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Revision as of 23:59, 4 August 2005 by Diderot (talk | contribs) (oops)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Chipewyan are an Aboriginal people in Canada. The Chipewyan live in the Arctic regions of Canada around Hudson Bay, including Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. The group also inhabits northern parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. There are roughly 6,000 Chipewyan.
The Chipewyan language is part of the Athabaskan linguistic group - those First Nations whose name for themselves is a cognate of the word Dene ("people"): Denésoliné. The name Chipewyan is, like many people of the Canadian prairies, of Algonquian origin. It is derived from the Plains Cree name for them, Cīpwēyān (ᒌᐻᔮᐣ) - "pointed skin", from cīpwāw (ᒌᐚᐤ) "to be pointed"; and wayān (ᐘᔮᐣ) - a skin or hide - a reference to the cut and style of Chipewyan parkas. Many Chipewyan believe that the name is in some way derogatory, but these sorts of etymological beliefs about names are common among Canadian First Nations (see Eskimo) and not necessarily true.
Despite the superficial similarity of the names, the Chipewyan are not related to the Chippewa or Ojibwa.
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