Athabascan

American  

[ath-uh-bas-kuhn] / ˌæθ əˈbæs kən /

(Older Spelling) Athabaskan;

noun

• Athabascans,
  plural
• Athabascan
  plural

1. a family of languages spoken by North American Indians in most of Alaska and inland northwest Canada, in coastal Oregon and California, and in Arizona and the Rio Grande basin, and including especially Navajo, Apache, and Chipewyan.

2. a member of any of various North American Indian peoples speaking Athabascan.

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adjective

1. belonging to or characteristic of the Athabascan.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Athabascan
  plural
• Athabascans
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of Athabascan

First recorded in 1770–80; earlier Athapasca(s), introduced as a term for the Canadian Athabascans (from Woods Cree ahδapaska·w “Lake Athabasca,” literally, “there are reeds here and there,” from Proto-Algonquian aʔlap(y)- “net, reticulated” + -ašk- “plant” + derivational elements) + -an

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Athabascan Athabascans

In 2015, then-President Barack Obama redesignated the mountain Denali, a name long championed by Alaskans, which roughly translates to “the great one” in Koyukon Athabascan, a Native Alaskan language.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 20, 2025

The weeklong Koyukon Athabascan burial ceremony in September was traditional in all ways but one: McCormick died in 1931.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 29, 2024

Denali, the mountain’s federally recognized name since 2015, is a Koyukon word that meaning “the tall one” that has been in use for 10,000 to 12,000 years by many Athabascan peoples, an Alaska Native group.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 22, 2022

There is also a chief’s coat from the Athabascan people with floral beaded designs, rawhide fringe and red felt ties from the 1950s.

From New York Times ● Apr. 19, 2022

The history of the migrations of the Indians from the Athabascan or Mackenzie region is impossible to trace now.

From Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled A Narrative of Winter Travel in Interior Alaska by Hudson Stuck

The 211-mile road to the Ambler Mining District in northwest Alaska would cross the Koyukon, Tanana Athabascans and Iñupiat native lands, the department said in a statement.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 22, 2022

“We show that all Native Americans, including the major sub-groups of Amerindians and Athabascans, descend from the same migration wave into the Americas.”

From The Guardian ● Jul. 21, 2015

It was Matonabbee, the ambassador of the Hudson's Bay Company to the Athabascans, now returning to Fort Prince of Wales, followed by a long line of slave women driving their dog sleighs.

From Pathfinders of the West Being the Thrilling Story of the Adventures of the Men Who Discovered the Great Northwest: Radisson, La Vérendrye, Lewis and Clark by Agnes C. (Agnes Christina) Laut

The surrounding tribes are the Wishosk or Wiyot, perhaps the Chimariko and some of the Shasta, the Athabascan Tolowa, and the Athabascans southwest of the Hupa.

From The Religion of the Indians of California by A. L. Kroeber

It was luminous as the Alaskan valleys when on white arctic nights they are lighted, the Athabascans believe, by the gleaming spears of hunting gods.

From The Metal Monster by Abraham Merritt

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