Frankly, you do need to look further. That’s a very poor article. It makes no mention at all of the rise of the urban legend and its deflation by linguists like Pinker.
That one needs revision.
The OED gives a cite closer to Suess.
I thought it was now no longer believed that “Eskimo” is originally a pejorative, and that its origin is actually unknown.
Interesting. It seems you’re right.
The claim that Eskimo is offensive is based primarily on a popular but disputed etymology tracing its origin to an Abenaki word meaning “eaters of raw meat.” Though modern linguists speculate that the term actually derives from a Montagnais word referring to the manner of lacing a snowshoe, the matter remains undecided, and meanwhile many English speakers have learned to perceive Eskimo as a derogatory term invented by unfriendly outsiders in scornful reference to their neighbors’ unsophisticated eating habits.