Abenaki

American  

[uh-ben-uh-kee, ab-uh-nak-ee, ah-buh-nah-kee] / əˈbɛn ə ki, ˌæb əˈnæk i, ˌɑ bəˈnɑ ki /

noun

• Abenakis,
  plural
• Abenaki
  plural

1. a member of a grouping of Indigenous peoples of southern Quebec, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and parts of northern Massachusetts.

2. any of the Eastern Algonquian languages of the Abenaki peoples.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Abenaki or their language.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Abenaki
  plural
• Abenakis
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Abenaki

First recorded in 1690–1700; from French Abenaqui, Abenaki, from Eastern Abenaki ( Penobscot ) wapánahki or Western Abenaki wɔ̃banakii, literally, “people of the dawn land, easterners,” a self-designation

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Abenaki Abenakis

Mr. Stevens said that the Abenaki people view themselves as “stewards of the land.”

From Washington Times ● Jul. 9, 2023

Michelle O’Bonsawin, an Abenaki member of the Odanak First Nation and a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, is set to fill the vacancy on the nation’s highest bench after a parliamentary hearing.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 19, 2022

Earl Hatley, a member of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, is one of the Indigenous activists frustrated with the Biden administration.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 19, 2022

Allen and Benner, as they are called, have witnessed a string of inhabitants over the centuries, from the Abenaki people and English colonists to homesteading lobstermen.

From New York Times ● Feb. 2, 2022

Verrazzano was baffled by this “barbarous” behavior, but the reason for it seems clear: unlike the Narragansett, the Abenaki had long experience with Europeans.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

There were also Nipmuck towns between Boston and the Connecticut River Valley, and the Abenakis held most of inland Maine.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018

I thought about the First Nation Abenakis, how they named the lakes and rivers, and about our ignorance.

From New York Times ● Jan. 4, 2017

At forty leagues still farther up there is another fort which is the common retreat of the Kanibas, or Abenakis, when they are afraid of something in their country.

From Glimpses of the Past History of the River St. John, A.D. 1604-1784 by W. O. (William Odber) Raymond

Around this natural castle the Indian tribes gathered to La Salle, as to a sovereign,—Miamis, Abenakis, and Shawanoes, from countries eastward, and the Illinois returned to spread over their beloved meadow.

From Heroes of the Middle West The French by Mary Hartwell Catherwood

Phineas Stevens proceeded to Canada, as a delegate from the governor of Massachusetts, to confer with the Abenakis, and to redeem some prisoners they had in their possession.

From The Abenaki Indians Their Treaties of 1713 & 1717, and a Vocabulary by Frederic Kidder