Paleo-Eskimo

English

Alternative forms

less-common alternative forms

Palae-Eskimo (uncommon, dated)
Palaeeskimo (rare)
Palæ-Eskimo, Palæeskimo (rare; archaic or used by non-native speakers)

Etymology

From paleo- (“old, primeval”) +‎ Eskimo. The scholar David J. Meltzer writes that the people are "badly named: there is nothing to indicate they are ancestral Eskimo or spoke an Eskimo language; today's Eskimo refer to them as the Tuniit".^[1]

Pronunciation

(US) IPA^(key): /ˌpeɪlioʊˈɛskɪmoʊ/

Noun

Paleo-Eskimo pl (plural only)

The inhabitants and/or native cultures of the North American Arctic region before the rise of the modern Eskimo cultures in the region; the Saqqaq, Independence I and II, and/or Dorset cultures and peoples.

References

^ First Peoples in a New World: Colonizing Ice Age America →ISBN, 2009), page 214

[1] First Peoples in a New World: Colonizing Ice Age America →ISBN, 2009), page 214

[1]