Talk:Opitsaht

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Opitsat vs Opitsaht

it's true that both BCGNIS and CGNDB (which are primary references for official names, not Statistics Canada) have only Opitsat, other than Opitsah Creek - same root, that different ending may have a diferent meaning. "Aht" in Nuu-chah-nulth means "people", as does "git" in Gitxsan and "kit" in Tsimshian and similarly common in placenames. Opitsaht is the traditional name, also in wide use in most major histories and also in common usage, even among the environmental movement and teh associated publishing industry there, not just in news copy etc. Opitsaht as a name predates the coining of Indian Reserve names; many, many of them having names which are divergent from proper and/or historical names; the convention has been to respect the native preference, which also happens to coincide in a lot of cases with the major histories; I know Ormsby, and the Akriggs, use Opitsaht; good examples of the differences between anglicizations and actual native forms can be seen in the many rescinded-IR names in BCGNIS around the Nass River (go to that article, following the BCGNIS link, do a radius search); the Nisga'a names happen to be official now, the IR names in the mis-spellings/19th C attempts at transcribing native names in the absence of any formal orthography. There is one now - in BC, and the convention is to use what the historical, traditional forms are, as with 'Ksan (instead of Ksan), or Gitanmaax (Old Hazelton IR No. 1, though that didn't have a native name. With sme thought I could think of other examples; there's a ReqMove now resolved on Talk:Queen Charlotte Islands that addresses the difference between BC making a name official, and Ottawa making it official. The difference here is that it wwas "official" before Victoria and Ottawa even came along; Opitsaht is "the ancient name", Opitsat only something in an external database, i.e. external to the culture, or the properly-spelled name of the place; I'm aware that there's "Opitsat (locality)" in BCGNIS, in CGNDB they say "unincorporated area", but the location is the same as that of the IR - and I do know that if asked, BCGNIS would add "Opitsaht (Indian village) 'RECORDED'" if asked, but in both cases it's the issue of what's t he correct name; the convention established, so far, in {{NorthAmNative}} to go with native convention/preference, which is why Palus for the Palouse people, as they are usually called in English; the -u form goes to the location; similarly Yakama vs. Yakima Indian Reservation. English forms used in official contexts; but the context here is primarily that of Opitsaht Indian Reserve No. 1, which is as noted in teh change, coudl be better worried, the census area that shares the boundary of the IR; legally they are two different concepts entirely, NB ultimately Opitsaht means "people of Opits", but I'm sorry for now I can't recall its meaning. Current census population is one thing, there's historical demographics out there aplenty for this. But again, Opitsaht is the actual place, Opitsat is (at this point) the government name; I'll see what the T-o-Q-a First Nations use on their site; most Nuu-chah-nulth govs use "=aht" or "-et" in their names, maybe "-att"...but in this case the very long-standing historic usage has been "Opitsaht". So this isn't a name change as Haida Gwaii is; it's a mis-transcription of the traditional name....I'll find out what's used locally....Skookum1 (talk) 09:48, 22 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This all makes sense to me. But I have to ask: what is the difference in pronunciation between Opitsat and Opitsaht. Not having heard the names spoken, I would pronounce the spelled names identically. Pfly (talk) 11:03, 22 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's the same pronunciation, other than in formal Nuu-chah-nulth pronunciation there may be an aspiration before the 't'. I just looked through the Tla-O-Qui-Aht First Nations website and found "Opitsaht" on at least one page.Skookum1 (talk) 19:47, 22 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"Opitsaht" is widely used in the various history books I have on the maritime fur trading era, the Nootka Crisis, etc.

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