məθkʷəy̓, transliterated as muthkwey,[1]: 545 [2] malkway,[3] mexwthi,[4] or muthkwuy,[5] is a legendary plant of uncertain identity which features in Musqueam oral histories. Anthropologist Wayne Suttles described it as "a plant no longer identifiable". In the Halkomelem language, it is described as a saχʷəl, a term which broadly means "plant."
Tradition
A two-headed serpent, sʔi:ɬqəy̓ transliterated as seelthkey,[2][6] inhabited a small lake, xʷməm̓qʷe:m (Camosun Bog area),[7] in Pacific Spirit Nature Park. Elders warned the youth of the community to avoid the bog, fearing they would be taken by the serpent.[8] When it emerged from the bog and traversed the land, it would kill everything in its path. The two-headed serpent would leave behind droppings, from which the məθkʷəy̓ would sprout from.[9][10][6] The path that the serpent traversed would eventually become Musqueam Creek which passed through the Musqueam community,[8][7][10] stretching from Camosun Bog to the Fraser River.[11] The Musqueam people considered the plant sacred as it had emerged from the droppings of the serpent, and thus would refuse to harvest or walk over the plant.[12] The plant would inhabit the tidal flats and Fraser River delta.[13]
It was noted that the məθkʷəy̓ plant's population would flunctuate, at times being abundant and at other times being hardly found. The Musqueam people found that they shared that trait, with the Musqueam community flourishing at times or dwindling due to warfare or plague.[14][15] A Musqueam story stated that the Musqueam people would flourish at the same times the plant would, and dwindle at the same time the plant would.[16][12] The cycles of abundance that the plant undergone happened within a short period of time according to the Charles family.[1]: 568 It had once grown abundantly throughout the Musqueam territory,[17] but is considered scarce and no longer grows on the Musqueam territory.[12][11][15] For this reason, the Musqueam people felt an affinity with the plant.[11][1]: 568 The Halkomelem name for Musqueam, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, roughly translates to "the place where məθkʷəy̓ grows"[9] or "place of məθkʷəy."[13][8] The name for this exact location refers to a village where the character of Mink was playing with a log which had become entangled within the plant and the plants had become stuck to the log.[1]: 568
Description
In the Halkomelem language, the məθkʷəy̓ plant was described as a saχʷəl, a term which broadly means "grass" or "plant",[9][1]: 544 that is "unlike any other."[6][18]Wayne Suttles noted that the "plant for which the village is named has been described variously,"[1]: 568 and "a plant no longer identifiable."[19] The Charles family described the plant to Wayne Suttles as "grasslike, with an edible root" and noted that it no longer existed due to the presence of cattle which grazed on the plant.[1]: 568 James Point described the plant as having thorns and small violet flowers, and had been eradicated due to burning and dyking in the area.[1]: 568 Arnold Guerin, a native speaker, identified the plant as a "coarse grass."[19]
məθkʷəy̓ was originally transcribed into the English language as "grass". Later descriptions of məθkʷəy̓ identified it as another variety of flowering plant.[20][9] As a result of the initial translation, the Musqueam people were referred to as the "People of the River Grass."[9] It was later known by Vanessa Campbell and her team that saχʷəl denotes several varieties of plant, rather than referring to grass.[9]
The current term for blackcap raspberries in the Halkomelem language is cəlqáma, derived from the reconstructed root word *čəlq- of uncertain independent meaning.[19] Additional languages that use the aforementioned root include: Chilliwack, Nooksack, Lummi, and Lushootseed.[19]
The suffix -əy̓ denotes ‘plant, tree, wood’ according to Suttles (2004). For example: sə̀k̓ʷməy̓ "birch tree" is a combination of sák̓ʷm "whole bark" and the suffix -əy̓.[1]: 312 The Halkomelem language name for Musqueam, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, consists of the prefix xʷ- and suffix -əm, which is a typical structure for location names which incorporate plants or animals.[1]: 500
Botanical identity
At times it is referred to as "river grass",[21] stemming from the original English translation.[20] The book Musqueam: A Living Culture, a publication by the Musqueam First Nation, refers to it explicitly as a "grass."[15] Wayne Suttles in the Musqueam Reference Grammar describes it as a "rush-like plant."[1]: 566 Xwei’;ya Deanna Marie Point refers to the plant as "bullrushes. [sic]"[6]
M. Dale Kinkade identifies the plant as blackcap raspberry (Rubus leucodermis), citing the expected language shift from the Proto-Salishan root word*məcə́kʷ.[19] He notes that the Musqueam do not associate the place name with the blackcaps.[19]
Vanessa Campbell, a Musqueam educator, is currently working alongside the University of British Columbia to determine the identity of the plant.[9]
^ abLeCompte Mastenbrook, Joyce (31 December 2010). "Envisioning shxwqwәltәn – The Sounds of Musqueam". Canadian Studies Center Arctic and International Relations. University of Washington. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
^ abcdefghijKinkade, M. Dale (1986). "BLACKCAPS AND MUSQUEAM"(PDF). International Conference on Salish and Neighbouring Languages. University of British Columbia: 60–62.