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- Bethuck, Latham in Trans. Philolog. Soc. Lond., 58, 1856
(stated to be “Algonkin rather than aught else”). Latham,
Opuscula, 327, 1860. Latham, El. Comp. Phil., 453, 1862.
- Beothuk, Gatschet in Proc. Am. Philosoph. Soc., 408, Oct.,
1885. Gatschet, ibid., 411, July, 1886 (language affirmed to
represent a distinct linguistic family). Gatschet, ibid., 1,
Jan-June, 1890.
Derivation: Beothuk signifies “Indian” or “red Indian.”
The position of the language spoken by the aborigines of
Newfoundland must be considered to be doubtful.
In 1846 Latham examined the material then accessible, and was led to
the somewhat ambiguous statement that the language “was akin to
those of the ordinary American Indians rather than to the Eskimo;
further investigation showing that, of the ordinary American
languages, it was Algonkin rather than aught else.”
Since then Mr. Gatschet has been able to examine a much larger and
more satisfactory body of material, and although neither in amount
nor quality is the material sufficient to permit final and 58
satisfactory deductions, yet so far as it goes it shows that the
language is quite distinct from any of the Algonquian dialects, and
in fact from any other American tongue.
Geographic Distribution
It seems highly probable that the whole of Newfoundland at the time
of its discovery by Cabot in 1497 was inhabited by
Beothuk Indians.
In 1534 Cartier met with Indians inhabiting the southeastern part of
the island, who, very likely, were of this people, though the
description is too vague to permit certain identification. A century
later the southern portion of the island appears to have been
abandoned by these Indians, whoever they were, on account of
European settlements, and only the northern and eastern parts of the
island were occupied by them. About the beginning of the eighteenth
century western Newfoundland was colonized by the Micmac from Nova
Scotia. As a consequence of the persistent warfare which followed
the advent of the latter and which was also waged against the
Beothuk by the Europeans, especially the French, the Beothuk rapidly
wasted in numbers. Their main territory was soon confined to the
neighborhood of the Exploits River. The tribe was finally lost sight
of about 1827, having become extinct, or possibly the few survivors
having crossed to the Labrador coast and joined the Nascapi with
whom the tribe had always been on friendly terms.
Upon the map only the small portion of the island is given to the
Beothuk which is known definitely to have been occupied by them,
viz., the neighborhood of the Exploits River, though, as stated
above, it seems probable that the entire island was once in their
possession.
Indian Linguistic Families of America North of Mexico, 1891
Linguistic
Families
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