Tewa
/ˈteɪ.wə/noun
A member of a Pueblo people of New Mexico or the language spoken by the Tewa.
Did you know?Tewa is not a single village name: it refers to a group of closely related Pueblo communities whose traditional language belongs to the Tanoan language family.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-contact period
Tewa
Tewa self-designation
“The community’s indigenous name; its deeper original analysis is uncertain.”
16th–17th Century
Spanish
Tewa
“A name recorded by Spanish colonists and missionaries for Tewa-speaking Pueblo communities.”
18th Century
Spanish
Tewa
“An ethnonym used in colonial descriptions of Pueblo peoples and settlements in New Mexico.”
19th Century
English
Tewa
“An English ethnonym for the people and their language, adopted from Indigenous and Spanish usage.”
Modern English
English
Tewa
“The name of the Tewa people, their language, and the associated Pueblo cultural region.”