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Na-Dene
or Na·de·ne or Na-De·né
[ nah-dey-nee, nah-dey-ney ]
noun
- a group of North American Indian languages, comprising the Athabascan family, Eyak, Tlingit, and Haida, hypothetically considered to be descendants of a single protolanguage: the genetic relationship of either Tlingit or Haida to Athabascan and Eyak is now disputed.
- the hypothesized protolanguage itself.
adjective
- of, belonging to, or pertaining to Na-Dene.
Na-Dene
/ nəˈdiːn; nɑːˈdeɪnɪ /
noun
- a phylum of North American Indian languages including Athapascan, Tlingit, and Haida
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Word History and Origins
Origin of Na-Dene1
First recorded in 1915; name coined by Edward Sapir from assumed reflexes of a single Na-Dene root: Haida na “to live, house,” Tlingit na “people,” unattested Athabascan -ne in dene, representing a word in Athabascan languages for “person, people,” e.g., Navajo diné
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Word History and Origins
Origin of Na-Dene1
from Haida na to dwell + Athapascan dene people; coined by Edward Sapir (1884–1939), American anthropologist
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