Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 2.djvu/330

 CHAPTER XX.

INNUIT OR ESQUIMAUX CHARACTER, CUSTOMS, ETC.

race of people whom we denominate Esquimaux are, in their own language, called In-nu-it—that is, "the people." In-nu, in the singular number, signifies "man;" in the plural, In-nu-it, "people," "the people," or (as they understand it) "our people," as distinguished from foreigners. The name Esquimaux is entirely foreign, and not to be interpreted from any elements hitherto found in their language. In illustration of its origin, a friend, who is philologically devoted, has favoured the author with the following suggestions:— The appellation "Esquimaux"—of which the traders' term "Husky" is a mere corruption—is obviously derived from some Algic dialect, doubtless from the Chippeway or the Cree. The Cree language is very nearly the same as the Chippeway, the difference being merely dialectic.

In the Chippeway, ush-ke signifies "raw." In the same language, um-wau signifies "he eats." From these elements we readily form the word ush-ke-um-wau, "raw he eats." And a noun derived from this verb, as a national denomination, must be some such form as Aish-ke-um-oog, "raw-flesheaters;" the double o being long, like oa in boat. Use has softened this name into Es-ke-moog (pronounced Es-ke-moag); the sh of the Chippeway becoming simple s, it would seem, in the Cree. All that remains is the consideration that the French traders, of course, used the French orthography.