Naskapiadj.n.
/nəˈskɑːpi/, /nəˈskapi/, /ˈnaskəpi/, U.S. /ˈnæskəpi/, Canadian English /nəˈskæpi/ A. adj.
Of, relating to, or designating a North American Indian people of the Montagnais–Naskapi group, inhabiting northern Labrador and Quebec in seasonal settlements.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > ethnicities > North American peoples > peoples of North-Eastern Canada > [adjective]
Cree1744
mountaineer1770
Naskapi1774
Chipewyan1801
Beothuk1842
Montagnais?1847
1774 G. Cartwright Jrnl. 18 June (1792) II. 9 Soon after our arrival there, two canoes of Nescaupick Indians came.
1779 G. Cartwright Jrnl. 7 Mar. (1792) II. 418 My Nescaupick sled..was drawn by the two men, a bloodhound, and a Newfoundland dog.
1863 H. Y. Hind Explor. Labrador Peninsula 214 The caribou is the mainstay of the Montagnais and Nasquapee races.
1884 Amer. Naturalist 18 862 This name [sc. Eskimo] was first given..to the Inuit of Labrador by the Nascopi Indians and by other families of the Algonkins.
1934 D. Jenness Indians of Canada (ed. 2) xviii. 271 Much of the Naskapi territory was open plateau covered with grasses and lichens.
1969 Weekend Mag. (Toronto) 15 Mar. 6/1 I visited Thomas Noah to..take pictures of him playing the peculiar Naskapi snare drum.
1998 Current Anthropol. 39 711/2 Traps that do not fit neatly into the above categories include the Naskapi wolf trap.
B. n.
1. The Naskapi people; a member of this people.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > ethnicities > North American peoples > peoples of North-Eastern Canada > [noun]
mountainer1625
Montagnais1654
mountaineer1703
Cree1760
Mistassini1781
Muskego1785
Red Indian1796
Chipewyan1801
Beothuk1828
red man1842
Naskapi1849
1849 J. McLean Notes 25 Years' Service Hudson's Bay Territory I. 305 The Nascopies, or mountaineers of Labrador, speak a mixture of Cree and Sauteaux, the former predominating.
1863 H. Y. Hind Explor. Labrador Penins. I. iii. 34 On Father Laure's map..the Nasquapees are stated to occupy the country north of this lake under the name of Les Cuneskapi.
1894 11th Ann. Rep. Bureau Amer. Ethnol. 1889–90 267 The Indians of the Ungava district are locally known as Naskopie, a term of reproach applied to them by the mountaineers (the Montagnais of the early Jesuit missionaries).
1908 Catholic Encycl. III. 229/2 To the east are the Micmac, Malecite, Abnaki, Nascapi, and the Montagnais of Labrador.
1957 Encycl. Brit. XV. 741/2 North of the St. Lawrence, the Montagnais and Nascapee resemble the southern Algonkin.
1986 R. B. Morrison & C. R. Wilson Native Peoples viii. 146 The name Montagnais was used..for the many bands that summered at river mouths along the St. Lawrence, and the name Naskapi was used for those living to the north.
2. The Algonquian language of the Naskapi, a dialect of the Montagnais–Naskapi group.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Amerindian > [noun] > northern Amerindian > Algonquian > Cree
Cree1843
Naskapi1946
Wood Cree1958
1946 H. Hoijer Ling. Structures Native Amer. 85 The grouping of the Algonquian languages..: I. Central-Eastern: A. Central Type: Cree–Montagnais–Naskapi.
1992 Internat. Encycl. Linguistics I. 48 Naskapi: 400 speakers reported in 1987 from a population of 765... Closely related to Montagnais, but distinct.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1774