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Nanook of the North (Robert J. Flaherty, 1922)

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Ethnonym Chain

As discussed here and here, the people living in East Greenland are the

Tunumiit – East Greenlander(s)

meaning “those who live on the “tunu” or “back side” (of Greenland)”, based on the West Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) word tunumiut, and so being a name given to them by the

Kalaallit – (West) Greenlander(s)

meaning “those with dried skins”, singular kalaaleq, which came from Old Norse word skræling (Note 1), a name given to them by the

Norrœnir menn – Norse(men)

meaning “those from the North”, presumably an ethnonym given from the perspective of those who stayed further south, who we might generically call 

Germanic peoples

which is based on the Latin word Germānī, being a name (of uncertain origin) given by the 

Rōmānī (Romans)

which in turn may be based on the ethnonym Ruma (and possibly derived from Etruscan Rumon - River Tiber) being the name of one of the tribes of

Rasna/Rasenna

being the term that Etruscans used to describe themselves, and since this appears to have the generic meaning of “people” as well as “Etruscans”, it would be a self-standing endonym (Note 2), and is accordingly where this trail stops, as far as I can tell! 

OK, so the “Germānī” link in the chain is a bit of a cheat (as it’s not an endonym, and is also a retrospectively applied term for a very wide group of people), but I do think it’s interesting that the first three ethnonyms are all clearly adopted exonyms – i.e. names given to a people from the perspective of another people, and which were ultimately adopted by them as their own self-descriptions within their own language.

Note 1: See diagram below contained within Holst’s book  to see how this change took place:

That author has no doubt that this is the true derivation.

Note 2: Like the Germans in fact (being Deutsch, from PIE *teuta meaning "people").

Here are close ups of the initial picture:

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depptla

which of course reads:  “a small snowball, preserved in Lucite, that had been handled by Johnny Depp” .........taken from a satire due to Phil James, "The Eskimos' Hundred Words for Snow", which has been circulating on the internet since 1996 or so, and includes obviously fake (though funny) items. 

A must-check-it-out

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About the complexity of language because “YOU CANNOT draw conclusions about what a culture values, or what speakers perceive, or how a nation thinks, by selective comparison of the senses of a few lexical items.”- Geoff Pullum

Read more about ‘the importance of jokes’ at the Language Log

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Nunavimiut inuit parka, 1979.

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The Weather Diaries a fantastic series by Cooper & Gorfer

Read about it and them here

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The Weather Diaries, Nordic Fashion Biennale by Cooper & Gorfer

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In March, Dean and Dan Caten of Dsquared2 were slammed for unveiling a fall ’15 collection that featured—among other questionable looks—a blonde-haired, green-eyed Caroline Trentini as an Inuit bride draped in military regalia. The show was accompanied by the hashtag #Dsquaw, a thoughtless reference to a derogatory word early colonialists used for native women. 

More on: What’s the Difference? Cultural Appreciation vs. Appropriation

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Inuit design rip-off : There’s constantly some sort of plagiarism row going on in fashion. Whether it’s Mango copying Gucci’s silk dresses, Nasty Gal copying Saint Laurent’s platform sandals, designer’s copying other designers, artists or, as was most recently the case, the designs of indigenous cultures and tribes. Last week, London-based fashion label KTZ were in hot water over the “Shaman Towelling Sweatshirt” featured in their AW15 collection – a design which Salome Awa says was copied from her great-grandfather Aua, one of the last Shaman of the Canadian Inuit.

Read the whole article here

FATASTIC ORIGINAL DESIGN THOUGH

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Picture: Vinnie Karetak (b. 1974 Iqaluit) in a scene from Qallunaat! Why White People are Funny (2006)

For the 30th anniversary issue, the IAQ asked 15 leading figures in Inuit art to nominate an early-career artist to watch. In turn, those artists selected a senior talent who has inspired them. The result is “30 Artists to Know”, an expansive portfolio exploring the intergenerational, familial and community-based bonds that are made visible through art. 

Check it out here

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Writer Niviaq Korneliussen and artist Lisbeth Karline Poulsen collaborated on a piece titled Radiofjeldet (2016). The image is the result of their joint installation for the exhibition Ordet-(asiliaq) (2016), which considered the tensions around language (Greenlandic and Danish) in Greenland.

more info

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fantastic piece of art by  Iglulik-based artist Lukie Airut (1942–2018)

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nipiit magazine

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GEUZENNAAM

Dutch noun meaning : “nickname or title that is carried with pride but originally given scornfully”

In English it comes closest to the word “reappropriation”

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Ord som jødesvin, bøsserøv, smatso, neger, narrefisse og svans står i Den Danske Ordbog – af den enkle grund, at de bliver brugt på dansk.

Læs artikelen om det her

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Golden oldie, i’ve seen while still on the academy. Spænende film revolving around the murder of a greenlandic inuit boy, confronting the place of inuit’s in Danish society. (if i remember correctly..)

Based on the bestselling book “Smilla’s Sense of Snow” by Danish author Peter Høeg

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traditional ‘n badass in one!