Get They Call Them Apaches

The Apaches did not refer to themselves as "Apache" which was a word that translated to enemy in Zuni and was later adopted by the Spanish. Apaches instead referred to themselves with variants of "nde," simply meaning "the people."

The Nde people refer to themselves as Nde, Inde, Tinde, or Tinneh, which means, “The people.” The term Apache that is commonly used to refer to the Nde people actually comes from the Zuni word ápachu, which means “enemy”.

The name Apache most probably came from the Zuñi word apachu, meaning "enemy," or possibly Awa'tehe, the Ute name for Apaches. The Apaches referred to themselves as Inde or Diné, meaning "the people." The Apaches arrived in the Southwest between A.D. 1000 and 1400.

Name. The people who are known today as Apache were first encountered by the conquistadors of the Spanish crown, and thus the term Apache has its roots in the Spanish language. The Spanish first used the term Apachu de Nabajo (Navajo) in the 1620s, referring to people in the Chama region east of the San Juan River.

The Navajo are Athabascan speakers, closely related to the Apache and more distantly to other Athabascan-speaking peoples in Alaska and Canada. They are relative newcomers to the Southwest, having migrated into the region ca.

The term Apache refers to six major Apache-speaking groups: Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Plains Apache, and Western Apache. Historically, the term was also used for Comanches, Mojaves, Hualapais, and Yavapais, none of whom speak Apache languages.

Apache warriors hunted buffalo on the grassy plains. They hunted antelope on the prairies and deer in the mountains. They killed only what they needed for their immediate use. Their weapons were simple, but the men were swift and cunning hunters.

The Nde people refer to themselves as Nde, Inde, Tinde, or Tinneh, which means, “The people.” The term Apache that is commonly used to refer to the Nde people actually comes from the Zuni word ápachu, which means “enemy”.