Costanoan

American  

[kos-, koh-stuh-noh-uhn] / ˌkɒs-, ˌkoʊ stəˈnoʊ ən /

noun

1. a family of eight languages, now extinct, spoken by American Indian peoples of Penutian descent residing in coastal California.

2. any of the speakers of these languages or their descendants, who traditionally inhabited the coast and adjacent river valleys from San Francisco Bay south to Monterey Bay and Point Sur.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Costanoans or their language.

Etymology

Origin of Costanoan

First recorded in 1885–90; alteration of American Spanish costeño “coast dweller,” equivalent to cost(a) + -eño noun suffix; cf. coast, cuesta; see also -an ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Costanoan

By then, California’s Indigenous population had been devastated—including the Ohlone, or Costanoan, people, whose lands once included much of the San Francisco Bay Area.

From Science Magazine ● Mar. 20, 2022

A member of the Monterey-based Ohlone Costanoan Esselen Nation, Miranda says many of the indigenous people she has talked to about the San Gabriel Mission fire feel conflicted.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2020

The latter is Costanoan: the former could not be Wintun.

From The Aboriginal Population of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, California by Cook, Sherburne Friend

They probably had just left Costanoan territory, although, to be sure, the exact tribal boundaries are unknown.

From The Aboriginal Population of Alameda and Contra Costa Counties, California by Cook, Sherburne Friend

Recent investigation by Messrs. Curtin and Henshaw have confirmed the soundness of Latham’s views and, as stated under head of the Costanoan family, the two groups of languages are considered to be distinct.

From Indian Linguistic Families Of America, North Of Mexico Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-1886, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 1-142 by Powell, John Wesley