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Revision as of 19:24, 26 March 2006 by 69.235.224.32 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Dene Suline language is part of the Athabaskan linguistic group - those First Nations whose name for themselves is a cognate of the word Dene ("people"): Denésoliné (or Dënesųłiné). 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 and not necessarily true. (See Eskimo for an example.)
Despite the superficial similarity of the names, the Chipewyan are not related to the Chippewa or Ojibwa.
An important historic Chipewyan is Thanadelthur ("Marten Jumping", a young woman who early in the 18th century helped her people to establish peace with the Cree, and to get involved with the fur trade (Steckley 1999).
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