Chitimachan Family 

 Native American Nations | Linguistic Families                    

• Chitimachas, Gallatin in Trans. and Coll. Am. Antiq. Soc., II, 114, 117, 1836. Prichard, Phys. Hist. Mankind, V, 407, 1847.
• Chetimachas, Gallatin in Trans. and Coll. Am. Antiq. Soc., II, 306, 1836. Gallatin in Trans. Am. Eth. Soc., II, pt. 1, xcix, 1848. Latham, Nat. Hist. Man, 341, 1850. Gallatin in Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, III, 402, 1853.
• Chetimacha, Latham in Proc. Philolog. Soc. Lond., II, 31-50, 1846. Latham, Opuscula, 293, 1860.
• Chetemachas, Gallatin in Trans. Am. Eth. Soc., II, pt. 1, 77, 1848 (same as Chitimachas).
• Shetimasha, Gatschet, Creek Mig. Legend, I, 44, 1884. Gatschet in Science, 414, April 29, 1887.
• Derivation: From Choctaw words tchúti, “cooking vessels,” másha, “they possess,” (Gatschet).

This family was based upon the language of the tribe of the same name, “formerly living in the vicinity of Lake Barataria, and still existing (1836) in lower Louisiana.”

Du Pratz asserted that the Taensa and Chitimacha were kindred tribes of the Na´htchi. A vocabulary of the Shetimasha, however, revealed to Gallatin no traces of such affinity. He considered both to represent distinct families, a conclusion subsequent investigations have sustained.

In 1881 Mr. Gatschet visited the remnants of this tribe in Louisiana. He found about fifty individuals, a portion of whom lived on Grand River, but the larger part in Charenton, St. Mary’s Parish. The tribal organization was abandoned in 1879 on the death of their chief.

Indian Linguistic Families of America North of Mexico, 1891

Linguistic Families