A Note on the Derivation of the Word "Eskimo" (Inuit) American Anthropologist [n.s.] 52(4/1): 564 (October/December, 1950). The usual etymology given for the word Eskimo [French esquimau(x)], whereby it is derived from Algonkin Indian language aske "raw meat," and moho "to eat," is probably wrong. Originally the form of the name, as found in the Jesuit Relations, was Excomminquois or Excomminqui. Escoumins is the name of a village in the interior of the country on the north side of St. Lawrence Gulf. The name Excomminqui was first used by the French Jesuits who, in 1605, began missionary work particularly among the Algonkin Indians, their friendly allies. These Indians often had encounters with the coastal tribes of Labrador, wild seal hunters who for a long time remained hostile to the Jesuits and their Indian friends. The missionaries invented the name Excomminquois (pronounced Excomminqué) for their pagan neighbors to the north-east, and this name was later, by degrees, altered to Escoumains and Esquimaux. The original meaning of the name is probably connected with the fact that the hostile pagans were interdicted from the church and the sacrament: Latin excommunicati. Therefore the etymology of Eskimo is not "eaters of raw meat," but "the excommunicated ones." The Eskimos do not know that word or name, but call themselves Inuit, from the singular of the noun inuk, "man" –- that is, a human being who speaks an intelligible language such as their own. WILLIAM THALBITZER Copenhagen, Denmark Relations des Jésuites ... de la Nouvelle France, les années 1611 à 1672, ed. 1858, Vol. 1, pp. 7-9.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 04:38:00 +0000
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