= Chimmesyan, Latham in Jour. Eth. Soc. Lond., I, 154, 1848 (between
53° 30' and 55° 30' N.L.). Latham, Opuscula, 250, 1860.
Chemmesyan, Latham, Nat. Hist. Man, 300, 1850 (includes Naaskok,
Chemmesyan, Kitshatlah, Kethumish). Latham in Trans. Philolog. Soc.
Lond., 72, 1856. Latham, Opuscula, 339, 1860. Latham, Elements Comp.
Phil., 401, 1862.
= Chymseyans, Kane, Wanderings of an Artist, app., 1859 (a census of
tribes of N.W. coast classified by languages).
= Chimayans, Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, V, 487, 1855 (gives Kane’s list
but with many orthographical changes). Dall in Proc. Am. Ass., 269,
1869 (published in 1870). Dall in Cont. N.A. Eth., I, 36, 39, 40, 1877
(probably distinct from T’linkets). Bancroft, Native Races, III, 564,
607, 1882.
= Tshimsian, Tolmie and Dawson, Comp. Vocabs., 14-25, 1884.
= Tsimpsi-an´, Dall in Proc. Am. Ass., 379, 1885 (mere mention of
family).
X Northern, Scouler in Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc. Lond., XI, 220, 1841
(includes Chimmesyans).
X Haidah, Scouler in Jour. Roy. Geog. Soc. Lond., XI, 220, 1841 (same
as his Northern family).
< Naas, Gallatin in Trans. Am. Eth. Soc., II, pt. 1, c, 1848
(including Chimmesyan). Berghaus (1851), Physik. Atlas, map 17, 1852.
< Naass, Gallatin in Trans. Am. Eth. Soc., II, pt. 1, 77, 1848.
Gallatin in Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, III, 402, 1853.
= Nasse, Dall in Cont. N.A. Eth., I, 36, 40, 1877 (or Chimsyan).
< Nass, Bancroft, Nat. Races, III, 564, 606, 1882 (includes Nass and
Sebassa Indians of this family, also Hailtza).
= Hydahs, Keane, App. to Stanford’s Comp. (Cent. and So. Am.), 473,
1878 (includes Tsimsheeans, Nass, Skeenas, Sebasses of present
family).
Derivation: From the Chimsian ts’em, “on;” kcian, “main river:” “On the
main (Skeena) river.”
This name appears in a paper of Latham’s published in 1848. To it is
referred a vocabulary of Tolmie’s. The area where it is spoken is said
by Latham to be 50° 30' and 55° 30'. The name has become established by
long usage, and it is chiefly on this account that it has been given
preference over the Naas of Gallatin of the same year. The latter name
was given by Gallatin to a group of languages now known to be not
related, viz, Hailstla, Haceltzuk Billechola, and Chimeysan. Billechola
belongs under Salishan, a family name of Gallatin’s of 1836.
Were it necessary to take Naas as a family name it would best apply to
Chimsian, it being the name of a dialect and village of Chimsian
Indians, while it has no pertinency whatever to Hailstla and Haceltzuk,
which are closely related and belong to a family quite distinct from the
Chimmesyan. As stated above, however, the term Naas is rejected in favor
of Chimmesyan of the same date.
For the boundaries of this family the linguistic map published by Tolmie
and Dawson, in 1884, is followed.