DCHP-1 Online

Red Indian [see 1891 quote]

• 1 Hist. a member of the Beothuk people, a now-extinct race inhabiting Newfoundland during the early settlement period.

  See also: Red Man (def. 2)  

• 2 erroneously, any North American Indian.

  See also: Red Man (def. 1)  redskin  

  • The association of red skin with the North American Indian no doubt derives from early references to the Beothuks of Newfoundland, who made a practice of coating their bodies with ochre, as reported by John Cabot in the closing years of the fifteenth century. This popular misconception gave rise to such synonyms as Red Man and redskin alongside Red Indian.