Seattle
Seattle is a coastal city on the eastern shores of Puget Sound, Washington State. According to Middleton, the name Seattle refers to a Suquamish chief, who was baptized as “Noah Sealth” by Father Demers.1
The variations on Seattle, such as “See-yat” and “Se-yalt” stem from the European inability to glean the correct pronounciation of, likely, “Sealth”.2 The local name for the area was “Tzee-Tzee-lal-itch”, or “little portage”, in reference to a trail to a nearby lake.3
  • 1. Lynn Middleton, Placenames of the Pacific Northwest Coast (Victoria: Elldee Publishing Company, 1969), 185.
  • 2. History & Culture, The Suquamish Tribe.
  • 3. Middleton, Placenames of the Pacific Northwest Coast, 186.
Mentions of this place in the documents
People in this document

Demers, Bishop Modeste

Places in this document

Puget Sound

The Colonial Despatches Team. Seattle. The Colonial Despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871, Edition 2.0, ed. The Colonial Despatches Team. Victoria, B.C.: University of Victoria. https://bcgenesis.uvic.ca/seattle.html.

Last modified: 2020-03-30 13:22:16 -0700 (Mon, 30 Mar 2020) (SVN revision: 4193)