NA-DENE Definition & Meaning

Na-Dene

or ��·��·�Ա� or ��-�ٱ�·��é

[ nah-dey-nee, nah-dey-ney ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

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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51�Թ� 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 �徱��é

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51�Թ� 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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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

The researchers also study how these ancient peoples are related to modern populations who speak Eskimo-Aleut, Na-Dene and other languages.

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This tangled family tree underpins the ancestry of modern speakers of indigenous Na-Dene and Eskimo-Aleut languages.

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With the exception of the Eskimo-Aleut language family of the American Arctic and the Na-Dene language family of Alaska, northwestern Canada, and the U.S.

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Using glottochronology he estimated that the ancestors of Aleuts had crossed the strait around 2000 b.c. and that the ancestors of Na-Dene had made the journey around 7000 B.C.

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The eastward group reached North America and became the Na-Dene speakers, while the westward group returned to Siberia and settled along the Yenisei River.

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