Chokecherry, Prunus virginiana. “Called this because it has a seed (tmɨ́š) in it.” Chokecherry bark was cut in little strips and boiled and drank as a tea as a medicine for colds. tmɨ́š ittáwax̣ɨnx̣a wánapa ‘chokecherry grows around the creeks’; tmɨ́š iwá pát ƛ̓aax̣ʷmaamí tkʷatatmaamí ‘the chokecherry is the elder sister of all the foods’; iwiyáwat̓wiša tmɨ́š ‘the chokecherry is taking the lead’; pátwanɨmta ɨsípin tmɨ́šin ‘her younger sister the chokecherry will come following her [the lúuksh]’; itamánwiyayiyana pyax̣í, x̣áwš, lúukš, tmɨ́š, wíwnu ku núsux ku yáamaš ‘he ordained the bitterroot, cous, biscuit root, chokecherries, huckleberries and salmon and deer for us’; ana kú át̓iša tmɨ́š ku kúuk pawalptáykɨnx̣a táalma ‘when the chokecherries are ripening then the little black cricket sings’; ana kú át̓ix̣a tmɨ́š ‘when the chokecherry ripens’; tmɨšmí psá ‘chokecherry bark’ (a cough medicine); tmɨšmí ‘cake made with chokecherries’; tmɨšwáakuł ‘domestic cherry’. [NP /tms/.]
Language Program · Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation