Talk:Kenai, Alaska
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[edit] Name
The name Kenai is probably derived from Kenayskaya, the Russian name for the Cook Inlet and translates to "flat, barren land". - It does not translate from Russian at all, unless it is some obscure obsolete word... Are there any sources ? --Tigga en 06:21, 4 March 2007 (UTC)
- Good question. I'm doing a bunch of work right now related to the Dena'ina, & have come across some references to the name "Kenaitze," will see if I can find them again & add cites. --Yksin 01:18, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
Or, it could refer to the Inuit word kenai (black bear). Unlikely, as there are no indigenous Inuit within 500 miles of Kenai. The only Alaskan Natives that self identify as Inuit are the Inupiat on the Arctic coast:
Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks [1]:
"Most Alaskans continue to accept the name "Eskimo," particularly because "Inuit" refers only to the Inupiat of northern Alaska, the Inuit of Canada, and the Kalaallit of Greenland, and is not a word in the Yupik languages of Alaska and Siberia."
The Dena'ina of the Kenai Peninsula are Athabascan, not Inuit.--Edgewise 17:41, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
