Tagish

Tagish
Tā̀gish kotʼīnèʼ

17: Tagish area
Regions with significant populations
 Canada ( Yukon)
Languages
English, Tagish
Religion
Christianity, Animism
Related ethnic groups
Kaska, Tahltan

The Tagish or Tagish Khwáan (Tagish: Tā̀gish kotʼīnèʼ, Tlingit: Taagish ḵwáan) are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group that lived around Tagish Lake and Marsh Lake, in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Tagish people intermarried heavily with Tlingit people from the coast and the Tagish language became extinct in 2008. Today Tagish people live mainly in Carcross or Whitehorse and are members of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation or the Kwanlin Dün First Nation.

Members of the Tagish First Nation made the gold discovery that led to the Klondike Gold Rush: Keish (Skookum Jim Mason),[1] Shaaw Tláa (Kate Carmack)[2]] and Káa goox (Dawson Charlie).[3]

The word Tagish also refers to the Tagish language, an Athabaskan language spoken by the ancestors of these people.

Tagish means "it (spring ice) is breaking up" and also gave its name to Tagish Lake.

There are currently only two remaining people who speak Tagish fluently.

References

  1. ↑ Keish (Skookum Jim, James Mason) at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
  2. ↑ Shaaw Tláa (Kate Carmack) at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
  3. ↑ Káa goox (Dawson Charlie) at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
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