Nootka

[ noot-kuh, noot- ]

noun

, plural Noot·kas, (especially collectively) Noot·ka

1. former name of the Nuu-chah-nulth.

Nootka

/ ˈnuːt-; ˈnʊtkə /

noun

1. -ka-kas a member of a North American Indian people living in British Columbia and Vancouver Island
2. the language of this people, belonging to the Wakashan family

Word History and Origins

Origin of Nootka¹

First recorded in 1780–90; possibly from Nootka nu⋅tka⋅ “to circle around,” mistaken by Captain James Cook to be the name of the people or of Nootka Sound

Example Sentences

What immeasurable interval between it and the prayer of the Nootka Indian on preparing for war!

From Project Gutenberg

There she anchored before a large Nootka Indian village, called Newity.

From Project Gutenberg

These houses are sometimes 40 by 100 feet in the Nootka and Salish regions, and are occupied by a number of families.

From Project Gutenberg

In Nootka we have an unusually large number of derivational affixes (expressing concepts of group II).

From Project Gutenberg

But is the Nootka correlate of “the small fires in the house” the true equivalent of an English “the house-firelets”?

From Project Gutenberg