Na-Dene

or Na·de·ne or Na-De·né

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

noun

1. 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.
2. the hypothesized protolanguage itself.

adjective

1. of, belonging to, or pertaining to Na-Dene.

Na-Dene

/ nəˈdiːn; nɑːˈdeɪnɪ /

noun

1. a phylum of North American Indian languages including Athapascan, Tlingit, and Haida

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of Na-Dene¹

from Haida na to dwell + Athapascan dene people; coined by Edward Sapir (1884–1939), American anthropologist