In his journals, William Clark referred to the people as the Chopunnish , a transliteration of a Sahaptin term. According to D.E. Walker in 1998, writing for the Smithsonian, this term is an adaptation of the term "cú·pŉitpeľu" (the Nez Perce people). The term is formed from "cú·pŉit" (piercing with a pointed object) and "peľu" (people). By contrast, the "Nez Perce Language Dictionary" has a different analysis than did Walker for the term "cúpnitpelu". The prefix "cú"- means "in single file". This prefix, combined with the verb "-piní", "to come out (e.g. of forest, bushes, ice)". Finally, with the suffix of "-pelú", meaning "people or inhabitants of". Together, these three elements: "cú"- + -"piní" + "pelú" = "cúpnitpelu", or "the People Walking Single File Out of the Forest". Nez Perce oral tradition indicates the name "Cuupn'itpel'uu" meant "we walked out of the woods or walked out of the mountains" and referred to the time before the Nez Perce had horses.