The
Tonto Apache (
Dilzhe´’é, also
Dilzhe'e,
Dilzhe’eh Apache) is one of the groups of
Western Apache people. The term is also used for their dialect, one of the three dialects of the Western Apache language (a
Southern Athabaskan language). The
Chiricahua living to the south called them
Ben-et-dine or
binii?e'dine' (“brainless people”, “people without minds”, i.e. "wild", "crazy", "Those who you don’t understand"). The neighboring Western Apache
ethnonym for them was
Koun'nde ("wild rough People"), from which the Spanish derived their use of
Tonto ("loose", "foolish") for the group. The kindred but enemy
Navajo to the north called both, the Tonto Apache and their allies, the
Yavapai,
Dilzh'í' diné'i' - “People with high-pitched voices”).