Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Indigenous languages ·1850s
Husky
from Huskemaw
- Meaning
- A breed of Arctic sled dog.
- Source word
- Huskemaw
- Route into English
- A clipped form of *Huskemaw*, an older English term for the Inuit, itself a mangling of the people's own word. The dog is named for its original owners; the word *Eskimo* itself is now considered derogatory in Canada, but *husky* lives on as a dog-breed label.
- Arrived
- 1850s
From Indigenous languages
A loose group: Nahuatl, Taino, Algonquian, Guugu Yimithirr, and others. Colonial contact produced many loans; the speakers were often systematically dispossessed of the land the loanwords described.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.