On Monday, the municipality of Aarhus in Denmark officially changed the name of the street Eskimovej to Silavej. The local government approved this change following direct requests from Greenlandic cultural and student organizations. Representatives argued the previous name was outdated and derogatory. City workers are installing the new street signs during the morning.
A push for cultural respect
The Greenlandic House (Det Grønlandske Hus) and the Greenlandic student association (Avalak) formally requested the name change. They proposed Silavej as a neutral and meaningful alternative. In the Greenlandic language, “sila” translates to weather, world, or state of mind.
Marie Annelise Kahlig, director of The Greenlandic House, stated that street names signal societal values and influence how people perceive each other. The municipality conducted a public hearing among affected parties before finally approving the new name.
The controversy behind the former name
The term “eskimo” is widely considered controversial and derogatory by Indigenous peoples in the Arctic. Historically, European colonizers and explorers used the word to describe the Inuit and Yupik peoples. It is not an Indigenous term.
Many linguists trace its origins to an Algonquian word meaning “eaters of raw meat,” although some scholars debate this exact etymology. Regardless of its original linguistic root, the term carries a strong colonial legacy. Indigenous communities reject it in favor of their specific cultural names, such as Inuit, which simply means “the people.”
Part of a broader discussion
The street Eskimovej had been part of a neighborhood in Aarhus featuring several Arctic-themed names since 1942. The decision to remove the name aligns with a broader cultural shift across Denmark and other countries.
In recent years, companies and institutions have dropped the term from commercial products and public spaces. The local government views the renaming as a necessary step toward acknowledging and respecting modern Greenlandic identity within the Danish realm.
