Koyukon

[koi-yoo-kon, kah-]

noun

1. a member of a North American Indian people living in the Yukon River valley in west-central Alaska.

2. the Athabascan language of the Koyukon.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Koyukon¹

Respelling, after the Koyukuk and Yukon Rivers, of earlier Co-Youkon, from Russian kuyukantsy (plural), derivative of Kuyukak “the Koyukuk River,” ultimately derived from Inupiaq kuiyuk

Example Sentences

"To officially change the name would not only dishonor those who have fought to protect Denali's legacy but also dismiss the voices of the Native communities whose roots are intertwined with this land," said Alaska Representative Maxine Dibert, a Democrat and a member of the indigenous Koyukon Athabascan community.

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"Our nation's tallest mountain, which has been called Denali for thousands of years, must continue to be known by the rightful name bestowed by Alaska's Koyukon Athabascans, who have stewarded the land since time immemorial," she said.

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In 2015, then-President Barack Obama redesignated the mountain Denali, a name long championed by Alaskans, which roughly translates to “the great one” in Koyukon Athabascan, a Native Alaskan language.

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“The Koyukon people have known this mountain as ‘Denali’ for centuries, and even the state’s elected officials oppose this attempt to rename it,” Athan Manuel, the director of Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program, said in a statement.

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The weeklong Koyukon Athabascan burial ceremony in September was traditional in all ways but one: McCormick died in 1931.

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