tacamahac

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Spanish, from Nahuatl thecomahaca, to use the spelling of Hernandez 1614.[1][2]

In European languages there was contamination between tacamahac and various Algonquian words containing the final Proto-Algonquian *-a·xkw- (“hardwood or deciduous tree”), including the sources of tamarack and hackmatack,[3] as was already recognized by Chamberlain 1902.[4]

Noun

tacamahac (countable and uncountable, plural tacamahacs)

  1. A bitter balsamic resin or resinous exudation obtained from tropical American trees of the family Burseraceae (Bursera tomentosa and Icica tacamahaca), from East Indian trees of the genus Calophyllum, or from the balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera).
  2. Any tree yielding tacamahac resin, especially, in North America, the balsam poplar or balm of Gilead (Populus balsamifera).

Synonyms

References
  1. “tacamahac, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023.
  3. “hackmatack, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023.
  4. Chamberlain, Alexander F. (1902 October–December) “Algonkian Words in American English: A Study in the Contact of the White Man and The Indian”, in The Journal of American Folk-Lore‎, volume XV, number LIX, American Folk-Lore Society, →DOI, page 260
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