Eskimo

A generic and (in some regions) an archaic term used in reference to indigenous people of the North American Arctic who are speakers of Eskimoan languages - thus, strictly speaking, the term "Eskimo" does not include the Aleut. Historically, "Eskimo" was used less specifically to refer to other indigenous peoples of Alaska and the Canadian shield as well*.

The origin of the word is uncertain. It is often thought to derive from an Algonquian term meaning "raw meat eaters", referring to their habits of eating raw meat or seal blubber.

Today, the term is considered derogatory in Canada (and to some extent in Greenland), where it has been replaced by the term Inuit. In Greenland, the term is used as a general term to describe arctic peoples of past cultures (e.g. Dorset, etc), or (when speaking Danish) as a translation of the term "kalak", which is used when teasing someone who is behaving in a clumsy manner. In Alaska, the term is in use as a general term, although more specific designations are generally preferred: Inupiat, Yupiit (sg. Yup'ik), Alutiit (sg. Alutiiq), etc.

The term is part of a common description for a kayak maneuver: the Eskimo roll; and the 'Aleut Roll' may never catch on. Perhaps, 'Kayak Roll' would be a much better term. Interestingly, it is the Greenlandic people who more frequently rolled their kayaks than the Aleuts. The Greenlandic word for kayak rolling is kinngusaqattaarneq.

I have an ancestor who's birth certificate from 1660 lists the mother's race as "indienne", which was scratched out and replaced with "esquimau". She is assumed to be Micmac rather than Inuit or Innu. This is one example of how the term was used many years ago.