Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
regarding the etymology
- 1996, Evgenij Vasil-evič Golovko, Aleut and the Aleuts in contact with other languages and peoples, in the Atlas of Languages of Intercultural Communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas, page 1099:
- The term Aleut, brought in by Russians (etymology unknown, for hypotheses see Vdovin 1968, and Menovščikov 1980), was adopted on Kodiak Island as the tribal name (the original term is sugpiaq). so, one should be very cautious with the term 'Aleut' in archival materials: it may be referring to both 'real' Aleuts and Pacific Eskimos.