There is considerable controversy about where the word “Eskimo” came from, and even more about using it. The word may be a corruption of the Cree word askamiciw, meaning “eater of raw meat,” which has always been a racial slur used by the Cree against their northern neighbors. But etymologists suspect this may, in fact, be folk theory based only on a linguistic coincidence. Some say it’s just as likely that “Eskimo” came from a word meaning “he ties snowshoes.” There is even an old theory, which is for the most part believed untrue today, that the word was invented by Jesuit missionaries, who referred to pagan Inuits as “the excommunicated ones.”
Linguistic origins aside, for the most part “Eskimo” has been used as a derogatory slur against the native Inuit and Inuk peoples. In Canada they prefer “Inuit” and in Greenland they prefer Greenlanders or Kalaallit. In Alaska, “Eskimo” is a bit more acceptable because it is inclusive of the Inuit and the Yupik, two different tribes whose languages share grammatical structure but are mutually unintelligible. In every case, you should probably ask what people prefer to be called. It’s just good manners.
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