country trans
forming these mystic beings into men
or animals, or trees, or rocks. All th'
conspicuous isolated rocks anywher
about the country are regarded by tn
Indisns as transformations OF thes'
early mystic beings.
Those Indians whose traditions max
them descend from these beings tax
their name from them. Thus man.
groups believe themselves to be de
scended from the sturgeon, or the sal
mon, and these people are supposed t.
be able to capture these fish more eas
lily and readily than others.