Nuu-chah-nulth , also called
Nootka , is a
Wakashan language spoken in the
Pacific Northwest of
North America, on the west coast of
Vancouver Island from
Barkley Sound to
Quatsino Sound in
British Columbia, by the
Nuu-chah-nulth peoples. Nuu-chah-nulth is a Southern
Wakashan language related to
Nitinaht and
Makah. The provenance of the term "Nuu-chah-nulth", meaning "along the outside [of Vancouver Island]" dates from the 1970s, when the various groups of speakers of this language joined together, disliking the incorrect term "Nootka" (which means "go around" and was mistakenly understood to be the name of the place, which was actually called
Yuquot). The name given by earlier sources for this language is
Tahkaht; that name was used also to refer to themselves (the root
aht means "people").