Eskimo–Aleut
/ˌɛskɪmoʊ əˈluːt/noun
A proposed language family comprising Inuit–Yupik languages and the Unangan (Aleut) language.
Did you know?The term is controversial because “Eskimo” is not a universal self-designation; many scholars and communities prefer Inuit–Yupik–Unangan or Eskaleut, while “Eskimo–Aleut” remains established in historical linguistics.
Etymological Timeline
19th Century
English
Eskimo
“An English term adopted through French and other European sources for Indigenous peoples of the Arctic; its ultimate origin remains disputed.”
19th Century
English
Aleut
“The English form of a name transmitted through Russian for the Unangan people and their language; its deeper origin is uncertain.”
Early 20th Century
Comparative linguistics
Eskimo-Aleut
“A proposed genetic classification grouping Eskimo languages with Aleut on the basis of systematic linguistic correspondences.”
20th Century
Proto-Eskimo-Aleut
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“A reconstructed ancestral language, not directly recorded, from which the family’s two principal branches are inferred to descend.”
Modern English
English
Eskimo–Aleut
“An established linguistic-family label, increasingly supplemented or replaced in some contexts by Eskaleut or Inuit–Yupik–Unangan.”