Onondaga
/ˌɒnənˈdɑːɡə
/noun (plural same or Onondagas)
1A member of an Iroquois people, one of the five comprising the original Iroquois confederacy, formerly inhabiting an area near Syracuse, New York.Hofstra begins by recalling a violent skirmish in 1742 on the Virginia frontier between white settlers and a group of Oneidas and Onondagas traveling from their homelands in New York to the Carolinas....
- In one pending claim, the Onondagas claim they own a large tract of land on which sits, among many other things, the city of Syracuse.
- Then Olbrechts spent three months in 1928 among the Tuscarora, and in 1929 he was for a brief time with the Onondaga.
2 [mass noun] The extinct Iroquoian language of the Onondaga.The Cherokee language belongs to the Iroquoian family of languages and is therefore related to Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Tuscarora, among others.
adjective
Relating to the Onondaga or their language.The Tuscarora slowly emigrated into Iroquois territory and settled amongst the Oneida (and on Onondaga margins)....
- The next speaker, Audrey Shenandoah, is a Clan Mother of the Eel Clan, Onondaga Nation.
- A delegation of 40 Onondaga envoys arrived to negotiate a cease-fire and were seized and sent back to France as slaves.
Origin
From the Iroquoian name of their main settlement, literally 'on the hill'.