GLOSSARY

Eskimo:	A controversial, collective term for many arctic peoples, including Inuit and Inupiat. Many people, particularly in Canada, find the word ‘Eskimo’ offensive, since it is not a word in their language and has been imposed by outsiders, mainly white people. However, ‘Inuit’ cannot always be used as an alternative, because not all the peoples who are sometimes thought of as ‘Eskimos’ are in fact Inuit.
	This makes it a bit difficult to talk about these peoples in general, without using the term ‘Eskimo’. In Alaska, to add to the confusion, some people use the term ‘Eskimo’ to refer to themselves. I’ve tried to avoid ‘Eskimo’ for the most part and to use the correct term for each group in this book, and hope readers will not find it too confusing.
Inuit:	Term, meaning ‘human beings’, used to cover many different groups of arctic peoples, mainly those living in Canada, parts of Alaska and Greenland (although the Greenland Inuit usually refer to themselves as Greenlanders or Kalaallit); the singular is Inuk.
Inupiat:	An Alaskan people who live partly by whale-hunting; the singular is Inupiaq. It means ‘human beings’.
Kalaallit:	The Greenlandic word for Inuit.
Kayak:	Light one- or two-person skin-covered boat.
Maktak:	Whale skin.
Mukluks:	Snow shoes.
Nalukataq:	Major festival held at the end of the spring whaling season to celebrate the success of the whaling.
Pod:	A family group of whales. A pod can be as few as two or three whales, or as many as thirty or forty, depending on the type of whale, the season and where they are.
Taig:	A variant spelling of the Irish name, Tadhg, meaning ‘poet’. Throughout the book Taig is known by his nickname, Tyke.
Umiaq:	Light wood-framed boat, covered in walrus skin or seal skin, large enough to take a whole whaling crew and the whaling equipment but light enough to carry over the ice on a sled.