Abenaki

The story

1. Montagnais · derived fromouabanākionek“people of the eastern country”
2. French · borrowed fromabénaquis
3. English todayAbenaki

From French abénaquis, either from Montagnais ouabanākionek (“people of the eastern country”) or from the Western Abenaki autonym Wôbanaki (whence also the English calque Dawnland) or an Eastern Abenaki/Penobscot cognate of the same, from Algonquin. Ultimately a compound word meaning "people of the east" or "people of the dawn-land", from Proto-Algonquian *wa·panki (“dawn”) + *askyi (“land”).

First known use, by meaning

• early 18th century A member of an Algonquian First People from northeastern North America, mainly Maine and Quebec.
• early 20th century A complex of Eastern Algonquian lects, originally spoken in what is now Maine, and Quebec, divided into Western Abenaki and Eastern Abenaki (Penobscot).
• early 19th century Related or pertaining to the Abenaki people or language.