Nassadj.n.
/nas/, U.S. /næs/ Now rare.
A. adj.
1. Designating a member of a North American Indian people who inhabit the Nass river basin.The more usual name is now Nisga'a n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > ethnicities > North American peoples > peoples of British Columbia, Alberta, and Alaska > [adjective]
Dogrib1766
Nootka1784
Nootkan1790
Dog-ribbed1791
beaver1801
Okanagan1814
Carrier1820
Sitka1822
Nanaimo1827
Loucheux1828
Nass1830
Tsimshian1836
Sitkan1851
Makah1855
Snohomish1856
Wakash1856
Songhees1860
Stoney1861
Nisga'a1874
Tlingit1881
Nimpkish1886
Wakashan1892
Musqueam1902
Gitksan1917
Squamish1928
'Namgis1966
Nuu-chah-nulth1978
Nuxalk1981
1830 J. S. Green in Missionary Herald (Boston) Nov. 344/1 The Nass Indians live on the continent.
1834 W. Tolmie Jrnls. (1963) 283 Several lodges of the Nasse tribe are scattered around the Fort [Simpson].
1856 Trans. Philol. Soc. London 72 In Gallatin, the Chemmesyan, Billechula, and Hailtsa are all thrown together in a group called Naas.
1870 W. H. Dall Alaska & Resources 415 One of the Nasse chiefs was said to have had forty wives.
1952 J. R. Swanton Indian Tribes N. Amer. (U.S. Bureau Amer. Ethnol. Bull. No. 145) 586 Niska... Also called: Nass River Indians, from their habitat.]
2. Designating the dialect of Nass-Gitksan spoken by the Nass; = Nisga'a n. Cf. Nass–Gitksan n.
ΚΠ
1836 A. Gallatin Pref. Let. Synopsis 29 Jan. in Archaeologia Americana 2 8 The guttural Nass language, mentioned..as spoken between King George III's and Queen Charlotte's Islands, was unknown to me.
1889 5th Rep. on North-Western Tribes Canada (Brit. Assoc. Advancem. Sci.) 92 [The Tsimshian] consider..the Nass language the oldest dialect of Tsimshian.
1911 F. Boas Handbk. Amer. Indian Langs. (U.S. Bureau Amer. Ethnol. Bull. No. 40) I. 290 The system of vowels of Tsimshian is nearly the same as that of the Nass dialect.
1999 M. Mithun Langs. Native N. Amer. 276 In the Nass River Tsimshian texts characters use Coast Tsimshian and Gitksan.]
B. n.
1. The Tsimshian dialect of the Nass people. Cf. Nass–Gitksan n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Amerindian > [noun] > northern Amerindian > Penutian > Tsimshian or Nass
Nass1830
Nisga'a1889
Tsimshian1911
Nass–Gitksan1970
1830 J. S. Green in Missionary Herald (Boston) Nov. 344/1 The Nass to my ear is harsh and disagreeable.
1911 F. Boas Handbk. Amer. Indian Langs. (U.S. Bureau Amer. Ethnol. Bull. No. 40) I. 292 Many u-sounds of Tsimishian are ī or ē in Nass.
2. A member of the Nass people.
ΚΠ
1863 Hist. Mag. 7 74 The Chimseyan connexion ensues..including the Sebassas, Neecelowes, Nass, and other offsets.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1830