English
pumpkin
Pumpkin comes from Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ- ‘to crack, crush (foodstuff), pulverize (grain)’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pekʷ-‘to crack, crush (foodstuff), pulverize (grain)’root as named
- English1500–presentpumpion
- Englishearliest quotation 1904pumpkin
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*pekʷ-‘to crack, crush (foodstuff), pulverize (grain)’root as named
- English1500–presentpumpion
- Englishearliest quotation 1904pumpkin
Earliest quotation: 1904, L. Frank Baum: “There were pumpkins in Mombi’s corn-fields, lying golden red…”
The story
The first attestation is from 1647. The alternative theory that it may be from Massachusett pôhpukun (‘grows forth round’) is false.disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it. The automotive sense is by fancied resemblance.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ- ‘to crack, crush (foodstuff), pulverize (grain)’
coach, cook, kitchen, cuisine, culinary, kiln, concoction, ricotta, quitter, concoct, peptic, decoction, dyspepsia, 14 more
Today it means
noun A domesticated plant, in species Cucurbita pepo, similar in growth pattern, foliage, flower, and fruit to the squash or melon.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *pekʷ- / pumpkin