Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Indigenous languages ·1640s
Squash
from askutasquash
- Meaning
- A gourd-family vegetable of the genus *Cucurbita*.
- Source word
- askutasquash
- Route into English
- Narragansett *askutasquash* (eaten raw) → English via 1640s Massachusetts. Not related to the verb *squash* (crush), which is from Old French; the two homographs are coincidental.
- Arrived
- 1640s
From Indigenous languages
A loose group: Nahuatl, Taino, Algonquian, Guugu Yimithirr, and others. Colonial contact produced many loans; the speakers were often systematically dispossessed of the land the loanwords described.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.