Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Indigenous languages ·1600s
Muskrat
from musquash
- Meaning
- A large semi-aquatic rodent of North America.
- Source word
- musquash
- Route into English
- Algonquian *musquash* (probably Abenaki *mòskwas*) → re-analysed by English speakers as "musk-rat" based on the animal's scent glands → pseudo-etymological folk-etymology.
- Arrived
- 1600s
From Indigenous languages
A loose group: Nahuatl, Taino, Algonquian, Guugu Yimithirr, and others. Colonial contact produced many loans; the speakers were often systematically dispossessed of the land the loanwords described.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.