Eskimo#Nomenclature

{{Further|Native American name controversy}}

File:Inuit conf map.png of Eskimo peoples, showing the Yupik (Yup'ik, Siberian Yupik) and Inuit (Iñupiat, Inuvialuit, Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut, Greenlandic Inuit)]]

A variety of theories have been postulated for the etymological origin of the word Eskimo.{{cite book |first=Donna |last=Patrick |date=June 10, 2013 |title=Language, Politics, and Social Interaction in an Inuit Community |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |pages=2– |isbn=978-3-11-089770-8 |oclc=1091560161 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HWYjAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |via=Google Books}}{{cite book |editor-first=Archie |editor-last=Hobson |date=2004 |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Difficult Words |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=160– |isbn=978-0-19-517328-4 |oclc=250009148 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vm_mNJiflwgC&pg=PA160 |via=Google Books}}{{cite book |first1=Constance |last1=Backhouse |author2=Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History |date=January 1, 1999 |title=Colour-coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900-1950 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |pages=27– |isbn=978-0-8020-8286-2 |oclc=247186607 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BZlsTAH7GWIC&pg=PA27 |via=Google Books}}{{cite book |first=John |last=Steckley |date=1 January 2008 |title=White Lies about the Inuit |publisher=University of Toronto Press |pages=21– |isbn=978-1-55111-875-8 |oclc=1077854782 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-osjdNH3g8C&pg=PA21 |via=Google Books}}{{cite book |last=McElroy |first=A. |title=Nunavut Generations: Change and Continuity in Canadian Inuit Communities |publisher=Waveland Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4786-0961-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-WkbAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA8 |access-date=November 5, 2021 |page=8 |via=Google Books}}{{cite book |first=Louis-Jacques |last=Dorais |date=2010 |title=Language of the Inuit: Syntax, Semantics, and Society in the Arctic |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP |pages=297– |isbn=978-0-7735-3646-3 |oclc=1048661404 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gkfdQpHUdh4C&pg=PA297 |via=Google Books}} According to Smithsonian linguist Ives Goddard, etymologically the word derives from the Innu-aimun (Montagnais) word {{lang|moe|ayas̆kimew}}, meaning 'a person who laces a snowshoe',{{Cite web |title=Inuit or Eskimo: Which name to use? |publisher=Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks |url=https://uaf.edu/anlc/research-and-resources/resources/resources/inuit_or_eskimo.php |access-date=December 3, 2022 |website=www.uaf.edu |first=Lawrence |last=Kaplan |archive-date=December 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230133641/https://uaf.edu/anlc/research-and-resources/resources/resources/inuit_or_eskimo.php |url-status=dead }}{{cite book |first=R. H. Ives |last=Goddard |chapter=Synonymy |editor=David Damas |title=Handbook of North American Indians: Volume 5 Arctic |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |year=1985 |isbn=978-0874741858 |pages=5–7 }} and is related to husky (a breed of dog).{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}} The word {{lang|moe|assime·w}} means 'she laces a snowshoe' in Innu, and Innu language speakers refer to the neighbouring Mi'kmaq people using words that sound like eskimo.{{cite book |last=Goddard |first=Ives |chapter=Synonymy |editor=William C. Sturtevant |title=Handbook of North American Indians: Volume 5 Arctic |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |year=1984 |pages=5–7 }} Cited in Campbell 1997{{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Lyle |year=1997 |title=American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America |page=394 |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press }} This interpretation is generally confirmed by more recent academic sources.{{cite book |last=Holst |first=Jan Henrik |date=May 10, 2022 |editor1-last=Danler |editor1-first=Paul |editor2-last=Harjus |editor2-first=Jannis |title=Las Lenguas De Las Americas - the Languages of the Americas |publisher=Logos Verlag Berlin |pages=13–26 |chapter=A Survey of Eskimo-Aleut Languages |isbn=978-3-8325-5279-4}}

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'.{{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 }} 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.

Some people consider Eskimo offensive, because it is popularly perceived to mean{{cite web |url=http://www.nisto.com/cree/mail/cree-1997-11.txt |title=Cree Mailing List Digest November 1997 |access-date=2012-06-13 |archive-date=2012-06-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620033446/http://nisto.com/cree/mail/cree-1997-11.txt}}{{cite journal |last=Mailhot |first=José |author-link=José Mailhot |title=L'etymologie de "esquimau" revue et corrigée |language=fr |trans-title=The etymology of "eskimo" revised and corrected |journal=Études/Inuit/Studies |volume=2 |issue=2 |year=1978}}{{cite book |last=Goddard |first=Ives |author-link=Ives Goddard |title=Handbook of North American Indians |volume=5 (Arctic) |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-16-004580-6}} 'eaters of raw meat' in Algonquian languages common to people along the Atlantic coast.{{cite web|url=http://www.native-languages.org/iaq23.htm |title=Setting the Record Straight About Native Languages: What Does "Eskimo" Mean In Cree? |publisher=Native-languages.org |access-date=2012-06-13}}{{cite web |url=http://www.bartleby.com/61/24/E0212400.html |title=Eskimo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010412155403/http://www.bartleby.com/61/24/E0212400.html |archive-date=2001-04-12 |publisher=Bartleby |work=American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition, 2000 |access-date=January 13, 2008 |url-status=live}} An unnamed Cree speaker suggested the original word that became corrupted to Eskimo might have been {{lang|cr|askamiciw}} (meaning 'he eats it raw'); Inuit are referred to in some Cree texts as {{lang|cr|askipiw}} (meaning 'eats something raw').{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3UHTsUmt1PEC |title=Historical Dictionary of the Inuit |first=Pamela R. |last=Stern |access-date=June 13, 2012 |isbn=978-0-8108-6556-3 |date=July 27, 2004 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |via=Google Books}}{{cite web |first1=Robert |last1=Peroni |first2=Birgit |last2=Veith |url=http://www.ostgroenland-hilfe.de/en/projekt.html |title=Ostgroenland-Hilfe Project |publisher=Ostgroenland-hilfe.de |access-date=June 13, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318173645/http://www.ostgroenland-hilfe.de/en/projekt.html |archive-date=March 18, 2012}}{{Cite dictionary |entry=Eskimo |dictionary=Oxford Dictionary |via=Lexico.com |url=https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/eskimo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210154048/https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/eskimo |archive-date=February 10, 2021 |access-date=December 19, 2020 |language=en}} Regardless, the term still carries a derogatory connotation for many Inuit and Yupik.{{Cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/04/24/475129558/why-you-probably-shouldnt-say-eskimo |title=Why You Probably Shouldn't Say 'Eskimo' |first=Rebecca |last=Hersher |date=April 24, 2016 |newspaper=NPR}}{{Cite news |last=Purdy |first=Chris |date=November 27, 2015 |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/2366689/expert-says-meat-eater-name-eskimo-an-offensive-term-placed-on-inuit/ |title=Expert says 'meat-eater' name Eskimo an offensive term placed on Inuit |work=Global News }}

One of the first printed uses of the French word {{lang|fr|Esquimaux}} comes from Samuel Hearne's A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean in the Years 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 first published in 1795.{{Cite book |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/38404/38404-h/38404-h.htm |title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern Ocean, by Samuel Hearne. |via=www.gutenberg.org}}

File:Кожаный панцирь.jpg from hardened leather reinforced by wood and bones worn by native Siberians and Eskimos]]

File:Koryak armor.jpeg worn by native Siberians]]

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

In Canada and Greenland, and to a certain extent in Alaska, the term Eskimo is predominantly seen as offensive and has been widely replaced by the term Inuit{{hsp}}Usage note, [https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=Inuit "Inuit"], American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition, 2000 or terms specific to a particular group or community.{{cite book |first=Maurice |last=Waite |title=Pocket Oxford English Dictionary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xqKcAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA305 |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-966615-7 |page=305 |quote=Some people regard the word Eskimo as offensive, and the peoples inhabiting the regions of northern Canada and parts of Greenland and Alaska prefer to call themselves Inuit |via=Google Books}}{{cite book |first1=Jan |last1=Svartvik |first2=Geoffrey |last2=Leech |title=English – One Tongue, Many Voices |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rtl6DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA97 |year=2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-137-16007-2 |page=97 |quote=Today, the term "Eskimo" is viewed as the "non preferred term". Some Inuit find the term offensive or derogatory. |via=Google Books}}{{cite web |url=https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2016/05/23/obama-signs-measure-to-get-rid-of-the-word-eskimo-in-federal-laws/ |title=Obama signs measure to get rid of the word 'Eskimo' in federal laws |date=May 24, 2016}} This has resulted in a trend whereby some non-Indigenous people believe that they should use Inuit even for Yupik who are non-Inuit.

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

The word Eskimo is a racially charged term in Canada.{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/eskimo-pie-name-change-1.5620201 |title=Eskimo Pie owner to change ice cream's name, acknowledging derogatory term |date=June 19, 2020 |publisher=CBC News |access-date=September 25, 2020 |quote=The U.S. owner of Eskimo Pie ice cream will change the product's brand name and marketing, it told Reuters on Friday, becoming the latest company to rethink racially charged brand imagery amid a broad debate on racial injustice.}}{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/edmonton-eskimos-team-name-july8-1.5641937 |title=Edmonton CFL team heeds sponsors' calls, accelerates review of potential name change |date=July 8, 2020 |publisher=CBC News |access-date=September 25, 2020 |quote=Edmonton's team has seen repeated calls for a name change in the past, and faces renewed criticism as sports teams in Canada, the United States and elsewhere are urged to remove outdated and sometimes racist names and images.}} In Canada's Central Arctic, {{lang|ik|Inuinnaq}} is the preferred term,{{cite book |last1=Ohokak |first1=G. |first2=M. |last2=Kadlun |first3=B. |last3=Harnum |title=Inuinnaqtun-English Dictionary |publisher=Kitikmeot Heritage Society}} and in the eastern Canadian Arctic {{lang|iu|Inuit}}. The language is often called Inuktitut, though other local designations are also used.

Section 25{{cite web |url=http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-15.html |title=Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms |work=Department of Justice Canada |access-date=August 30, 2012}} of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and section 35{{cite web |url=http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/page-16.html |title=Rights of the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada |work=Department of Justice Canada |access-date=August 30, 2012}} of the Canadian Constitution Act of 1982 recognized Inuit as a distinctive group of Aboriginal peoples in Canada. Although Inuit can be applied to all of the Eskimo peoples in Canada and Greenland, that is not true in Alaska and Siberia. In Alaska, the term Eskimo is still used because it includes both Iñupiat (singular: Iñupiaq), who are Inuit, and Yupik, who are not.

The term Alaska Native is inclusive of (and under U.S. and Alaskan law, as well as the linguistic and cultural legacy of Alaska, refers to) all Indigenous peoples of Alaska, including not only the Iñupiat (Alaskan Inuit) and the Yupik, but also groups such as the Aleut, who share a recent ancestor, as well as the largely unrelated{{cite web |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2012/jul/native-american-populations-descend-three-key-migrations |title=Native American populations descend from three key migrations |date=July 12, 2012 |website=UCL News |publisher=University College London |access-date=December 12, 2018}} indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast and the Alaskan Athabaskans, such as the Eyak people. The term Alaska Native has important legal usage in Alaska and the rest of the United States as a result of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. It does not apply to Inuit or Yupik originating outside the state. As a result, the term Eskimo is still in use in Alaska.{{cite book |first=Pamela R. |last=Stern |title=Historical Dictionary of the Inuit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jVsrAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA2 |date=2013 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7912-6 |page=2 |via=Google Books}}{{Cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Eskimo-people |entry=Eskimo |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |title=Inuit | Definition, History, Culture, & Facts | Britannica |date=28 April 2023 }} Alternative terms, such as Inuit-Yupik, have been proposed,{{cite book |last1=Holton |first1=Gary |year=2018 |chapter=Place naming strategies in Inuit-Yupik and Dene languages in Alaska |editor1-first=Kenneth L. |editor1-last=Pratt |editor2-first=Scott |editor2-last=Heyes |title=Language, memory and landscape: Experiences from the boreal forest to the tundra |pages=1–27 |location=Calgary |publisher=University of Calgary Press}} but none has gained widespread acceptance. Early 21st century population estimates registered more than 135,000 individuals of Eskimo descent, with approximately 85,000 living in North America, 50,000 in Greenland, and the rest residing in Siberia.

In 1977, the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC) meeting in Barrow, Alaska (now Utqiaġvik, Alaska), officially adopted Inuit as a designation for all circumpolar Native peoples, regardless of their local view on an appropriate term. They voted to replace the word Eskimo with Inuit.{{cite book |last=MacKenzie |first=S. |title=Films on Ice: Cinemas of the Arctic |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |series=Traditions in World Cinema |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-7486-9418-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXAxEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 |access-date=5 Nov 2021 |page=60 |via=Google Books}} Even at that time, such a designation was not accepted by all.{{Cite web|url=https://www.alaskan-natives.com/2166/eskimo-inuit-inupiaq-terms-thing/|title=Eskimo, Inuit, and Inupiaq: Do these terms mean the same thing?}} As a result, the Canadian government usage has replaced the term Eskimo with {{lang|iu|Inuit}} ({{lang|iu|Inuk}} in singular).

The ICC charter defines Inuit as including "the Inupiat, Yupik (Alaska), Inuit, Inuvialuit (Canada), Kalaallit (Greenland) and Yupik (Russia)".{{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}} Despite the ICC's 1977 decision to adopt the term Inuit, this has not been accepted by all or even most Yupik people.

In 2010, the ICC passed a resolution in which they implored scientists to use Inuit and Paleo-Inuit instead of Eskimo or Paleo-Eskimo.{{cite web |author=Inuit Circumpolar Council |title=On the use of the term Inuit in scientific and other circles |type=Resolution 2010-01 |url=https://www.inuitcircumpolar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/iccexcouncilresolutiononterminuit.pdf |date=2010}}

In a 2015 commentary in the journal Arctic, Canadian archaeologist Max Friesen argued fellow Arctic archaeologists should follow the ICC and use Paleo-Inuit instead of Paleo-Eskimo.{{cite journal |last1=Friesen |first1=T. Max |title=On the Naming of Arctic Archaeological Traditions: The Case for Paleo-Inuit |journal=Arctic |date=2015 |volume=68 |issue=3 |pages=iii–iv |doi=10.14430/arctic4504 |doi-access=free |hdl=10515/sy5sj1b75 |hdl-access=free}} In 2016, Lisa Hodgetts and Arctic editor Patricia Wells wrote: "In the Canadian context, continued use of any term that incorporates Eskimo is potentially harmful to the relationships between archaeologists and the Inuit and Inuvialuit communities who are our hosts and increasingly our research partners."

Hodgetts and Wells suggested using more specific terms when possible (e.g., Dorset and Groswater) and agreed with Frieson in using the Inuit tradition to replace Neo-Eskimo, although they noted replacement for Palaeoeskimo was still an open question and discussed Paleo-Inuit, Arctic Small Tool Tradition, and pre-Inuit, as well as Inuktitut loanwords like {{lang|iu|Tuniit}} and {{lang|iu|Sivullirmiut}}, as possibilities.{{cite journal |last1=Hodgetts |first1=Lisa |last2=Wells |first2=Patricia |title=Priscilla Renouf Remembered: An Introduction to the Special Issue with a Note on Renaming the Palaeoeskimo Tradition |journal=Arctic |date=2016 |volume=69 |issue=5 |doi=10.14430/arctic4678 |doi-access=free}}

In 2020, Katelyn Braymer-Hayes and colleagues argued in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology that there is a "clear need" to replace the terms Neo-Eskimo and Paleo-Eskimo, citing the ICC resolution, but finding a consensus within the Alaskan context particularly is difficult, since Alaska Natives do not use the word Inuit to describe themselves nor is the term legally applicable only to Iñupiat and Yupik in Alaska, and as such, terms used in Canada like Paleo Inuit and Ancestral Inuit would not be acceptable.{{cite journal |last1=Braymer-Hayes |first1=Katelyn |last2=Anderson |first2=Shelby L. |last3=Alix |first3=Claire |last4=Darwent |first4=Christyann M. |last5=Darwent |first5=John |last6=Mason |first6=Owen K. |last7=Norman |first7=Lauren Y.E. |title=Studying pre-colonial gendered use of space in the Arctic: Spatial analysis of ceramics in Northwestern Alaska |journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology |date=2020 |volume=58 |page=101165 |doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2020.101165 |doi-access=free}}

American linguist Lenore Grenoble has also explicitly deferred to the ICC resolution and used Inuit–Yupik instead of Eskimo with regards to the language branch.{{cite book |last=Grenoble |first=Lenore A. |author-link=Lenore Grenoble |editor1-last=Day |editor1-first=Delyn |editor2-last=Rewi |editor2-first=Poia |editor2-link=Poia Rewi |editor3-last=Higgins |editor3-first=Rawinia |editor3-link=Rawinia Higgins |title=The Journeys of Besieged Languages |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars |isbn=978-1-4438-9943-7 |page=284 |chapter=Kalaallisut: The Language of Greenland}}{{cite book |last1=Grenoble |first1=Lenore A. |editor1-last=Hinton |editor1-first=Leanne |editor2-last=Huss |editor2-first=Leena |editor3-last=Roche |editor3-first=Gerald |title=The Routledge Handbook of Language Revitalization |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781315561271 |page=353 |chapter=Arctic Indigenous Languages: Vitality and Revitalization |hdl=10072/380836 |isbn=978-1-315-56127-1|s2cid=150673555 }}

Genetic evidence suggests that the Americas were populated from northeastern Asia in multiple waves. While the great majority of indigenous American peoples can be traced to a single early migration of Paleo-Indians, the Na-Dené, Inuit and Indigenous Alaskan populations exhibit admixture from distinct populations that migrated into America at a later date and are closely linked to the peoples of far northeastern Asia (e.g. Chukchi), and only more remotely to the majority indigenous American type. For modern Eskimo–Aleut speakers, this later ancestral component makes up almost half of their genomes.{{Cite journal |pmc=3615710 |year=2012 |last1=Reich |first1=D. |last2=Patterson |first2=N. |last3=Campbell |first3=D. |last4=Tandon |first4=A.|last5=Mazieres |first5=S. |last6=Ray |first6=N. |last7=Parra |first7=M. V. |last8=Rojas |first8=W. |last9=Duque |first9=C. |last10=Mesa |first10=N. |last11=García |first11=L. F. |last12=Triana |first12=O. |last13=Blair |first13=S. |last14=Maestre |first14=A. |last15=Dib |first15=J. C. |last16=Bravi |first16=C. M. |last17=Bailliet |first17=G. |last18=Corach |first18=D. |last19=Hünemeier |first19=T. |last20=Bortolini |first20=M. C. |last21=Salzano |first21=F. M. |last22=Petzl-Erler |first22=M. L. |last23=Acuña-Alonzo |first23=V. |last24=Aguilar-Salinas |first24=C. |last25=Canizales-Quinteros |first25=S. |last26=Tusié-Luna |first26=T. |last27=Riba |first27=L. |last28=Rodríguez-Cruz |first28=M. |last29=Lopez-Alarcón |first29=M. |last30=Coral-Vazquez |first30=R. |display-authors=3 |title=Reconstructing Native American Population History |journal=Nature |volume=488 |issue=7411 |pages=370–374 |doi=10.1038/nature11258 |pmid=22801491 |bibcode=2012Natur.488..370R}} The ancient Paleo-Eskimo population was genetically distinct from the modern circumpolar populations, but eventually derives from the same far northeastern Asian cluster. It is understood that some or all of these ancient people migrated across the Chukchi Sea to North America during the pre-neolithic era, somewhere around 5,000 to 10,000 years ago.{{cite journal |last1=Flegontov |first1=Pavel |last2=Altinişik |first2=N. Ezgi |last3=Changmai |first3=Piya |last4=Rohland |first4=Nadin |last5=Mallick |first5=Swapan |last6=Bolnick |first6=Deborah A. |last7=Candilio |first7=Francesca |last8=Flegontova |first8=Olga |last9=Jeong |first9=Choongwon |last10=Harper |first10=Thomas K. |last11=Keating |first11=Denise |last12=Kennett |first12=Douglas J. |last13=Kim |first13=Alexander M. |first27=Stephan |last27=Schiffels |first26=David |last26=Reich |first25=Johannes |last25=Krause |first24=Ron |last24=Pinhasi |last23=O'Rourke |last15=Olalde |first18=Pontus |first15=Iñigo |last14=Lamnidis |first16=Jennifer |last17=Sattler |first17=Robert A. |last18=Skoglund |last19=Vajda |first22=M. Geoffrey |first19=Edward J. |last20=Vasilyev |first20=Sergey |last21=Veselovskaya |first21=Elizaveta |last22=Hayes |last16=Raff |display-authors=3 |date=13 October 2017 |title=Paleo-Eskimo genetic legacy across North America |journal=bioRxiv |doi=10.1101/203018 |hdl-access=free |first14=Thiseas C. |first23=Dennis H. |hdl=21.11116/0000-0004-5D08-C |s2cid=90288469}} It is believed that ancestors of the Aleut people inhabited the Aleutian Chain 10,000 years ago.{{Cite journal |last1=Dunne |first1=J. A. |last2=Maschner |first2=H. |last3=Betts |first3=M. W. |last4=Huntly |first4=N. |last5=Russell |first5=R. |last6=Williams |first6=R. J. |last7=Wood |first7=S. A. |display-authors=3 |year=2016 |title=The roles and impacts of human hunter-gatherers in North Pacific marine food webs |journal=Scientific Reports |volume=6 |page=21179 |bibcode=2016NatSR...621179D |doi=10.1038/srep21179 |pmc=4756680 |pmid=26884149}}

File:Dorset_longhouse.jpg longhouse near Cambridge Bay, Nunavut]]

The earliest positively identified Paleo-Eskimo cultures (Early Paleo-Eskimo) date to 5,000 years ago.{{cite journal |last1=Raghavan |first1=Maanasa |last2=DeGiorgio |first2=Michael |last3=Albrechtsen |first3=Anders |last4=Moltke |first4=Ida |last5=Skoglund |first5=Pontus |last6=Korneliussen |first6=Thorfinn S. |last7=Grønnow |first7=Bjarne |last8=Appelt |first8=Martin |last9=Gulløv |first9=Hans Christian |last10=Friesen |first10=T. Max |last11=Fitzhugh |first11=William |display-authors=3 |date=29 August 2014 |title=The genetic prehistory of the New World Arctic |journal=Science |volume=345 |issue=6200 |doi=10.1126/science.1255832 |pmid=25170159 |doi-access=free |last14=Olsen |last44=Kivisild |first47=Finn C. |last47=Nielsen |first46=Michael H. |last46=Crawford |first45=Richard |last45=Villems |first44=Toomas |last42=Götherström |first43=Ludovic |last43=Orlando |first42=Anders |first48=Jørgen |first41=Victor A. |last41=Spitsyn |first40=Joan |last40=Coltrain |first39=M. Geoffrey |last48=Dissing |first50=Morten |last49=Heinemeier |first54=M. Thomas P. |s2cid=353853 |last12=Malmström |first12=Helena |last13=Rasmussen |first56=Eske |last56=Willerslev |first55=Rasmus |last55=Nielsen |last54=Gilbert |first49=Jan |first53=Mattias |last53=Jakobsson |first52=Dennis H. |last52=O'Rourke |first51=Carlos |last51=Bustamante |first38=Hans |last50=Meldgaard |last39=Hayes |last38=Lange |first14=Jesper |last20=Renouf |first24=Kate |last24=Britton |first23=Marta |last23=Mirazón Lahr |first22=Niels |last22=Lynnerup |first21=Jerome |last21=Cybulski |first20=M. A. Priscilla |first19=Vaughan |first25=Rick |last19=Grimes |first18=Thomas |last18=Stafford |first17=Simon M. |last17=Fahrni |first16=Benjamin T. |last16=Fuller |first15=Linea |last15=Melchior |last25=Knecht |last26=Arneborg |first37=Claus |first32=Vibha |last37=Andreasen |first36=Kirill |last36=Dneprovsky |first35=Tracey |last35=Pierre |first34=Elza |last34=Khusnutdinova |first33=Thomas V. O. |last33=Hansen |last32=Raghavan |first26=Jette |first13=Simon |last31=Rasmussen |first30=Yong |last30=Wang |first29=Anna-Sapfo |last29=Malaspinas |first28=Omar E. |last28=Cornejo |first27=Mait |last27=Metspalu |first31=Morten}} Several earlier indigenous peoples existed in the northern circumpolar regions of eastern Siberia, Alaska, and Canada (although probably not in Greenland).{{Cite web |date=April 19, 2011 |title=- Saqqaq culture chronology |url=https://natmus.dk/organisation/forskning-samling-og-bevaring/nyere-tid-og-verdens-kulturer/etnografisk-samling/arktisk-forskning/prehistory-of-greenland/saqqaq/ |publisher=National Museum of Denmark}} The Paleo-Eskimo peoples appear to have developed in Alaska from people related to the Arctic small tool tradition in eastern Asia, whose ancestors had probably migrated to Alaska at least 3,000 to 5,000 years earlier.{{cite book |last1=Cordell |first1=L.S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=arfWRW5OFVgC&pg=RA3-PA274 |title=Archaeology in America: An Encyclopedia [4 volumes]: An Encyclopedia |last2=Lightfoot |first2=K. |last3=McManamon |first3=F. |last4=Milner |first4=G. |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-313-02189-3 |series=Non-Series |page=3-PA274 |access-date=November 7, 2021 |via=Google Books}}

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 people, who in turn are a likely ancestor of today's Inuit and Yupik.

Approximately 1,500 to 2,000 years ago, apparently in northwestern Alaska, two other distinct variations appeared. Inuit language became distinct and, over a period of several centuries, its speakers migrated across northern Alaska, through Canada, and into Greenland. The distinct culture of the Thule people (drawing strongly from the Birnirk culture) developed in northwestern Alaska. It very quickly spread over the entire area occupied by Eskimo peoples, though it was not necessarily adopted by all of them.{{cite book |last1=Greenberg |first1=J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BlYTDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA379 |title=Genetic Linguistics: Essays on Theory and Method |last2=Croft |first2=W. |author3=ProQuest (Firm) |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-925771-3 |series=Oxford linguistics |page=379 |access-date=November 5, 2021 |via=Google Books}}

{{Main|Eskaleut languages}}

File:Welcome to Barrow, Alaska.jpg (Paġlagivsigiñ Utqiaġvigmun), Utqiaġvik, Alaska, framed by whale jawbones]]

The Eskimo–Aleut (also known as Eskaleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan) family of languages includes two cognate branches: the Aleut (Unangan) branch and the Inuit–Yupik branch.{{cite book |last1=Lyovin |first1=A. |last2=Kessler |first2=B. |last3=Leben |first3=W.R. |title=An Introduction to the Languages of the World |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-19-514988-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjxuDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA327 |access-date=November 7, 2021 |page=327 |via=Google Books}}

The number of cases varies, with Aleut languages having a greatly reduced case system compared to those of the Inuit–Yupik subfamily. Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages possess voiceless plosives at the bilabial, coronal, velar and uvular positions in all languages except Aleut, which has lost the bilabial stops but retained the nasal. In the Inuit–Yupik subfamily a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative is also present.

The Inuit–Yupik sub-family consists of the Inuit and Yupik language sub-groups.{{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}} 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.{{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}}

Inuit languages comprise a dialect continuum, or dialect chain, that stretches from Unalakleet and Norton Sound in Alaska, across northern Alaska and Canada, and east to Greenland. Changes from western (Iñupiaq) to eastern dialects are marked by the dropping of vestigial Yupik-related features, increasing consonant assimilation (e.g., kumlu, meaning "thumb", changes to kuvlu, changes to kublu, changes to kulluk, changes to kulluq,{{cite web |url=http://www.livingdictionary.com/search/viewResults.jsp?language=en&searchString=thumb&languageSet=all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220807154151/https://www.livingdictionary.com/search/viewResults.jsp?language=en&searchString=thumb&languageSet=all |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 7, 2022 |title=thumb |work=Asuilaak Living Dictionary |access-date=November 25, 2007}} ) and increased consonant lengthening, and lexical change. Thus, speakers of two adjacent Inuit dialects would usually be able to understand one another, but speakers from dialects distant from each other on the dialect continuum would have difficulty understanding one another. Seward Peninsula dialects in western Alaska, where much of the Iñupiat culture has been in place for perhaps less than 500 years, are greatly affected by phonological influence from the Yupik languages. Eastern Greenlandic, at the opposite end of Inuit range, has had significant word replacement due to a unique form of ritual name avoidance.

Ethnographically, Greenlandic Inuit belong to three groups: the Kalaallit of west Greenland, who speak Kalaallisut; the Tunumiit of Tunu (east Greenland), who speak Tunumiit oraasiat ("East Greenlandic"), and the Inughuit of north Greenland, who speak Inuktun.

The four Yupik languages, by contrast, including Alutiiq (Sugpiaq), Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Naukan (Naukanski), and Siberian Yupik, are distinct languages with phonological, morphological, and lexical differences. They demonstrate limited mutual intelligibility. Additionally, both Alutiiq and Central Yup'ik have considerable dialect diversity. The northernmost Yupik languages – Siberian Yupik and Naukan Yupik – are linguistically only slightly closer to Inuit than is Alutiiq, which is the southernmost of the Yupik languages. Although the grammatical structures of Yupik and Inuit languages are similar, they have pronounced differences phonologically. Differences of vocabulary between Inuit and any one of the Yupik languages are greater than between any two Yupik languages. Even the dialectal differences within Alutiiq and Central Alaskan Yup'ik sometimes are relatively great for locations that are relatively close geographically.

Despite the relatively small population of Naukan speakers, documentation of the language dates back to 1732. While Naukan is only spoken in Siberia, the language acts as an intermediate between two Alaskan languages: Siberian Yupik and Central Yup'ik.{{cite journal |last1=Jacobson |first1=Steven A. |title=History of the Naukan Yupik Eskimo dictionary with implications for a future Siberian Yupik dictionary |journal=Études/Inuit/Studies |date=13 November 2006 |volume=29 |issue=1–2 |pages=149–161 |doi=10.7202/013937ar |s2cid=128785932 |doi-access=}}

Image:Inuktitut dialect map.svg

An overview of the Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages family is given below:

{{tree list}}

• Inuit–Yupik–Unangan
• Aleut or Unangan
• Western-Central dialects: Atkan, Attuan, Unangan, Bering (60–80 speakers)
• Eastern dialect: Unalaskan, Pribilof (400 speakers)
• Inuit–Yupik or Eskimo (Yup'ik, Yuit, and Inuit)
• Yupik
• Central Alaskan Yup'ik (10,000 speakers)
• Alutiiq or Pacific Gulf Yup'ik (400 speakers)
• Central Siberian Yupik or Yuit (Chaplinon and St Lawrence Island, 1,400 speakers)
• Naukan (700 speakers)
• Inuit or Inupik (75,000 speakers)
• Greenlandic (Greenland, 47,000 speakers)
• Kalaallisut (West Greenlandic, 44,000-52,000 speakers)
• Tunumiisut (East Greenlandic, 3,500 speakers)
• Iñupiaq (northern Alaska, 3,500 speakers)
• Inuvialuktun (western Canada; together with Siglitun, Natsilingmiutut, Inuinnaqtun and Uummarmiutun 765 speakers)
• Inuktitut (eastern Canada; together with Inuktun and Inuinnaqtun, 30,000 speakers)
• Inuktun (Avanersuarmiutut, Thule dialect or Polar Eskimo, approximately 1,000 speakers)
• Sirenik (Sirenikskiy) {{extinct}}

{{tree list/end}}

American linguist Lenore Grenoble has explicitly deferred to the ICC resolution and used Inuit–Yupik instead of Eskimo with regards to the language branch.

{{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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.treehugger.com/are-there-really-eskimo-words-for-snow-4862000|title = Are There Really 50 Eskimo Words for Snow?}}

File:Walrus meat 1 1999-04-01.jpg meat. Inuit are known for their practice of food sharing, where large catches of food are shared with the broader community.{{cite journal |last1=Damas |first1=David |year=1972 |title=Central Eskimo Systems of Food Sharing |journal=Ethnology |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=220–240 |doi=10.2307/3773217 |jstor=3773217}}]]{{Excerpt|Inuit cuisine|paragraph=1,2|only=paragraph|hat=no}}

{{Further|Inuit|Lists of Inuit}}

{{distinguish|text=the Innu, a First Nations people in eastern Quebec and Labrador}}

File:Eskimo fisherman's summer house, Alaska page 250.png of Nelson Island) fisherman's summer house]]

Inuit inhabit the Arctic and northern Bering Sea coasts of Alaska in the United States, and Arctic coasts of the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec, and Labrador in Canada, and Greenland (associated with Denmark). Until fairly recent times, there has been a remarkable homogeneity in the culture throughout this area, which traditionally relied on fish, marine mammals, and land animals for food, heat, light, clothing, and tools. Their food sources primarily relied on seals, whales, whale blubber, walrus, and fish, all of which they hunted using harpoons on the ice. Clothing consisted of robes made of wolfskin and reindeer skin to acclimate to the low temperatures.{{cite book |last=Nelson |first=Edward William |title=The Eskimo about Bering Strait |publisher=U.S. G.P.O. |date=1899}} They maintain a unique Inuit culture.

{{Main|Greenlandic Inuit}}

Greenlandic Inuit make up 90% of Greenland's population. They belong to three major groups:

• Kalaallit of west Greenland, who speak Kalaallisut
• Tunumiit of east Greenland, who speak Tunumiisut
• Inughuit of north Greenland, who speak Inuktun or Polar Eskimo.

{{Main|Inuit}}

Canadian Inuit live primarily in Inuit Nunangat (lit. "lands, waters and ices of the [Inuit] people"), their traditional homeland although some people live in southern parts of Canada. Inuit Nunangat ranges from the Yukon–Alaska border in the west across the Arctic to northern Labrador.

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 Canadian Arctic Islands. The land was demarked in 1984 by the Inuvialuit Final Agreement.

The majority of Inuit live in Nunavut (a territory of Canada), Nunavik (the northern part of Quebec) and in Nunatsiavut (Inuit settlement region in Labrador).{{cite web |url=https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/inuit-nunangat/ |title=Inuit Nunangat |access-date=April 3, 2021 |publisher=Canadian Geographic}}{{cite web |url=https://www.itk.ca/inuit-nunangat-map/ |title=Map of Inuit Nunangat |date=April 4, 2019 |access-date=April 3, 2021 |publisher=Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami}}{{cite web |url=https://irc.inuvialuit.com/about-irc/inuvialuit-final-agreement |title=Inuvialuit Final Agreement |date=21 November 2016 |access-date=April 2, 2021 |publisher=Inuvialuit Regional Corporation}}

{{Main|Iñupiat}}

File:Inupiat Family from Noatak, Alaska, 1929, Edward S. Curtis (restored).jpg family from Noatak, Alaska, 1929]]

The Iñupiat are Inuit of Alaska's Northwest Arctic and North Slope boroughs and the Bering Straits region, including the Seward Peninsula.{{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}} Utqiaġvik, the northernmost city in the United States, is above the Arctic Circle and in the Iñupiat region. Their language is known as Iñupiaq.{{cite web |url=https://www.alaskanativelanguages.org/inupiaq |title=Inupiatun |author= |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 }} Their current communities include 34 villages across Iñupiat Nunaŋat (Iñupiaq lands) including seven Alaskan villages in the North Slope Borough, affiliated with the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation; eleven villages in Northwest Arctic Borough; and sixteen villages affiliated with the Bering Straits Regional Corporation.[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.

{{Main|Yupik peoples}}

File:AlutiiqDancer.jpg dancer during the biennial "Celebration" cultural event]]

The Yupik are indigenous or aboriginal peoples who live along the coast of western Alaska, especially on the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta and along the Kuskokwim River (Central Alaskan Yup'ik); in southern Alaska (the Alutiiq); and along the eastern coast of Chukotka in the Russian Far East and St. Lawrence Island in western Alaska (the Siberian Yupik).{{Cite web |title=Facts for Kids: Yup'ik People (Yupik) |url=http://www.bigorrin.org/yupik_kids.htm |access-date=June 20, 2020 |website=www.bigorrin.org}} The Yupik economy has traditionally been strongly dominated by the harvest of marine mammals, especially seals, walrus, and whales."Yupik". (2008). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved January 13, 2008, from: [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/655025/Yupik Encyclopædia Britannica Online] Retrieved August 30, 2012.

{{Excerpt|Alutiiq|paragraph=1,2}}

The Alutiiq language is relatively close to that spoken by the Yupik in the Bethel, Alaska area. But, it is considered a distinct language with two major dialects: the Koniag dialect, spoken on the Alaska Peninsula and on Kodiak Island, and the Chugach dialect, spoken on the southern Kenai Peninsula and in Prince William Sound. Residents of Nanwalek, located on southern part of the Kenai Peninsula near Seldovia, speak what they call Sugpiaq. They are able to understand those who speak Yupik in Bethel. With a population of approximately 3,000, and the number of speakers in the hundreds, Alutiiq communities are working to revitalize their language.{{cite web |url=https://alutiiqmuseum.org/learn/the-alutiiq-sugpiaq-people/language/906-language-loss-revitalization |title=Language Loss & Revitalization |website=alutiiqmuseum.org |language=en-gb |access-date=June 12, 2018}}

{{Main|Yup'ik}}

Yup'ik, with an apostrophe, denotes the speakers of the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, who live in western Alaska and southwestern Alaska from southern Norton Sound to the north side of Bristol Bay, on the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, and on Nelson Island. The use of the apostrophe in the name Yup'ik is a written convention to denote the long pronunciation of the p sound; but it is spoken the same in other Yupik languages. Of all the Alaska Native languages, Central Alaskan Yup'ik has the most speakers, with about 10,000 of a total Yup'ik population of 21,000 still speaking the language. The five dialects of Central Alaskan Yup'ik include General Central Yup'ik, and the Egegik, Norton Sound, Hooper Bay-Chevak, and Nunivak dialects. In the latter two dialects, both the language and the people are called Cup'ik.{{cite web |publisher=Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks. |url=https://uaf.edu/anlc/languages/centralakyupik.php |title=Central Alaskan Yup'ik |access-date=April 3, 2021 |archive-date=April 11, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411035617/https://www.uaf.edu/anlc/languages/centralakyupik.php}}

{{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 aboard the steamer Bowhead]]

Siberian Yupik reside along the Bering Sea coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in Siberia in the Russian Far East and in the villages of Gambell and Savoonga on St. Lawrence Island in Alaska.{{cite web|url=https://uaf.edu/anlc/languages/siberianyupik.php|title=Siberian Yupik|publisher=Alaska Native Language Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks|access-date=April 3, 2021|archive-date=May 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210508075538/https://www.uaf.edu/anlc/languages/siberianyupik.php}} The Central Siberian Yupik spoken on the Chukchi Peninsula and on St. Lawrence Island is nearly identical. About 1,050 of a total Alaska population of 1,100 Siberian Yupik people in Alaska speak the language. It is the first language of the home for most St. Lawrence Island children. In Siberia, about 300 of a total of 900 Siberian Yupik people still learn and study the language, though it is no longer learned as a first language by children.

{{Main|Naukan people|Naukan Yupik language}}

About 70 of 400 Naukan people still speak Naukanski. The Naukan originate on the Chukot Peninsula in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in Siberia. Despite the relatively small population of Naukan speakers, documentation of the language dates back to 1732. While Naukan is only spoken in Siberia, the language acts as an intermediate between two Alaskan languages: Siberian Yupik Eskimo and Central Yup'ik Eskimo.

{{Main|Sirenik Eskimos}}

File:Model of an Ice Scoop, 1900-1930, 36.83.jpg]]

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, Imtuk, and some small villages stretching to the west from Sireniki along south-eastern coasts of Chukchi Peninsula.[http://www.siberian-studies.org/publications/PDF/bevakhtin.pdf Vakhtin 1998]: 162 They lived in neighborhoods with Siberian Yupik and Chukchi peoples.

As early as in 1895, Imtuk was a settlement with a mixed population of Sireniki and UngazigmitMenovshchikov 1964: 7 (the latter belonging to Siberian Yupik). Sirenik culture has been influenced by that of Chukchi, and the language shows Chukchi language influences.[http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0008/000861/086162e.pdf Menovshchikov 1990]: 70 Folktale motifs also show the influence of Chuckchi culture.Menovshchikov 1964: 132

The above peculiarities of this (already extinct) Inuit–Yupik language amounted to mutual unintelligibility even with its nearest language relatives:Menovshchikov 1964: 6–7 in the past, Sireniki had to use the unrelated Chukchi language as a lingua franca for communicating with Siberian Yupik.

Many words are formed from entirely different roots from in Siberian Yupik,Menovshchikov 1964: 42 but even the grammar has several peculiarities distinct not only among Inuit–Yupik languages, but even compared to Aleut. For example, dual number is not known in Sirenik, while most Inuit–Yupik–Unangan languages have dual,Menovshchikov 1964: 38 including its neighboring Siberian Yupikax relatives.Menovshchikov 1964: 81

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,Menovshchikov 1962: 11Menovshchikov 1964: 9 and being in contact only with speakers of unrelated languages for many centuries. The influence of the Chukchi language is clear.

Because of all these factors, the classification of the Sirenik language is not settled yet:[http://www.siberian-studies.org/publications/PDF/bevakhtin.pdf Vakhtin 1998]: 161 Sireniki language is sometimes regarded as a third branch of Inuit–Yupik (at least, its possibility is mentioned).Linguist List's description about [http://linguistlist.org/people/personal/get-personal-page2.cfm?PersonID=5548&RequestTimeout=500 Nikolai Vakhtin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071026050356/http://linguistlist.org/people/personal/get-personal-page2.cfm?PersonID=5548&RequestTimeout=500 |date=2007-10-26 }}'s book: [https://old.linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=938 The Old Sirinek Language: Texts, Lexicon, Grammatical Notes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023012755/http://linguistlist.org/pubs/books/get-book.cfm?BookID=938 |date=2007-10-23 }}. The author's untransliterated (original) name is "[http://www.eu.spb.ru/univ/rector/index.htm Н.Б. Вахтин] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070910134859/http://www.eu.spb.ru/univ/rector/index.htm |date=September 10, 2007 }}".{{cite web |script-title=ru:Языки эскимосов |title=Yazyki eskimosov |trans-title=Eskimo languages |work=ICC Chukotka |publisher=Inuit Circumpolar Council |language=ru |url=http://www.icc.hotbox.ru/yaziki.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026205006/http://www.icc.hotbox.ru/yaziki.htm |archive-date=October 26, 2014}} Sometimes it is regarded rather as a group belonging to the Yupik branch.{{cite web |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/subgroups/eskimo-aleut |title=Ethnologue Report for Eskimo–Aleut |publisher=Ethnologue.com |access-date=June 13, 2012}}[http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0008/000861/086162e.pdf Kaplan 1990]: 136

{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}

• Alaska Native religion
• Blond Eskimos
• Disc number
• Eskimo archery
• Eskimo kinship
• Eskimo kissing
• Eskimo yo-yo
• Eskimology
• Inuit religion
• Kudlik
• Maupuk
• Nanook of the North, 1922 documentary
• Saqqaq culture

{{Div col end}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |last=Kaplan |first=Lawrence D. |chapter=The Language of the Alaskan Inuit |pages=131–158 |editor=Dirmid R. F. Collis |title=Arctic Languages. An Awakening |publisher=UNESCO |location=Vendôme |year=1990 |isbn=92-3-102661-5 |chapter-url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0008/000861/086162e.pdf}}
• {{cite book |last=Menovshchikov |first=Georgy |chapter=Contemporary Studies of the Eskimo–Aleut Languages and Dialects: A Progress Report |pages=69–76 |editor-first=Dirmid R. F. |editor-last=Collis |title=Arctic Languages. An Awakening |publisher=UNESCO |location=Vendôme |year=1990 |isbn=92-3-102661-5 |chapter-url=http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0008/000861/086162e.pdf}}
• {{cite book |last=Nuttall |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LcucDSk4w3YC&dq=Eskimo%20pejorative&pg=PA580 |title=Encyclopedia of the Arctic |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |date=2005 |isbn=978-1-57958-436-8}}
• {{cite book |last=Vakhtin |first=Nikolai |chapter=Endangered Languages in Northeast Siberia: Siberian Yupik and other Languages of Chukotka |pages=159–173 |editor=Erich Kasten |title=Bicultural Education in the North: Ways of Preserving and Enhancing Indigenous Peoples' Languages and Traditional Knowledge |publisher=Waxmann Verlag |location=Münster |year=1998 |isbn=978-3-89325-651-8 |chapter-url=http://www.siberian-studies.org/publications/PDF/bevakhtin.pdf |format=PDF |url=http://waxmann.com/index2.html?kat/651.html |access-date=April 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070413070114/http://www.waxmann.com/index2.html?kat%2F651.html |archive-date=April 13, 2007}}
• {{Cite web |title=Inuit or Eskimo: Which name to use? |url=https://www.uaf.edu/anlc/resources/inuit_or_eskimo.php |publisher=Alaska Native Language Center |access-date=November 30, 2021}}

• {{cite book |last=Menovshchikov |first=Georgy |script-title=ru:Язык сиреникских эскимосов. Фонетика, очерк морфологии, тексты и словарь |title=Yazyk sirenikskikh eskimosov. Fonetika, ocherk morfologii, teksty i slovar' |trans-title=Language of Sireniki Eskimos. Phonetics, morphology, texts and vocabulary |publisher=Академия Наук СССР. Институт языкознания |location=Moscow, Leningrad |year=1964 |language=ru}}

• [http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol5/iss2/art18/main.html Adapting to climate change: social-ecological resilience in a Canadian western arctic community. Conservation Ecology 5(2)]
• [http://www.en.copian.ca/library/research/ccl/inuit_learning/inuit_learning.pdf Canadian Council on Learning, State of Inuit Learning in Canada] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201034952/http://www.en.copian.ca/library/research/ccl/inuit_learning/inuit_learning.pdf |date=2017-12-01 }}
• [https://minpaku.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=649&item_no=1&attribute_id=18&file_no=1 Contemporary Food Sharing: A Case Study from Akulivik, PQ. Canada].
• [http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/inu/index.htm Internet Sacred Text Archive: Inuit Religion]
• [http://anthropology.uwaterloo.ca/ArcticArchStuff/Inuit.html Inuit Culture]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20171201042524/https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/wp-content/uploads/101/7/ehp.93101618.pdf Inuit Exposure to Organochlorines through the Aquatic Food Chain. Environmental Health Perspectives 101(7)]
• [http://iportal.usask.ca/action.php?sid=538872931&url=http://www3.brandonu.ca/cjns/9.2/berlo.pdf&action=go&id=276 Inuit Women and Graphic Arts: Female Creativity and Its Cultural Context. The Canadian Journal of Native Studies 9(2)]{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• [https://www.census.gov/prod/2006pubs/censr-28.pdf We the People: American Indians and Alaska Natives in the United States. Census 2000 Special Reports February 2006]
• [http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/nowell/searchterm/eskimo*/field/all/mode/any/conn/and/cosuppress/ University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Frank H. Nowell Photographs] Photographs documenting scenery, towns, businesses, mining activities, Native Americans, and Eskimos in the vicinity of Nome, Alaska from 1901 to 1909.
• [http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/alaskawcanada/searchterm/aleuts%20eskimos%20indians/field/subjec/mode/any/conn/and/cosuppress/ University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Alaska and Western Canada Collection] Images documenting Alaska and Western Canada, primarily Yukon and British Columbia, depicting scenes of the Gold Rush of 1898, city street scenes, Eskimo and Native Americans of the region, hunting and fishing, and transportation.
• [http://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/cdm/search/collection/warner/searchterm/eskimo*/field/title/mode/all/conn/and/cosuppress/ University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Arthur Churchill Warner Photographs] Includes images of Eskimos from 1898 to 1900.
• [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1956268/pdf/canmedaj01530-0035.pdf Inuit Myopia: an environmentally induced "epidemic"?]

{{Wiktionary|eskimo|Eskimo}}

{{Commons category|Inuit}}

{{Commons category|Yupik}}

{{externalvideo|video1=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4_S0rj_RtM Eskimo Hunters in Alaska - The Traditional Inuit Way of Life 1949 Documentary on Native Americans]}}

• [https://archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu/repositories/2/resources/1071 Some Psychological Aspects of the Impact of the White Man upon the Labrador Eskimo Manuscript] at Dartmouth College Library
• [https://archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu/repositories/2/resources/1184 The Traditional Labrador Eskimos (1960) Manuscript] at Dartmouth College Library
• [https://archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu/repositories/2/resources/1110 Victor Levine Manuscripts on origins of the Eskimos] at Dartmouth College Library

{{Ethnic slurs}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Algonquian ethnonyms

Category:Hunter-gatherers of the Arctic

Category:Hunter-gatherers of Asia

Category:Hunter-gatherers of the United States

Category:Hunter-gatherers of Canada

Category:Indigenous peoples of North America

Category:Indigenous peoples of Siberia

Category:Modern nomads