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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3 |
My adolescent son gives a UC Berkeley freshperson as his citation of authority for the following: "Eskimo" is a term applied by Europeans to Inuit peoples. In the Inuit language the word "Eskimo" refers to female genitals. This is NOT the etymology I have found in the Merriam Webster college or other dictionaries. (Although the dictionaries' references to 'one who eats raw flesh' is at least suggestive.)
Any better authorities for the etymology of this word?
BobFrisbeeMay
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Welcome, pardner! H'yar's whut Merriam-Webster's on-line
Collegiate Dictionary has to say:
Main Entry: Es·ki·mo
Pronunciation: 'es-k&-"mO
Function: noun
Etymology: obsolete Esquimawe, prob. from Spanish esquimao, from Montagnais (Algonquian language of eastern Canada) aiachkime8 Micmac, Eskimo; probably akin to modern Montagnais assime.w she laces a snowshoe, Ojibwa askime.
Date: 1584
1 plural Eskimo or Eskimos : a member of a group of peoples of northern Canada, Greenland, Alaska, and eastern Siberia
2 : any of the languages of the Eskimo peoples
- Es·ki·mo·an /"es-k&-'mO-&n/ adjective
a word to the wise: the Q & A section might be better for next time, and I hope there are quite a few of those,
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