Placenames

Tlingit placenames are essential to understanding place and belonging. A tremendous amount of work has taken place by many organizations and individuals to document placenames and to move forward with the restoration of these placenames to decolonize the landscape and promote the historical and current uses of Alaska Native languages.

Tlingit placenames have been well documented and tremendous acknowledgement and gunalchéesh to: Harry Bremner Sr, George Davis (D), Henry Davis Sr, Nora Dauenhauer, Forrest DeWitt, Albert Frank Sr, Matthew Fred Sr, Jimmie George Sr, Lydia George, Paul Jackson, Mark Jacobs Jr, George James, George Jim Sr, George John Sr, Andrew P. Johnson,  William Nelson Sr, Charlie Olson, William Paul Sr, Tom Ukas, Jimmy Williams Sr, Robert Zuboff,  Ruth Demmert, Mike Jackson, Dawn Skeeʼ Jackson, Topsy Johnson, Bessie Cooley, Lonnie Hotch, Jennie Lindoff, Roby Littlefield, Nelly Lord, Ethel Makinen, Al McKinley, Emma Sam, Esther Shea, Margaret Stevens, Carol Williams, Johnny Marks, Andrew Hope III, Richard Dauenhauer, Jeff Leer, Tom Thornton, Louis Shotridge, George Emmons, Ronald Olson, John Swanton, and Catherine McClellan.

Placename Presentations:

Aadé Ḵutudziteeyi Yé: Lingít Aaní Káa Saaxʼú • The Way We Live: Names on Lingít Land
An introduction to how placenames work in Lingít, an overview of select names on Áakʼw Ḵwáan Aaní, and a proposal of how to create new names.

Placename Projects:

University of Alaska Southeast Placename Map & Carto Map
Based on the publication Haa Léelkʼu Has Aaní Saaxʼú K̲udzitee by Tom Thornton with additional linguistic analysis of placenames and inclusion of K̲wáan boundaries based upon the Traditional Tlingit Country map produced by Tlingit Readers.

Lḵóot – Jilḵáat Storyboard
The storyboard is part of the Crossing Boundaries through Communication project, cooperatively supported by the Chilkoot Indian Association, Haines Borough Public Library, and a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a federal agency that fosters innovation, leadership, and lifelong learning.

Taku River Tlingit Place Names
When you visit a place in our vast province or country, do you think about how that place was named? Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps the place had a name before European explorers and settlers arrived and gave it an English name. Many areas in our province had names before European newcomers renamed the places that were already known to Indigenous peoples.

In the most northwestern area of British Columbia, the Indigenous peoples are the Taku River Tlingit. The Taku River Tlingit are Tlingit peoples whose territory extends between British Columbia, Southern Yukon, and Southern Alaska. The word Tlingit can be translated to mean People of the Tides. Taku River Tlingit The Taku River Tlingit Place Names Map, www.trt.geolive.ca has been created to bring awareness to the traditional Taku River Tlingit place names in the northwestern area of British Columbia.

Placename Pronunciation:

Áakʼw K̲wáan k̲a Tʼaak̲ú K̲wáan

Tlax̱satanjín (“Idle Hands” or “Hands at Rest”)
Tlax̱satanjín

Leave a Reply