DCHP-2

inukshuk [< Esk. "something acting in the capacity of a man," pl. inukshuit] DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

• n.

  a cairn constructed by Eskimos to resemble a man's outline and serving as a landmark, or, in some parts of the Arctic, as one of the deadmen (def. 1) in a deer hedge.

  See also: deadman (def. 1)  deer hedge  qulliq  

  • 1939  [The Eskimos use what they call eenevsook or stone men: piles of rocks for guides.]
  • 1951  The Eskimos used to build avenues, miles long, of rocks that looked like men--Inuksoit, they called them.
  • 1953  Inukshuks . . . were built to frighten the caribou herd into certain channels where hunters with bows and arrows would wait for them.
  • 1966  It is fairly conclusive that the large figures made in the shape of a man were at one time of only ceremonial significance. They were originally called inunguaks which means 'like a man' as distinct from inukshuk which means 'acting in the capacity of a man'. In other words, the large man-like figures, although they werre found at the entrance to the migration routes, may have served, not as navigational beacons, but as gods which had to be appeased before one undertook a long and dangerous journey.