Cup'ik
/ˈtʃuː.pɪk/noun
A Central Alaskan Yup'ik language variety and the self-designation of its speakers in parts of Alaska.
Did you know?Cup'ik is a regional form of Yup'ik; the spelling difference reflects a local pronunciation tradition rather than a separate unrelated people.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Eskimo-Aleut
PEA
*yuk-
“A reconstructed ancestral root associated with person or human being; the exact form and analysis remain debated.”
Precontact Alaska
Yupik
yuk
“Person or human being in Yupik-related lexical traditions.”
Precontact Alaska
Central Alaskan Yup'ik
Yup'ik
“Traditionally analyzed as “real person,” from a word for person combined with a marker of genuineness or authenticity.”
Modern period
Central Alaskan Yup'ik
Cup'ik
“A regional form of Yup'ik used especially by speakers in the Hooper Bay–Chevak area and nearby communities.”
20th–21st Century
English
Cup'ik
“An established English-language name for the language variety and its associated cultural identity.”