Athapascan

British  

/ ˌæθəˈpæskən, ˌæθəˈbæskən /

noun

1. a group of North American Indian languages belonging to the Na-Dene phylum, including Apache and Navaho

2. a speaker of one of these languages

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Etymology

Origin of Athapascan

from Cree athapaskaaw scattered grass or reeds

Example Sentences

Savage and most of the smart money favored George Attla, a lame, one-eyed Athapascan Indian from Fairbanks, Alaska.

From Time Magazine Archive

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

Only in two places do the Indians of the Athapascan family intrude upon Eskimo territory, about Cook’s Inlet, and at the mouth of Copper River.

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

Mr. Dorsey obtained a vocabulary in 1884 which he has compared with Athapascan, Kusan, Yakonan, and other languages spoken in the region without finding any marked resemblances.

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

The letter A signifies that Merriam had obtained an Athapascan name for the site, thus confirming its existence as an entity known to the neighboring tribes in pre-American times.

From The Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of California by Cook, Sherburne Friend