Wampanoag

[ wahm-puh-nawg, wahm-puh-noh-ag ]

noun

, plural Wam·pa·no·ags, (especially collectively) Wam·pa·no·ag

1. a member of a once-powerful North American Indian people who inhabited the area east of Narragansett Bay from Rhode Island to Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket at the time of the Pilgrim settlement.
2. the Eastern Algonquian speech of the Wampanoag people, a dialect of Massachusett.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Wampanoag¹

An Americanism dating back to 1670–80, from Narragansett (spoken in Rhode Island, west of the Wampanoag); literally “those of the east; easterners,” equivalent to Proto-Algonquian *wa·pan ( w )- “dawn” + -o·w- “person of” + *-aki plural suffix

Example Sentences

It pushes back on the narrative that the first Thanksgiving was a happy meal between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag.

From Salon

Last year’s parade added a float designed in consultation with Wampanoag artists and clan mothers.

From New York Times

The Mashpee Wampanoag have lived on Cape Cod for thousands of years, and have 170 acres of reservation land within the boundaries of Mashpee.

From New York Times

It is Wampanoag children who will allow Wôpanâak to thrive as they learn and grow.

From Washington Post

U.S. schoolchildren learn to trace the holiday to Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620 and celebrated the autumn harvest with the Wampanoag peoples.

From Reuters