Spokane
/spoʊˈkæn/ noun, proper noun
- noun A Native American Plateau tribe who inhabited the eastern portion of Washington state and parts of northern Idaho.
- proper noun The language of the Spokane tribe, a member of the Salish (or Salishan) language family.
- proper noun A large city, the county seat of Spokane County, Washington.
- proper noun A tributary of the Columbia River in Washington and Idaho.
- proper noun Any of various other places in the United States.
Etymology
A number of etymologies of the name have been proposed, most frequently “Sun children”, “children of the Sun”, or “muddy people”. According to Barry Pritzker (2011), these interpretations are most probably popular etymologies derived from an actual self-designation of Spokane Spoqe'ind (“round head”).
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “Spokane”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details