English
skunk
Skunk comes from Proto-Algonquian *šek- ‘to urinate’.
- Proto-Algonquianprehistoric (reconstructed)*šek-‘to urinate’reconstructed
- Proto-Algonquian, derivedprehistoric (reconstructed)*šeka·kwareconstructed
- Englishearliest quotation 1634skunk
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Algonquianprehistoric (reconstructed)*šek-‘to urinate’reconstructed
- Proto-Algonquian, derivedprehistoric (reconstructed)*šeka·kwareconstructed
- Englishearliest quotation 1634skunk
Earliest quotation: 1634, William Wood, Of the Beasts that Live on the Land: “The beaſts of offence be Squunckes, Ferrets, Foxes, vvhoſe…”
The story
Borrowed from an unattested Southern New England Eastern Algonquian word cognate with Abenaki segôgw (literally “he who squirts (musk) / urinates”), from Proto-Algonquian *šeka·kwa, from *šek- (‘to urinate’).
Every English word from Proto-Algonquian *šek-
Today it means
noun Any of various mammals of the subfamily Mephitinae, native to North and Central America, having a glossy black coat with white markings and two musk glands at the base of the tail for emitting a noxious smell as a defensive measure.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Algonquian *šek- / skunk