Terms and Definitions

Terms and Definitions

The following are the terms and definitions we use on this site. We've included them for clarity.

Aboriginal - Of or relating to the people and things that have been in a region from the earliest time.

Admix - To mingle with or add to something else.

American - An aboriginal or one of the copper colored natives found on the American continent by the Europeans; the original application of the name. Webster's 20th Century Dictionary of the English Language.

Ameridian - American Indian.

Anasazi - A prehistoric indigenous inhabitant of the canyons of northern Arizona and New Mexico and southwestern Colorado.

Blood-Line - A sequence of direct ancestors especially in a pedigree; also :  family,strain.

Blood-Type -Any of the four main types into which human blood is divided: A, B, AB, and O. Blood types are based on the presence or absence of certain substances, called antigens, on red blood cells. Also called blood group.

Indian - A member of any of the [aboriginal] peoples of the western hemisphere except often the Eskimos; especially :  an American Indian of North America and especially the United States.

Mitochondrial DNA - An extranuclear double-stranded DNA found exclusively in mitochondria that in most eukaryotes is a circular molecule and is maternally inherited —abbreviation mtDNA.

Native American -  Native American is now fully established in American English as an equivalent of Indian, being acceptable in all contemporary contexts and preferred inmany. It is especially appropriate as a term of respect used by outsiders, who may have concerns that Indian could cause offense by its association with longstanding cultural stereotypes. Native American is the clear choice in many formal contexts, not only because it indicates respect but, more pragmatically, because it avoids any ambiguity between indigenous American peoples and the inhabitants of India. But despite its wide acceptance,Native American has not displaced Indian to any significant degree outside of formal contexts, and it is now common to find the two terms used interchangeably in the same piece of writing.

Y-DNA - Y-DNA Haplogroups are the groupings of mankind based on analysis of the y-chromosome, which has been passed from father to son since the beginning of mankind.