The Language Secretariat of Greenland

 
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  Name European Old Spelling
  Name European Old Spelling
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MinikN   Minik
 Samuel Kleinschmidt defines the word minik in his Greenlandic dictionary (Den grønlandske ordbog fra 1871 p. 211), that minik is "1) Blubber, which has become a viscous glue-like substance (of which a thin layer has been exposed to the action of the air, fex. outside, or on the rim of, a blubber vessel); 2) earwax.)"

According to Jonathan Petersen’s ’ordbogêraĸ’ from 1951 p. 101 the word minik means ’hardened layer of fat’.

Kleinschmidt's next entry is: 'minippaa or minitserpaa, pastes the seams of the boat with minik.'

The name Minik might derive from these definitions. A significant portion of Greenlandic names have their origin from the daily life, some of them dealing with the household and its tools, as well as hunting life and its equipment. Minik might belong to this category, however a mainstream interpretation is Kleinscmidt's no. 2 definition.

Due to cooing with babies and constant use, consonants often weaken. A good example is the girls' name Natuk, which is believed to be a babbling form of inequnartoq (cute and sweet), with the following process: unoqunartoq -> uukunattuk -> nattuk -> natuk). Thus mineq can become minik.

The name is short and easy to pronounce, and this might be the reason why it is so popular. Also the fact that several books were published about the controversy concerning the boy Minik, who in 1897 was brought with his family to New York by Robert E. Peary, might have had an impact on the popularity of the name.

According to statistics, only a handful of people (10 persons) bore the name Minik in the 50s, 60s and the 70s. But after the books were published, there was a marked increase of boys being named Minik, 57 persons in the 80s and 84 persons during the 90s.

Number of name bearers: Minik 152 (72 in DK), totalling 224, of which only 4 were girls.

Taamatuttaaq Samuel Kleinschmidtip ordbogiani Den grønlandske ordbog-imi 1871-imi saqqummersumi q. 211-mi ima nassuiarneqarsimavoq: orsoq, mattutsissimasoq nipoqqutalluni (qaava ilaatigut silaannaap sunniineranik qalippersimasartoq, soorlu qulliup ukkusissap qaavani sinaaniluunniit).

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