Tuscarora (Tuscarora: Skarù·ręʔ) is the Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people, spoken in southern Ontario in Canada, as well as North Carolina and northwestern New York around Niagara Falls in the United States, before becoming dormant in late 2020. The historic homeland of the Tuscarora was in eastern North Carolina, in and around the Goldsboro, Kinston, and Smithfield areas.
The name Tuscarora (/ˌtʌskəˈrɔːrə/ TUS-kə-ROHR-ə) means "hemp people," after the Indian hemp (hemp dogbane, Apocynum cannabinum), which they use in many aspects of their society. Skarureh refers to the long shirt worn as part of the men's regalia, and so the name literally means "long shirt people."
