Appendix:English terms of Eskimo-Aleut origin

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An offshoot of Appendix:English terms of Native American origin, this list includes common nouns which originated from Eskimo or Aleut languages. See here for a list of place names, personal names and tribe names derived from these languages. (If a common noun is also the name of a tribe, place or person (e.g. "malamute"), this is noted in this list only in the etymology.)

from Aleut languages

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  • iqyax — "kayak constructed by covering a light wooden frame lashed together with sinew in sea lion hides, bidarka" — Unangan Aleut iqyax (kayak)
  • parka — "long jacket with a hood, which protects the wearer against rain and wind" — via Aleut, from Russian па́рка (párka)

from Eskimo languages

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from Inuit languages

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specific language unclear

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  • kabloona — "(in Canada or Greenland) non-Inuit person (especially if European)" — said to be combination of Eastern Canadian Inuktitut qallunaaq (foreigner) and Greenlandic kablunâk (an older spelling of kallunaaq), if not a straightforward derivation of one or the other
  • muktuk — "whale skin and blubber (as used as a food by the Inuit)" — Western Canadian Inuktitut [script needed] (maqtaq) or Inupiaq maktak (whaleskin with attached blubber)
  • pingo — "hydrolaccolith, mound of earth-covered ice" — Greenlandic or Inuktitut pingu (small hill)
  • tupilaq (also: tupilak, tupilat) — "monster (either invisible or having a physical form constructed from animal bones, sinew, etc) created in secret by a shaman and sent into the sea to seek and kill a specific enemy", "(small) representation of such a monster, often carved from whale bone" — from Greenlandic or Inuktitut (cognates exist in both languages} ᑐᐱᓚᒃ (topilak)

Greenlandic

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Inuktitut

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Eastern Canadian Inuktitut
Western Canadian Inuktitut
  • angatkuq — "Inuit shaman" — Western Canadian Inuktitut angatkuq (synonymous with and cognate to "angakkuq", "angakok")
  • kayak (also: kiak) — "small boat powered by the occupant(s) using a double-bladed paddle in a sitting position" (as a verb: "to travel in such a boat") — Western Canadian Inuktitut ᖃᔭᖅ (qayaq, man's boat; kayak; canoe)
  • umiak — "large, open boat made of skins stretched over a wooden frame, propelled by paddles" — Western Canadian Inuktitut ᐅᒥᐊᖅ (omiaq, women's boat; sealskin boat; boat)

Inupiaq

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  • malamute — "particular breed of husky dog" — from the name "Malamute" (from Inupiaq malimiut) applied to an Inupiak people who live in western Alaska and who bred these dogs
  • masu — "Hedysarum alpinum, which has an edible root" — Inupiaq ᒪᓱ (masu, edible root)
  • tupik — "tent-like type of Native American dwelling made from animal skins, used by the Inuit in the summer" — Inupiaq ᑐᐱᒃ (tupik)
  • qargi — "traditional, large, semisubterranean men's communal house, in which communal and ceremonial events are hosted, kashim" — Inupiaq qargi (synonymous with "qasgiq")

from Yupik languages

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specific language unclear

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  • kuspuk — "lightweight dress-like parka worn by (Eskimo) women", "overshirt worn by (Eskimo) men and women" — from a Yupik language term qaspeq
  • qasgiq — "traditional, large, semisubterranean men's communal house, in which communal and ceremonial events are hosted, kashim" — from a Yupik language term qasgiq (synonymous with "qargi")

Central Siberian Yupik

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