AUGUST 18, 2016 // 23
BOOK SHELF // GLIMPSE // WILDLIFE // POP CULTURE // WORDS // Q&A // FOOD // FUN
NW
word
nerd
By RYAN HUME
Chum [tʃʌm]
noun
1. a friend or buddy
2. fi sh bait made of odds
and ends, including various
fi sh parts, bones, and blood,
that is used to lure carnivo-
rous fi sh, especially sharks
3. chum salmon / Onco-
rhynchus keta: also called the
dog salmon, the calico or sim-
ply just keta, this species has a
metallic blue-green hue and
is spackled with small black
spots along its dorsal. Chum
salmon is known for having a
mild taste and soft pink fl esh
and the fi sh weigh 10 to 15
pounds on average, but they
can occasionally reach up to
30 pounds
Origin:
Each defi nition of the
word chum arrives from a
separate source.
The meaning “friend”
arrives fi rst in the 1680s
and is British university
slang for a “chambermate”
or “roommate.”
The second defi nition,
meaning “fi sh bait” is
fi rst noted in 1857 and is
thought to have originated
within the Scottish dialect,
where chum simply means
“food.”
Chum salmon, on the
other hand, developed out
of Chinook Jargon in the
early 20th century from the
term tzum samun, which
literally means “spotted
salmon” in the pidgin.
The keta in the salmonid’s
scientifi c description comes
via Russian from the Evenki
language of Eastern Siberia.
“Once one of the most abundant
of salmon species in the Columbia
River, chum salmon made up as
much as 7 percent to 10 percent of
historical salmon runs, with as many
as 1 million fall-run chum salmon re-
turning to the river in 1928. That was
the same year that the commercial
PHOTO BY DAMIAN MULINIX
An adult chum salmon is pulled form a holding tank in preparation of being released into an
Oregon river in 2014.
harvest of chum was 700,000 fi sh.”
— Columbia Basin Bulletin, “Welcome
back, good (salmon) chums,” The Daily
Astorian, Monday, Oct. 5, 2015, P. 5A
“Because of their high protein
content and their body-building
value, pink and chum salmon are
both highly recommended by food
experts…. Others give preference to
the chum because its meat bears a
close resemblance in color to that of
the trout and is less oily than other
varieties.”
—“What Experts Say,” Oregon City
Enterprise, Friday, March 25, 1921, P. 8
Crossword Answer
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