Ktunaxa

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An Indigenous people of southeastern British Columbia and northwestern Montana and Idaho ; the language traditionally spoken by this people
2. A First Nations group living in the Kootenay region of Canada and the United States ; the Indigenous tongue historically spoken by these communities
3. The Indigenous nation native to the Kootenay area of western Canada and the northwestern United States ; a language of the same community, also called Kutenai

Etymology: Ktunaxa is a self-designation: the name the people and their language use for themselves, not one given by outsiders. The people live in southeastern British Columbia, northwestern Montana, and northern Idaho, and the language is a language isolate with no proven relatives among its neighbours. The English spellings "Kootenay" and "Kutenai" are older, and they are attempts to render the Ktunaxa name in English and French. The Ktunaxa spelling is the form the nation now uses in its own publications and institutions, so it appears in place of the older spellings. The precise meaning of the name in the Ktunaxa language is not firmly established, and the explanations offered for it are not reliable enough to repeat.