Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Indigenous languages ·1610s
Caribou
from qalipu
- Meaning
- The North American reindeer.
- Source word
- qalipu
- Route into English
- Mi'kmaq *qalipu* (snow-shoveller — they dig for lichen under snow) → Canadian French *caribou* → English. A fine example of a practical-observational animal name that travelled intact.
- Arrived
- 1610s
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.