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The Nez Perce (autonym: Niimíipu) are a Native American tribe who live in the Pacific Northwest region (Columbia River Plateau) of the United States. An anthropological interpretation says they descended from the Old Cordilleran Culture, which moved south from the Rocky Mountains and west into lands where the tribe coalesced.〔Josephy, Alvin M. (''The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest'' ), Boston: Mariner Books, 1997. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-395-85011-4.〕 The federally recognized Nez Perce Nation currently governs and lives within its reservation in Idaho.〔(R. David Edmunds ) "The Nez Perce Flight for Justice," ''American Heritage'', Fall 2008.〕 Their name for themselves is Nimíipuu (pronounced ), meaning, "The People," in their language, part of the Sahaptin family.〔Aoki, Haruo. ''Nez Perce Dictionary.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. ISBN 978-0-520-09763-6.〕 They speak the Nez Perce language or Niimiipuutímt, a Sahaptian language related to the several dialects of Sahaptin. The Sahaptian sub-family is one of the branches of the Plateau Penutian family (which in turn may be related to a larger Penutian grouping). ==Name== ''Nez Percé'' is an exonym given by French Canadian fur traders who visited the area regularly in the late 18th century, meaning literally "pierced nose". Today the Nez Perce identify most often as Niimíipu in Sahaptin.〔 The tribe also uses the term "Nez Perce," as do the United States Government in its official dealings with them, and contemporary historians. Older historical ethnological works use the French spelling of ''Nez Percé,'' with the diacritic. The original French pronunciation is , with three syllables. William Clark in his journals referred to the people as the Chopunnish . This term is an adaptation of the term ''cú·pʼnitpeľu'' (the Nez Perce people) which is formed from ''cú·pʼnit'' (piercing with a pointed object) and ''peľu'' (people). When analyzed through the ''Nez Perce Language Dictionary,'' the term ''cúpnitpelu'' contains no reference to "Piercing with a pointed object," as described by D.E. Walker. The prefix ''cú''- means "in single file." This prefix, combined with the verb ''-piní'', "to come out (e.g. of forest, bushes, ice)". Finally, with the suffix of ''-pelú'', meaning "people or inhabitants of". Put all three parts of the Nez Perce word together now to get ''cú''- + -''piní'' + ''pelú'' = ''cúpnitpelu'', or "the People Walking Single File Out of the Forest." Nez Perce oral tradition indicates the name "Cuupn'itpel'uu" meant "we walked out of the woods or walked out of the mountains" and referred to the time before the Nez Perce had horses. Nez Perce is a misnomer given by the interpreter of the Lewis and Clark Expedition at the time they first encountered the Nez Perce in 1805. It was a French term meaning "pierced nose." This is an inaccurate description of the tribe. They did not practice nose piercing or wearing ornaments. The "pierced nose" tribe lived on and around the lower Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest and are commonly called the Chinook tribe by historians and anthropologists. The Chinook relied heavily upon salmon, as did the Nez Perce. The peoples shared fishing and trading sites but the Chinook were much more hierarchical in their social arrangements. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nez Perce people」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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