Chumash

¹

[choo-mash]

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.

Chumash

²

[khoo-mahsh, khoom-uhsh]

noun

Hebrew.

plural

Chumashim 

1. Humash.

chumash

/ ˈxʊməʃ, xʊˈmaʃ /

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of chumash¹

literally: a fifth (part of the Torah)

Example Sentences

Samaniego, who has Indigenous Chumash and Tataviam ancestry, planned to wear regalia of the Tataviam people, whose historic home ranged from the San Fernando Valley to the Simi Valley as far east as Antelope Valley.

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Angelenos acknowledge and honor the Tongva, Tataviam, Serrano, Kizh and Chumash tribes of Southern California’s inland valleys and coastal plains.

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Solares died in 1923 at 81, but left wax cylinder recordings of Chumash songs, stories and translations with linguist and Native American language ethnologist John Peabody Harrington.

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For instance, near the beginning of the permanent exhibit there is a cave-like room explaining the Chumash understanding of the universe, which is divided into three levels.

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Further on are hunting outfits made from deer and bear heads and skins, examples of traditional Chumash stick and gambling games, and stuffed animals for children that were — literally — dead, cuddly rabbits carefully preserved.

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