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Tonto Apache
The Tonto Apache (Western Apache: Dilzhę́’é, Dilzhe'e, and Dilzhe’eh Apache) is a band of Western Apache people in Arizona.
The term "Tonto" is also used for their dialect, one of the three dialects of the Western Apache language, a member of Southern Athabaskan language family.
Today, Tonto Apache people are enrolled in several federally recognized tribes in Arizona. These include:
The name Dilzhę́’é is a Western Apache name that may translate as "people with high-pitched voices," but the etymology is unclear.
The Dilzhe’e Apache refer to themselves (endonym or autonym) as Dilzhę́’é, as do the San Carlos Apache. The Western Apache from Bylas use the word Dilzhę́’é to refer to both the San Carlos and Tonto Apache groups.
The White Mountain Apache use the term Dilzhę́’é to refer to the Bylas, San Carlos, and Tonto Apache. The Chiricahua called the Tonto Apache Ben-et-dine, Binii’e’dine’ or Bíniʼ Ádinii ('brainless people, people without minds', i.e. 'wild, crazy, those whom you don't understand'). The neighboring Western Apache ethnonym for them was Koun'nde ('wild rough people'), from which the Spanish derived their use of Tonto ('loose, foolish') for the group. The kindred but enemy Navajo to the north called both the Tonto Apache and their allies, the Yavapai, Dilzhʼíʼ dinéʼiʼ, literally translated as 'people with high-pitched voices'.
The name Tonto is considered offensive by some, due to its etymology and meaning in Spanish, although that usage was derived from their learning the names by which neighboring groups referred to the Dilzhe’e. The name Tonto Apache has been widely used by most people outside the Western Apache communities. The term Tonto is encountered the more frequently in anthropology literature, especially older works, than Dilzhe’e.
The Tonto Apache lived alongside the Wipukepa (“People from the Foot of the Red Rock”) and Kewevkapaya, two of the four subgroups of the Yavapai of central and western Arizona. The Tonto Apache territory stretched from the San Francisco Peaks, East Verde River and Oak Creek Canyon along the Verde River into the Mazatzal Mountains and to the Salt River in the SW and the Tonto Basin in the SE, extending eastwards towards the Little Colorado River in Arizona. The Dilzhę́’é Apache (Tonto Apache) lived usually east of the Verde River (Tu Cho n'lin, "big water running," or Tu'cho nLi'i'i, "big water flowing"), and most of the Yavapai bands west of it. The Wipukepa tribal areas in the San Francisco Peaks, along the Upper Verde River, Oak Creek Canyon, and Fossil Creek overlapped with those of the Northern Tonto Apache. Likewise, the Kwevkepaya shared hunting and gathering grounds east of the Verde River, along Fossil Creek, East Verde River, Salt River, and in the Superstition Mountains, Sierra Ancha and Pinaleno Mountains with Southern Tonto Apache and bands of the San Carlos Apache. Therefore they formed bilingual mixed-tribal bands, whose members could not be readily distinguished by outsiders (Americans, Mexicans or Spanish) except by their languages. The Apache spoke the Tonto dialect of the Western Apache language (Ndee biyati' / Nnee biyati') and the Yavapai spoke the Yavapai language, a branch of Upland Yuman. Living together in common rancherias, whether they considered themselves to be Apaches or Yavapais, depending on their mother tongue as the origin of the matrilineal society, directed by the mother. Most of them spoke both languages, and the headman of each band usually had two names, one from each tradition. The ethnic Europeans referred to the Yavapai and Apache together as Tonto or Tonto Apache. The peoples raided and warred together against enemy tribes such as the Tohono O'odham and the Akimel O'odham. Scholars cannot tell from records whether the writers of the time when using the term Tonto Apache, were referring to Yavapai or Apache, or those mixed bands. In addition, the Europeans often referred to the Wipukepa and Kwevkepaya incorrectly as the Yavapai Apache or Yuma Apache. To further confusion, the Europeans referred to the Tolkepaya, the southwestern group of Yavapai, and the Hualapai (who belonged to the Upland Yuma peoples) as Yuma Apache or Mohave Apache.
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Tonto Apache
The Tonto Apache (Western Apache: Dilzhę́’é, Dilzhe'e, and Dilzhe’eh Apache) is a band of Western Apache people in Arizona.
The term "Tonto" is also used for their dialect, one of the three dialects of the Western Apache language, a member of Southern Athabaskan language family.
Today, Tonto Apache people are enrolled in several federally recognized tribes in Arizona. These include:
The name Dilzhę́’é is a Western Apache name that may translate as "people with high-pitched voices," but the etymology is unclear.
The Dilzhe’e Apache refer to themselves (endonym or autonym) as Dilzhę́’é, as do the San Carlos Apache. The Western Apache from Bylas use the word Dilzhę́’é to refer to both the San Carlos and Tonto Apache groups.
The White Mountain Apache use the term Dilzhę́’é to refer to the Bylas, San Carlos, and Tonto Apache. The Chiricahua called the Tonto Apache Ben-et-dine, Binii’e’dine’ or Bíniʼ Ádinii ('brainless people, people without minds', i.e. 'wild, crazy, those whom you don't understand'). The neighboring Western Apache ethnonym for them was Koun'nde ('wild rough people'), from which the Spanish derived their use of Tonto ('loose, foolish') for the group. The kindred but enemy Navajo to the north called both the Tonto Apache and their allies, the Yavapai, Dilzhʼíʼ dinéʼiʼ, literally translated as 'people with high-pitched voices'.
The name Tonto is considered offensive by some, due to its etymology and meaning in Spanish, although that usage was derived from their learning the names by which neighboring groups referred to the Dilzhe’e. The name Tonto Apache has been widely used by most people outside the Western Apache communities. The term Tonto is encountered the more frequently in anthropology literature, especially older works, than Dilzhe’e.
The Tonto Apache lived alongside the Wipukepa (“People from the Foot of the Red Rock”) and Kewevkapaya, two of the four subgroups of the Yavapai of central and western Arizona. The Tonto Apache territory stretched from the San Francisco Peaks, East Verde River and Oak Creek Canyon along the Verde River into the Mazatzal Mountains and to the Salt River in the SW and the Tonto Basin in the SE, extending eastwards towards the Little Colorado River in Arizona. The Dilzhę́’é Apache (Tonto Apache) lived usually east of the Verde River (Tu Cho n'lin, "big water running," or Tu'cho nLi'i'i, "big water flowing"), and most of the Yavapai bands west of it. The Wipukepa tribal areas in the San Francisco Peaks, along the Upper Verde River, Oak Creek Canyon, and Fossil Creek overlapped with those of the Northern Tonto Apache. Likewise, the Kwevkepaya shared hunting and gathering grounds east of the Verde River, along Fossil Creek, East Verde River, Salt River, and in the Superstition Mountains, Sierra Ancha and Pinaleno Mountains with Southern Tonto Apache and bands of the San Carlos Apache. Therefore they formed bilingual mixed-tribal bands, whose members could not be readily distinguished by outsiders (Americans, Mexicans or Spanish) except by their languages. The Apache spoke the Tonto dialect of the Western Apache language (Ndee biyati' / Nnee biyati') and the Yavapai spoke the Yavapai language, a branch of Upland Yuman. Living together in common rancherias, whether they considered themselves to be Apaches or Yavapais, depending on their mother tongue as the origin of the matrilineal society, directed by the mother. Most of them spoke both languages, and the headman of each band usually had two names, one from each tradition. The ethnic Europeans referred to the Yavapai and Apache together as Tonto or Tonto Apache. The peoples raided and warred together against enemy tribes such as the Tohono O'odham and the Akimel O'odham. Scholars cannot tell from records whether the writers of the time when using the term Tonto Apache, were referring to Yavapai or Apache, or those mixed bands. In addition, the Europeans often referred to the Wipukepa and Kwevkepaya incorrectly as the Yavapai Apache or Yuma Apache. To further confusion, the Europeans referred to the Tolkepaya, the southwestern group of Yavapai, and the Hualapai (who belonged to the Upland Yuma peoples) as Yuma Apache or Mohave Apache.