Athabaskan
[ath-uh-bas-kuh n]
- a family of languages spoken by American Indians in most of inland northwest Canada and Alaska, in coastal Oregon and California, and in Arizona and the Rio Grande basin, and including especially Navajo, Apache, and Chipewyan.Compare family(def 14).
- a member of any of various American Indian peoples speaking Athabaskan.
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- belonging to or characteristic of the Athabaskans.
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Origin of Athabaskan
1770–80; earlier Athapasca(s), introduced as a term for the Canadian Athabaskans (< Woods Cree ahδapaska·w Lake Athabaska, literally, there are reeds here and there < Proto-Algonquian *aʔlap(y)- net, reticulated + *-ašk- plant + derivational elements) + -an
Athapaskan
or Ath·a·pas·can
[ath-uh-pas-kuh n]
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for athapascan
Historical Examples of athapascan
The Athapascan tribes to the east show intermediate cultures.
Man, Past and PresentAgustus Henry Keane
This tribe, however, has since been ascertained to be Athapascan.
Indian Linguistic Families Of America, North Of MexicoJohn Wesley Powell
Of these Athapascan peoples it has been written, "They are nearer the brutes than probably any other portion of the human race."
The American EgyptChanning Arnold
Merriam deviated from Kroeber very widely in his tribal names for the Athapascan groups.
The Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of CaliforniaSherburne Friend Cook
For the three remaining northern Athapascan tribes we possess very little data of a strictly ethnographic character.
The Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of CaliforniaSherburne Friend Cook
Athapascan
Athapaskan Athabascan or Athabaskan (ˌæθəˈbæskən)
- a group of North American Indian languages belonging to the Na-Dene phylum, including Apache and Navaho
- a speaker of one of these languages
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Word Origin for Athapascan
from Cree athapaskaaw scattered grass or reeds
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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