Etymology

alaska

A·las·ka
A1L1A1S1K5A1

Today it means: A state of the United States, formerly a territory. Capital: Juneau. Largest city: Anchorage. Postal code: AK. Full definition →

Russian Аля́ска (Aljáska) ← Aleut alaxsxaq
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The story

  1. Aleutalag
  2. Aleutalaxsxaq
  3. RussianАля́ска (Aljáska)
  4. English todayAlaska

From Russian Аля́ска (Aljáska, “Alaska”), in turn from Aleut alaxsxaq (“a mainland”, literally “that toward which the action of the sea is directed”), composed of alag (“pertaining to the sea”) + -sxa (nominalizing suffix, yields 'the objective of action expressed by the root') + -q (nominalizing suffix). Commonly misattributed to Russian ала (ala) + -ский (-skij, adjectival suffix).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.