Mount Rainier was first known by the local Salishan speakers as Talol, Tacoma, or Tahoma. One hypothesis of the word origin is ] 'mother of waters' in the Lushootseed language spoken by the Puyallup people. The linguist William Bright gives the origin as ] 'snow-covered mountain'. Another hypothesis is that Tacoma means larger than Mount Baker in Lushootseed: Ta 'larger', plus Koma (Kulshan), (Mount Baker). Other names originally used include Tahoma, Tacobeh, and Pooskaus.