Good things come to those who wait? This Eskimo word evokes a quality that purveyors of instant gratification wouldn’t like, a kind of deep patience in allowing long-awaited events to materialize.
‘The long wait at a seal hole for prey to surface. Waiting for a lead to close. The Eskimo have a word for this kind of long waiting, prepared for a sudden event: quinuituq. Deep patience.’
See also my bestellar review of this wonderful book, complete with a mosaic of other alluring words, together with quotations, metaphors and triologisms.
Source: Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams (London: Picador, 1987), p. 176
