Beothukan

Beothukan Family, Beothuk Indians (from the tribal or group name Béothuk, which probably signifies ‘man,’ or ‘human being,’ but was employed by Europeans to mean ‘Indian,’ or ‘Red Indian’; in the latter case because the Beothuk colored themselves and tinted their utensils and arms with red ocher). So far as known only a single tribe, called Beothuk, which inhabited the island of Newfoundland when first discovered, constituted this family, although existing vocabularies indicate it marked dialectic differences. At first the Beothuk were classified either as Eskimauan or as Algonquian, but now, largely through the researches of Gatschet, it is deemed best … Read more