South American plant, 1570s, from Spanish coca, from Quechua (Inca) cuca, which is perhaps ultimately from the related Aymara, a native language of Bolivia.
large fish (Megalops atlanticus) of the herring family, 1680s, of uncertain origin, probably from a Native American word. Also formerly called jew-fish.
modification of Old English huntung "a hunt, chase; what is hunted, game," verbal noun from hunt (v.). Bartlett (1848) notes it as the word commonly used by sportsmen in the Southern states of the U.S. where in the North they use gunning. Happy hunting-grounds "Native American afterlife paradise" is from "Last of the Mohicans" (1826); hunting-ground in a Native American context is from 1777.
cultivated muscadine grape vine, 1811, from the name of the river in North Carolina, which is recorded 18c. as Cascoponung, Cuscopang, from an unidentified Native American word.
"king or chief among some Native American tribes," 1610s, sagamo, from Abenaki (Algonquian) zogemo "chief, ruler," which is distantly related to the source of sachem.
"pokeweed; a strong-growing branching weed of eastern North America used in medicine and dyeing," colonial American English, from native words, possibly a confusion of similar-sounding Native American plant names; from 1630s in English as "tobacco plant," short for uppowoc (1580s), from Algonquian (Virginia) *uppowoc. Later (1708) the word is used in the sense "pokeweed," as a shortened form of puccoon, from Algonquian (Virginia) *puccoon, name of a plant used for dyeing. Native roots for "smoke" and "stain" have been proposed as the origin or origins.
Central and South American name for the cassava plant, 1550s, from Spanish yuca, juca (late 15c.), probably from Taino, native language of Haiti.
