Potlach

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A ceremonial occasion among Pacific Northwest Indigenous groups for exchanging gifts that reinforces social hierarchy and fosters community ties
2. An event characterized by the display of wealth through gift-giving, which affirms cultural identity and status among participants
3. A traditional ceremony among Indigenous tribes that involves the giving of gifts to assert social standing and strengthen community bonds is celebrated with communal feasting

Etymology: The word "potlach" is a variant spelling of "potlatch," and its path into English runs through a trade language rather than any European tongue. Its ultimate source is the Nootka language of Vancouver Island, where a term "p̕ačiƛ" meant to give a gift during a potlatch ceremony. Nootka speakers and European traders developed Nootka Jargon, a simplified contact language, in which the term shifted to forms like "pa'chatle," meaning "to give" or even "give me." From there it passed into Chinook Jargon, the wider trade language of the Pacific Northwest, as "pátlač," meaning to give, a gift, or the gift-giving ceremony itself. English speakers borrowed it from that jargon, so the word first reached them as a verb for giving and only later as the name of the ceremony. Its later verb sense, to hold or take part in a potlatch, grew out of the noun.

Synonyms: gift-giving feast, ceremonial feast