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Most likely from the Cherokee autonym ᏣᎳᎩ(tsalagi). Derivation from a Choctaw exonym meaning "those who live in caves" (compare chiluk(“cave”)) has also been suggested — the Iroquois term for the Cherokee was Oyata'ge'ronon(“inhabitants of the cave country”) — as has derivation from a Creek term for "person(s) who speak(s) a non-Creek language" (see celokketv(“to speak a non-creek language”)).
Whatever its origin, the ethnonym entered European languages at an early date, perhaps as early as the 1670s; in Spanish, the people are called the Tchalaquei as early as 1755.
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^ Milton E. Campbell, The State of North Carolina with Native American Ancestry→ISBN, page 39: "The Iroquois called the Cherokee Oyata'ge'ronon which means inhabitants of the cave country."