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What did the self-names Numa, Nungwu, and Numu mean among Numic peoples?
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Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin
Kaylei Weed (left) of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe with her two sons and mother, Elaine Ethel Weed, at the Wind River Indian Reservation in 2015.
Among the Numic peoples, the self-names "Numa," "Nungwu," and "Numu" all translate to mean "people" or "human beings."1
These terms reflect the group's own identity, standing in contrast to tribal designations such as Paiute or Shoshone, which were names bestowed upon them by other tribes.1