Costanoan
[kos-tuh-noh-uh n, kaw-stuh-]
- a family of eight languages, now extinct, spoken by American Indian peoples of coastal California: part of the Penutian stock.
- any of the speakers of these languages, who formerly inhabited the coast and adjacent river valleys from San Francisco Bay south to Monterey Bay and Point Sur.
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- of or relating to Costanoan or the Costanoans.
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Origin of Costanoan
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for costanoan
Historical Examples
It is quite true that some of the tribal groups inhabiting this territory may not have been members of the Costanoan stock.
They probably had just left Costanoan territory, although, to be sure, the exact tribal boundaries are unknown.
Kroeber classes Saclan as doubtfully Costanoan, but shows the group as Costanoan on his large colored tribal map.