English
Slavey
Slavey comes from French Esclave.
- Frenchc. 1600–presentEsclave
- Englishearliest quotation 2025Slavey
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Frenchc. 1600–presentEsclave
- Englishearliest quotation 2025Slavey
Earliest quotation: 2025, Marie-Ève Hudon, Language regimes in the Provinces and the Territories: “In the Northwest Territories, the languages with official status…”
The story
In English, the final e came to be pronounced as if Slave were a native name; this pronunciation was first written Slavé and later Slavey. The names of the Slave River, Lesser Slave River, Great Slave Lake and Lesser Slave Lake do not necessarily derive from the people now known as Slavey in English.
Every English word from French Esclave
Today it means
noun A member of an Athabascan First Nations people indigenous to the region near the Great Slave Lake in western Canada
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / French Esclave / Slavey