Na-Dene

or Na·de·ne or Na-De·né

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

/ nɑˈdeɪ ni, ˌnɑ deɪˈneɪ /

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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.

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Origin of Na-Dene

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

Words nearby Na-Dene

NACRO, nad, nada, Nadab, Nadar, Na-Dene, Nader, Nader, Ralph, NADH, Nadi, Nadine

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012