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

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

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

From Time Magazine Archive

South of them, extending in a broad band across the continent from Hudson’s Bay to the Pacific, and almost to the Great Lakes below, is the Athapascan stock.

From The Myths of the New World A Treatise on the Symbolism and Mythology of the Red Race of America by Brinton, Daniel Garrison

Some of these families, like the Algonquian and Athapascan, occupied great districts and contained many languages; others, like the Zuñian, took up only a few square miles of space and contained a single tribe.

From American Indians by Starr, Frederick

Her low position is illustrated by the peculiar funeral custom of the Takulli, an Athapascan tribe on the Upper Frazer River.

From The Red Man's Continent: a chronicle of aboriginal America by Huntington, Ellsworth