Chumash

¹ American  

[khoo-mahsh, khoom-uhsh] / xuˈmɑʃ, ˈxʊm əʃ /

noun

Hebrew.

plural

Chumashim

1. Humash.

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Chumash ² American  

[choo-mash] / ˈtʃu mæʃ /

noun

plural

Chumashes,

plural

Chumash

1. a member of an American Indian people who formerly inhabited the southern California coast from San Luis Obispo to Santa Monica Bay, as well as the Santa Barbara Islands and the interior westward to the San Joaquin Valley: noted for their sophisticated seacraft and rock paintings.

2. any of the Hokan languages of the Chumash, at least six in number, all now extinct.

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chumash British  

/ ˈxʊməʃ, xʊˈmaʃ /

noun

1. Judaism a printed book containing one of the Five Books of Moses

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Etymology

Origin of chumash

literally: a fifth (part of the Torah)

Example Sentences

Around 1915, the last known Chumash basket maker, Candelaria Valenzuela, died in Ventura County, and with her went a skill that had been fundamental to the Indigenous people who lived for thousands of years in the coastal regions between Malibu and San Luis Obispo.

From Los Angeles Times

Hammel-Sawyer is 1/16 Chumash, the great-great-great-granddaughter of Maria Ysidora del Refugio Solares, one of the most revered ancestors of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians for her work in preserving its nearly lost Samala language.

From Los Angeles Times

The Santa Ynez Chumash Museum and Cultural Center is an engaging dip into Chumash stories, traditions and even plants, but don’t stop there.

From Los Angeles Times

But Hammel-Sawyer knew nearly nothing about Chumash customs when she was a child.

From Los Angeles Times

As a young mother, she often took her four children to the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, where she said she loved to admire the museum’s extensive collection of Chumash baskets, “but I had no inkling I would ever make them.”

From Los Angeles Times