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