The story
- Proto-Algonquian · derived from*maka·lipowa“caribou”
- Mi'kmaq · derived fromqalipu“caribou”; compare <i class="Latn mention" lang="mic">qalipi</i>, “to shovel snow”
- Canadian French · borrowed fromcaribou
- English todaycaribou
Borrowed from Canadian French caribou, from Mi'kmaq qalipu (“caribou”; compare qalipi, “to shovel snow”), from Proto-Algonquian *maka·lipowa (“caribou”, literally “it shovels snow”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.