Native American Words in English
A series of common English words with Native language origins!
Language of Origin: Eastern Inuit (Inuktitut or Greenlandic)
Place of Origin: Eastern Canada and Western Greenland
From Inuktitut or Greenlandic qayaq ᖃᔭᖅ "small boat" or "hunter's boat." Initially describing the small, narrow boat made of sealskins used by Inuit people in northern Canada and Greenland. Attested in 1719 in Danish (kajak), 1765 in German (Kajak), 1767 in English (kaiak). By the mid-1800s the spelling had settled as kayak and by 1931 the word had expanded to include boats made of synthetic materials in the same shape.