wapatoo

[wop-uh-too]

noun

plural

wapatoos 

1. an arrowhead plant, Sagittaria latifolia.

Word History and Origins

Origin of wapatoo¹

An Americanism dating back to 1795–1800; from Chinook Jargon waptu, wappatoo; further origin uncertain

Example Sentences

In the ponds grew the plant called the wapatoo, an onion-like root, very nutritious and palatable, and, with salmon, constituting the chief food of the natives.

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Not only so, but the Multnomah Indians used the wapatoo as a commercial stock, carrying on regular trade with both the coast and the up-river tribes.

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The journal contains the somewhat quaint statement that the chief cultivable region which they discovered in Oregon was Wapatoo Island, now known as Sauvie’s Island, at the mouth of the Willamette.

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To the Indians it was known as Wapatoo Island.

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According to the early explorers there were great annual fairs on Wapatoo Island, when Indians from ocean beach, from valley, from mountains, and from River, both up and down, would gather to exchange products, to gamble, race horses and boats, and have a general period of hilarity and good fellowship.

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