The word “moccasin” refers to either a type of snake or a type of shoe. I’ve seen a number of references that show its origins in an American Indian language (that I do not recall) meaning “shoe.”
However, does the word for the snake have the same etymology, or is it just a coincidental homophone with an entirely different history (as the English word “mail,” which has totally different origins with respect to postal mail, blackmail, and chain mail).
Okay, this is stupid. I can find numerous places which helpfully tell me that the name “cottonmouth” comes from the fact that those snakes have white (cotton-colored) mouths, and that “pit vipers” are so-called because they have pits on their heads, and of course “rattlesnakes” have rattles on them. Well, duh, gee thanks. But everyone is completely silent on the question of why water moccasins are named after shoes, or if they are in fact named after shoes, or what. It does appear that the shoe came first–the American Heritage Dictionary traces the etymology of the word moccasin to an Algonquian word which is akin to the Powhatan word mäkäsn, or “shoe”. But no one seems to want to care to explain how we get from “shoe” to “either of two venomous, aquatic New World snakes of the viper family”.
I now burn with the fire of unquenchable curiosity, and I therefore give this thread a bump.
I have a dim recollection that some moccasins had snakes embroidered on them as protection from bites.
This is bugging me. A lot.
I did find a cite tracing the name to colonial america which suggests it isn’t just a coincidence.
It’ll be tomorrow before I can pin this down, but it is possible that the names are derived independently from different Algonquian words. I see that the subspecies of the Copperhead in the northern U.S. is Agkistrodon contortrix mokeson, suggesting that the Copperhead may be the original “mokeson” snake. The name “Water Moccasin” for the Cottonmouth Agkistrodon piscivorous suggests a distinction from a “land moccasin,” evidently the Copperhead.
It is an American indian word.
It is a type of soft leather shoe.
It is also a snake (or two) found in the Americas.
I am therefore inclined to think that the snake was named after the shoe by English-speaking visitors, probably because there is some sort of resemblance between the snake and the shoe.
here is a picture of a copperhead, which is supposedly related to mocassins in some herpetological way or the other:
http://www.tbcnet.com/~gknaack/pics/venomous/southerncopper.html
I can’t exactly see how this snake looks like a shoe, but perhaps a better picture is needed–or even a picture of an actual mocassin snake. Could it be the mouth? The head? From the side? is there a similarity between the shoe’s stitching and the snake? Or the zig-zag patterns?
Whatever it is, I can’t find other viable reasons to name a snake after a shoe.
Well the usually helpful OED was a bust:
moccasin, in the sense of shoe, first usage 1612 (Captain John Smith); derived from Powhatan mo-ckasin; Odjibwa ma-kisin; Narragansett moku-sin; Micmac mku-sun.
moccasin, on the sense of snake, first usage 1711, by the naturalist William Bartram. The OED says: “possibly a distinct word, in any case the reason for the name is obscure.”
The Copperhead, also known as the Highland or Upland Moccasin, was described by Linnaeus as Boa contortrix in 1766. It was redecribed by Palisot de Beauvois as Agkistrodon mokason in 1799. Today the subspecies known as the Northern Copperhead is Agkistrodon contortrix mokason. De Beauvois’ original description is not available to me so I can’t see if he gave a source for the species name.
However, I have found a herpetological reference that says, tantilizingly, that another reference explains the connection, and that the name of the snake is based on the name of the shoe - but I haven’t been able to get hold of the second reference yet.
Any chance that snakeskin was used to decorate the moccasins? You can buy snakeskin boots today, along with snakeskin belts and wallets. I did a cursory search on the web and didn’t see any mocassins actually made of snakeskin, but given that bird claws and porcupine quills
were considered decorative wear for certain tribes, I imagine snakeskin might also have been considered the latest spring thing for some tribes.
I don’t know what relevance it could have, but I turned up a cite that the Powhatten also used the term “moccasin” for a gambling game they played that involved a shoe removed from each player, and a marker of some sort secreted in one of the shoes. Fascinating. Native American 3 card monte with footwear.
Maybe they had a venomous snake hidden under one of the shoes…make it a really exciting game, you know?
Eureka! My guess was correct, I think.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica has an entry on mocassins (the snakes), although it took me three searches to locate the article:
Now all that remains to be seen is exactly how the sensory pit bears resemblance to a mocassin.
Abe
I just read the post above fully and figured that my explanation is completely off the point. Britannica was referring to the name “pit viper” and not “mocassin” when it explained that these snakes are named for their characteristic sensory pit. Must read more slowly…
OK, I am a dumbass. But I still think the snake was named after the shoes for one reason or another. Perhaps the stitching techniques used on mocassins reminded observers of something found on the snake (maybe the side of its head?). Or perhaps they are very quiet snakes, and the association is made with soft leather slippers–but aren’t most snakes quiet?
Maybe they are really soft.
I go now to humble myself.
Abe