Your Chinook Wawa Word of the Day: Lemooto

LEMOOTO

[le-MOO'-to] or [lam'-MU-to] — noun.

Meaning: Sheep; mutton.

Origin: French, les moutons, “sheep”

Sometimes spelled as lemoto or limoto, it refers to sheep, and naturally all things related to them, such as “man lemooto” (ram), "klootchman lemooto" (ewe),  “tenas lemooto” (lamb), and "lemooto house" (fold, sheepfold). The word was also used for “mutton”, though if one wanted to specify, they could say “lemooto itlwillie” or “lemooto yaka itlwillie".

The English word “sheep” was also used from time to time, such as in “hiyu sheep” (flock), “sheep yaka tupso lemooto yakso” (wool), and the heavily English “sheep yaka meat” (mutton)