Duwamish
/duːˈwɑːmɪʃ/noun
A Coast Salish Indigenous people of the Puget Sound region and the name of their traditional homeland and river in present-day Washington State.
Did you know?Duwamish is an English rendering of the Lushootseed name dxʷdəwʔabš, and the people’s traditional territory centered on the interconnected waterways around Elliott Bay and the Duwamish River.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-contact period
Lushootseed
dxʷdəwʔabš
“The traditional Lushootseed name for the Duwamish people; commonly translated as “people of the inside.””
18th–19th Centuries
Lushootseed
dxʷdəwʔ
“The place-name element associated with the Duwamish homeland; its precise segmentation and interpretation are discussed differently in linguistic and historical sources.”
19th Century
English
Duwamish
“An English spelling adopted for the Indigenous people and their principal river in the Puget Sound area.”
1850s
English
Duwamish River
“The English name increasingly used on maps and in colonial records for the major river flowing into Elliott Bay.”
Modern English
English
Duwamish
“The established name of the Duwamish people, their historic homeland, and associated geographic features.”
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