hackmatack
English
Etymology
Believed to derive from Abenaki, though no specific etymon has been found.[1][2] The term is first attested in the 1760s–90s,[1][2] when it was spelled hakmantak[1][2][3] and referred to dense forest.[1]
In the 19th century, some authorities questioned if tacamahac, tamarack, and hackmatack could be cognate to one another, perhaps all corruptions of one term, but such cognacy is unlikely.[4]
Compare the late 19th century German Low German term Hackemtackem (“tacamahac (medicinal resin)”).
Noun
hackmatack (plural hackmatacks)
- A larch, a tree of the species Larix laricina.
- A balsam poplar, a tree of the species Populus balsamifera.
Quotations
- 1867, Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for the year 1866, page 483:
- The hackmatack is remarkable for having a principle root, which sometimes equals in size the trunk to which it belongs.
Synonyms
- (larch): tamarack, tacamahac
References
- “hackmatack”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. unabridged.merriam-webster.com ({{{1}}})
- 1961, Maryland Historical Magazine, volume 56, page 29: Some 37 percent of the Constellation still remains in Newport. […] She retains knees from the hackmantack brought up in boats in 1796.
- Chamberlain, Alexander F. (October–December 1902), “Algonkian Words in American English: A Study in the Contact of the White Man and The Indian”, in The Journal of American Folk-Lore, volume XV, issue LIX, American Folk-Lore Society, DOI:, page 260