Eskimo: Difference between revisions

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Some Inuit, Yupik, Aleut, and other individuals consider the term ''Eskimo'', which is of a disputed etymology,<ref name="Company2005">{{cite book |editor=Houghton Mifflin Company |author=Houghton Mifflin Company |date=2005 |title=The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]] |pages=170– |isbn=978-0-618-60499-9 |oclc=496983776 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xb6ie6PqYhwC&pg=PA170 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> to be pejorative or even offensive.<ref name="Patrick 2013 p. 2">{{cite book |last=Patrick |first=D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HWYjAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |title=Language, Politics, and Social Interaction in an Inuit Community |publisher=[[De Gruyter]]|year=2013 |isbn=978-3-11-089770-8 |series=Language, Power and Social Process |page=2 |access-date=November 5, 2021 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref name="Dorais2010" /> ''Eskimo'' continues to be used within a historical, linguistic, archaeological, and cultural context. The governments in Canada<ref name="publications">{{Cite web |date=June 8, 2020 |title=Words First An Evolving Terminology Relating to Aboriginal Peoples in Canada Communications Branch Indian and Northern Affairs Canada October 2002 |url=http://www.publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/R2-236-2002E.pdf |quote=The term "Eskimo", applied to Inuit by European explorers, is no longer used in Canada.}}</ref><ref name="aboriginal-heritage">{{cite web |date=15 October 2013 |title=Inuit |url=https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/aboriginal-heritage/inuit/Pages/introduction.aspx |publisher=[[Library and Archives Canada]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=MacDonald-Dupuis |first=Natasha |date=December 16, 2015 |title=The Little-Known History of How the Canadian Government Made Inuit Wear 'Eskimo Tags' |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-little-known-history-of-how-the-canadian-government-made-inuit-wear-eskimo-tags/}}</ref> and the United States<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 24, 2016 |title=Obama signs measure to get rid of the word 'Eskimo' in federal laws |url=https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2016/05/23/obama-signs-measure-to-get-rid-of-the-word-eskimo-in-federal-laws/ |access-date=July 14, 2020 |work=[[Anchorage Daily News]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Meng |first=Grace |date=May 20, 2016 |title=H.R.4238 – 114th Congress (2015–2016): To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act and the Local Public Works Capital Development and Investment Act of 1976 to modernize terms relating to minorities. |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/4238 |access-date=July 14, 2020 |website=congress.gov}}</ref> have made moves to cease using the term ''Eskimo'' in official documents, but it has not been eliminated, as the word is in some places written into tribal, and therefore national, legal terminology.<ref>{{cite journal |date=30 January 2020|title=Indian Entities Recognized by and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/01/30/2020-01707/indian-entities-recognized-by-and-eligible-to-receive-services-from-the-united-states-bureau-of |journal=Federal Register |volume=85 |issue=20 |pages=5462–5467}}</ref> Canada officially uses the term ''Inuit'' to describe the [[Indigenous peoples in Canada|indigenous Canadian people]] who are living in the country's northern sectors and who are not [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] or [[Métis]].<ref name="publications" /><ref name="aboriginal-heritage" /><ref name="defe1">{{cite web |date=June 30, 2021 |title=Aboriginal rights and freedoms not affected by Charter |url=https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-12.html |website=[[Constitution Act, 1982]] |publisher=[[Department of Justice (Canada)]] |quote=[T]his Charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any aboriginal, treaty or other rights or freedoms that pertain to the aboriginal peoples of Canada.}}</ref><ref name="s35">{{cite web |date=June 30, 2021 |title=Rights of the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada |url=https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-13.html?txthl=inuit#s-35 |website=Constitution Act, 1982 |publisher=[[Department of Justice (Canada)]] |quote=In this Act, aboriginal peoples of Canada includes the Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.}}</ref> The United States government legally uses ''[[Alaska Natives|Alaska Native]]''<ref name=":0" /> for enrolled Yupik and Inuit tribal members, and also for non-Eskimos including Aleut, [[Tlingit]], [[Haida people|Haida]], [[Eyak]], and [[Tsimshian]], in addition to at least nine [[Alaskan Athabaskans|northern Athabaskan/Dene]] peoples.<ref name="Who is an American Indian or Alaska Native?">{{cite web |title=Frequently Asked Questions |url=https://www.bia.gov/frequently-asked-questions |publisher=[[United States Department of the Interior]], [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]]}}</ref> Other non-enrolled individuals also claim Eskimo/Aleut descent, making it the world's "most widespread aboriginal group".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Race Relations In The USA and Diversity News |url=https://www.usaonrace.com/sticky-wicket-questions/1462/is-the-term-eskimo-a-racial-or-ethnic-insult.htmlIs |website=www.usaonrace.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=August 28, 2014 |title=Ancient DNA Sheds New Light on Arctic's Earliest People |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/140828-arctic-migration-genome-genetics-dna-eskimos-inuit-dorset |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309202653/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/140828-arctic-migration-genome-genetics-dna-eskimos-inuit-dorset |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |website=Culture}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Eskimos |url=https://www.factmonster.com/eskimos |website=FactMonster}}</ref>  

In the Eskaleut [[language family]], the Eskimo or Eskimoan branch has an Inuit language sub-branch, and a sub-branch of four [[Yupik languages]]. Two Yupik languages are used in the [[Russian Far East]] as well as on [[St. Lawrence Island]], and two in western Alaska, southwestern Alaska, and western [[Southcentral Alaska]]. The extinct [[Sirenik language]] also belongs to the Eskimoan branch.

{{Further|Native American name controversy}}

[[File:Inuit conf map.png|260px|thumb|Map of the [[Inuit Circumpolar Council]] of Eskimo peoples, showing the [[Yupik peoples|Yupik]] ([[Yup'ik]], [[Siberian Yupik]]) and [[Inuit]] ([[Iñupiat]], [[Inuvialuit]], [[Nunavut]], [[Nunavik]], [[Nunatsiavut]], [[Greenlandic Inuit]])]]

In 1978, [[José Mailhot]], a Quebec anthropologist who speaks Innu-aimun (Montagnais), published a paper suggesting that ''Eskimo'' meant 'people who speak a different language'.<ref name="mailhot1">{{cite journal |last=Mailhot |first=José |author-link=José Mailhot |year=1978 |title=L'étymologie de «Esquimau» revue et corrigée |journal=Études Inuit/Inuit Studies |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=59–70 }}</ref><ref name="creeml" /> French traders who encountered the [[Innu]] (Montagnais) in the eastern areas adopted their word for the more western peoples and spelled it as {{lang|fr|Esquimau}} or {{lang|fr|Esquimaux}} in a transliteration.<ref name="EII" />

The term ''Eskimo'' is still used by people to encompass Inuit and Yupik, as well as other Indigenous or Alaska Native and Siberian peoples.<ref name="ENBR" /><ref name="NPR" /><ref name="mweb">{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Eskimo |title=Eskimo: Websters Dictionary |access-date=April 1, 2021}}</ref> In the 21st century, usage in North America has declined.<ref name="kaplannew" /><ref name="global" /> Linguistic, ethnic, and cultural differences exist between Yupik and Inuit.

[[Greenlandic Inuit]] generally refer to themselves as Greenlanders ({{lang|kl|Kalaallit}} or {{lang|da-GL|Grønlændere}}) and speak the [[Greenlandic language]] and Danish.<ref name="kaplannew" /><ref name="ethno">[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=kal "Inuktitut, Greenlandic".] ''Ethnologue''. Retrieved 6 Aug 2012.</ref> Greenlandic Inuit belong to three groups: the [[Kalaallit]] of west Greenland, who speak [[West Greenlandic|Kalaallisut]];<ref name="ethno" /> the [[Tunumiit]] of [[Tunu]] (east Greenland), who speak [[Tunumiit language|Tunumiit oraasiat]] ("East Greenlandic"); and the [[Inughuit]] of north Greenland, who speak [[Inuktun]].

=== Inuit Circumpolar Council ===

The ICC charter defines ''Inuit'' as including "the Inupiat, Yupik (Alaska), Inuit, [[Inuvialuit]] (Canada), [[Kalaallit]] (Greenland) and Yupik (Russia)".<ref name="ICCcharter">{{cite web |url=https://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/icc-international/icc-charter/ |title=ICC Charter |date=3 January 2019 |publisher=[[Inuit Circumpolar Council]] |access-date=April 3, 2021}}</ref> Despite the ICC's 1977 decision to adopt the term ''Inuit'', this has not been accepted by all or even most Yupik people.<ref name="MacKenzie 2014 p. 60" />

== History ==

   

[[File:Dorset_longhouse.jpg|thumb|Stone remains of a [[Dorset culture]] longhouse near [[Cambridge Bay]], [[Nunavut]]]]

The Yupik languages and cultures in Alaska evolved in place, beginning with the original [[pre-Dorset]] Indigenous culture developed in Alaska. At least 4,000 years ago, the Unangan culture of the [[Aleut]] became distinct. It is not generally considered an Eskimo culture. However, there is some possibility of an Aleutian origin of the [[Dorset culture|Dorset]] people,<ref name="Raghavan et al 2014"/> who in turn are a likely ancestor of today's Inuit and Yupik.<ref name="Flegontov et al 2017"/>

The Inuit–Yupik sub-family consists of the [[Inuit languages|Inuit]] and [[Yupik languages|Yupik]] language sub-groups.<ref name="FortecueM">{{Cite book |url=https://www.alaska.edu/uapress/browse/detail/comparative-eskimo-dictionary-with-aleut-cognates.php |title=Comparative Eskimo Dictionary with Aleut Cognates |first1=Michael |last1=Fortescue |author1-link=Michael Fortescue |first2=Steven |last2=Jacobson |first3=Lawrence |last3=Kaplan |publisher=Alaska Native Language Center, [[University of Alaska Fairbanks]]}}</ref> The [[Sirenik language]], which is virtually extinct, is sometimes regarded as a third branch of the Inuit–Yupik language family. Other sources regard it as a group belonging to the Yupik branch.<ref name="FortecueM"/><ref name="kaplanB">{{cite web |last=Kaplan |first=Lawrence |url=https://www.uaf.edu/anlc/resources/comparative_yupik_and_inuit.php |title=Comparative Yupik and Inuit |date=July 1, 2011 |access-date=April 3, 2021 |publisher=Alaska Native Language Center, [[University of Alaska Fairbanks]]}}</ref>

Ethnographically, [[Greenlandic Inuit]] belong to three groups: the [[Kalaallit]] of west Greenland, who speak [[West Greenlandic|Kalaallisut]];<ref name="ethno"/> the [[Tunumiit]] of [[Tunu]] (east Greenland), who speak [[Tunumiit language|Tunumiit oraasiat]] ("East Greenlandic"), and the [[Inughuit]] of north Greenland, who speak [[Inuktun]].

=== Words for ''snow'' ===

{{Main|Eskimo words for snow}}

There has been a long-running linguistic debate about whether or not the speakers of the Inuit–Yupik–Unangan language group have an unusually large number of words for snow. The general modern consensus is that, in multiple Inuit–Yupik languages, there are, or have been in simultaneous usage, indeed fifty plus words for snow.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.treehugger.com/are-there-really-eskimo-words-for-snow-4862000|title = Are There Really 50 Eskimo Words for Snow?}}</ref>

== Diet ==

== Inuit ==

=== Greenland's Inuit ===

{{Main|Greenlandic Inuit}}

[[Greenlandic Inuit]] make up 90% of Greenland's population.<ref name=CIAworld/> They belong to three major groups:

* [[Kalaallit]] of west Greenland, who speak [[West Greenlandic|Kalaallisut]]

=== Canadian Inuit ===

{{Main|Inuit}}

The [[Inuvialuit]] live in the [[Inuvialuit Settlement Region]], the northern part of [[Yukon]] and the [[Northwest Territories]], which stretches to the [[Amundsen Gulf]] and the [[Nunavut]] border and includes the western [[Arctic Archipelago|Canadian Arctic Islands]]. The land was demarked in 1984 by the Inuvialuit Final Agreement.

=== Alaska's Iñupiat ===

{{Main|Iñupiat}}

The Iñupiat are Inuit of Alaska's [[Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska|Northwest Arctic]] and [[North Slope Borough, Alaska|North Slope]] boroughs and the [[Bering Strait]]s region, including the Seward Peninsula.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://csalateral.org/issue/7-2/indigenous-cosmopolitanism-alaska-native-heritage-center-tyquiengco/attachment/ic_lateral2-3/|title=IC_Lateral2|journal=Lateral|year=2018}}</ref> [[Utqiaġvik]], the northernmost city in the United States, is above the [[Arctic Circle]] and in the Iñupiat region. Their language is known as [[Inupiaq language|Iñupiaq]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.alaskanativelanguages.org/inupiaq |title=Inupiatun |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=n.d. |website=Alaska Native Languages |publisher=Alaska Humanities Forum |access-date=May 8, 2021 |quote=Iñupiaq/Inupiaq is spoken by the Iñupiat/Inupiat on the Seward Peninsula, the Northwest Arctic and the North Slope of Alaska and in Western Canada. |archive-date=May 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210510143606/https://www.alaskanativelanguages.org/inupiaq |url-status=dead }}</ref> Their current communities include 34 villages across ''Iñupiat Nunaŋat'' (Iñupiaq lands) including seven [[List of Alaska Native tribal entities|Alaskan villages]] in the [[North Slope Borough, Alaska|North Slope Borough]], affiliated with the [[Arctic Slope Regional Corporation]]; eleven villages in [[Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska|Northwest Arctic Borough]]; and sixteen villages affiliated with the [[Bering Straits Regional Corporation]].<ref name=medicine>[http://www.nnlm.nlm.nih.gov/archive/20061109155450/inupiaq.html "Inupiaq (Inupiat)—Alaska Native Cultural Profile."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821193420/http://www.nnlm.nlm.nih.gov/archive/20061109155450/inupiaq.html |date=2014-08-21 }} ''National Network of Libraries of Medicine.'' Retrieved 4 Dec 2013.</ref>

== Yupik ==

{{Main|Yupik peoples}}

[[File:AlutiiqDancer.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Alutiiq]] dancer during the biennial "Celebration" cultural event]]

===Siberian Yupik===

{{Main|Siberian Yupik}}

[[File:FMIB 37576 Siberian Eskimos aboard the steamer bowhead, showing their furs to trade after indulging in a lunch of whale blubber.jpeg|thumb|upright|[[Siberian Yupik]] aboard the steamer ''Bowhead'']]

==Sireniki==

{{Main|Sirenik Eskimos}}

[[File:Model of an Ice Scoop, 1900-1930, 36.83.jpg|thumb|left|Model of an ice scoop, Alaska Native, 1900–1930, [[Brooklyn Museum]]]]

Some speakers of Siberian Yupik languages used to speak a divergent Inuit–Yupik variant in the past, before they underwent a [[language shift]]. These former speakers of the [[Sirenik language]] inhabited the settlements of [[Sireniki]], <!--This is the correct spelling as per the source. Please don't use AWB to change it. Thanks.-->Imtuk, and some small villages stretching to the west from Sireniki along south-eastern coasts of Chukchi Peninsula.<ref name=VES>[http://www.siberian-studies.org/publications/PDF/bevakhtin.pdf Vakhtin 1998]: 162</ref> They lived in neighborhoods with Siberian Yupik and [[Chukchi people]]s.

Little is known about the origin of this diversity. The peculiarities of this language may be the result of a supposed long isolation from other Inuit and Yupik groups,<ref>Menovshchikov 1962: 11</ref><ref>Menovshchikov 1964: 9</ref> and being in contact only with speakers of unrelated languages for many centuries. The influence of the Chukchi language is clear.<ref name=linfranc/>

== See also ==

* [[Disc number]]

* [[Eskimo archery]]

* [[Eskimo yo-yo]]

* [[Eskimology]]

[[Category:Indigenous peoples of Siberia]]

[[Category:Modern nomads]]