-------------------- Naahneesh -- person, people, Indian(s), Cahto ----------------------

Naahneesh -- human(s), person, people, Indian(s), Cahto people

Pronunciation:
  Like "NAHH-naysh" (Listen)

Etymology:
  Unknown -- possibly related to a verb indicating travelling about, being nomadic.

Culture:

  The most basic meaning of naahneesh seems to be "person, people, human being(s)".
  Like many "tribes" in North America the people we call today "Cahto" were not really a single unified people under one government in earlier times. They were a number of bands living near each other, sharing the same language, and recognizing some degree of kinship and alliance with each other. As a result there was no real Cahto term for "the Cahto people" that would encompass all and only those people we now consider to be Cahto. The Cahto themselves used the band names (e.g. Tc'ibeetaahdin-kiiyaahaan, "Douglas Firs Village Band" (on Cahto Creek between Laytonville and Cahto)). To indicate the whole Cahto people they could use the term naahneesh, but this also included the other "Indian" peoples of the region.
  As with similar terms used by many of the California peoples the term Naahneesh also means "Indians", as opposed to whites and other non-Indians.

  A good way to think of this term is as distinguishing three different oppositions:

    Naahneesh vs. everything non-human
    Naahneesh vs. non-Indians
    Naahneesh vs. non-Cahto

  
Related Languages:
  None of the other California Athabaskan peoples use a term related to this one. It is one of the rare words that is actually unique to Cahto.

  Other languages' words meaning "person, people, Indian(s)":
    Lassik, Sinkyone: koneest'ee', konist'ee' (literally, "his body")
    Nongatl: koneest'ee'
    Wailaki: konist'ee'
    Hupa: k'iwinya'n-ya:n (literally, "acorn-eater")
  

-------------------------
Sally Anderson
sally@turtlenodes.com
Cahto Language Home Page: http://www.turtlenodes.com/calath/caindex.html