Onondaga (Onoñdaʼgegáʼ nigaweñoʼdeñʼ, IPA: [onũdaʔɡeɡáʔ niɡawẽnoʔdẽʔ], literally "Onondaga is our language") is the language of the Onondaga First Nation, one of the original five constituent tribes of the League of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee).
This language is spoken in the United States and Canada, primarily on the reservation in central New York State and near Brantford, Ontario.
The Onondaga people (Onondaga: Onoñda’gegá’, "People of the Hills") are one of the five original nations of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy in the Northeastern Woodlands. Their historical homelands are in and around present-day Onondaga County, New York, south of Lake Ontario.
Being centrally located, they are considered the "Keepers of the Fire" (Kayečisnakwe’nì·yu in Tuscarora) in the figurative longhouse that shelters the Five Nations. The Cayuga and Seneca have territory to their west and the Oneida and Mohawk to their east. For this reason, the League of the Iroquois historically met at the Iroquois government's capital at Onondaga, as the traditional chiefs do today.