Nu-Ha-A is an awful approximation of Nəxʷx̣รกʔəy. A lot closer: Nuk-whah-eye. Of course, there's no good options when you're trying to approximate Salishan words in English.
When the first Europeans and Anglo-Americans came to the area in the 1880s and earlier, they came up with anglicized spellings like "Tulalip" for "dxʷlilap"; I imagine that if the name "nəxʷx̣รกʔəy" had been spelled by those same settlers, they'd have come up with something like Noowhyeye.
I would like to see a preference for Anglicized versions of native names whenever possible. The native names are distinctive and more appropriate in most cases than the obscure British bureaucrats and blundering European conquerors that are often honored. But you can't expect millions of residents to use a pronunciation system that is foreign to everyone except a few hundred native speakers and scholars.
First up, Mount Tahoma instead of Mount Rainier. Rename the entire length of the Duwamish/Green River to the Duwamish River. There's no common native name for the Columbia River, so let's just call it the Oregon River (and move the counties that contain it to the state of Oregon.) "Whulge" is a bit ugly for Puget Sound, so I might make an exception there.
On a related note outside of the scope of this commission, we should also rename Pierce, Thurston, Mason, and Jefferson counties after major rivers to Puyallup, Nisqually, Skokomish, and Hoh counties. (King can stay now that it honors MLK.)
Moses smell the roses, is it that hard to copy and paste?
@3: The DNR page has it as Lake Smokium.
http://www.languagegeek.com/salishan/lus…
When the first Europeans and Anglo-Americans came to the area in the 1880s and earlier, they came up with anglicized spellings like "Tulalip" for "dxʷlilap"; I imagine that if the name "nəxʷx̣รกʔəy" had been spelled by those same settlers, they'd have come up with something like Noowhyeye.
So that they at least could hear what it's supposed to sound like.
First up, Mount Tahoma instead of Mount Rainier. Rename the entire length of the Duwamish/Green River to the Duwamish River. There's no common native name for the Columbia River, so let's just call it the Oregon River (and move the counties that contain it to the state of Oregon.) "Whulge" is a bit ugly for Puget Sound, so I might make an exception there.
On a related note outside of the scope of this commission, we should also rename Pierce, Thurston, Mason, and Jefferson counties after major rivers to Puyallup, Nisqually, Skokomish, and Hoh counties. (King can stay now that it honors MLK.)