Iroquoians

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. Members of the Indigenous peoples of northeastern North America who spoke the Iroquoian languages, such as the Mohawk and Seneca
2. The Native American peoples of the northeastern woodlands whose languages belong to the Iroquoian family, including the Cherokee and Huron
3. Indigenous groups of eastern North America linked by a common language family, among them the Oneida, Onondaga and Tuscarora

Etymology: "Iroquoians" is the plural of "Iroquoian", an adjective and noun formed from "Iroquois" plus the suffix "-an", which English took through Middle English from Old French and ultimately from Latin "-ānus", a marker meaning belonging to or relating to. The suffix is the same one found in words like "American" and "Lutheran", so the word simply means related to the Iroquois. The more interesting part is the base word. "Iroquois" is itself the name English settlers and French explorers used for the Haudenosaunee confederacy, and the peoples who speak related languages are grouped under the "Iroquoian" label, so the term describes a language family and its speakers rather than a single nation. Because the name was applied from outside, the group's own names for themselves differ, and scholars today often use the broader term for linguistic classification.