Athapascan
Britishnoun
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a group of North American Indian languages belonging to the Na-Dene phylum, including Apache and Navaho
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a speaker of one of these languages
Etymology
Origin of Athapascan
from Cree athapaskaaw scattered grass or reeds
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Savage and most of the smart money favored George Attla, a lame, one-eyed Athapascan Indian from Fairbanks, Alaska.
From Time Magazine Archive
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This Athapascan Indian points to her childhood in the small village of Rampart and her success in the state legislature as examples of her experience with Alaska's varied cultures.
From Time Magazine Archive
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On the west, in British Columbia, the Athapascan tribes nowhere reach the coast, being cut off by the Wakashan, Salishan, and Chimmesyan families.
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 John Wesley Powell
Thus they must have been Athapascan, whether Kato, Sinkyone or Wailaki, it is now impossible to say.
From The Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of California by Sherburne Friend Cook
The Kiowas are of the great Athapascan family of Indians.
From Boys' Book of Indian Warriors and Heroic Indian Women by Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand) Sabin
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