Contributions to English Lexicography. 29 



Calumet, (thought by Dr. Dtiponccau to be derived from Fr. 

 chaliimeau, a reed ; but more probably an American Indian word, 

 see the quotation from a French writer below;) an Indian pipe 

 for smoking tobacco, the accepting of which, with proper cere- 

 monies, was a sign or symbol of peace and friendship, and the 

 rejection of it, a symbol of war. 



" lis [les savages] ont comme les autres I'usage de la pipe, qu'ils 

 appellent calumet." — Father G. Marest in Lettr. Edif. iv. 21. 



Cariboo, (probably an American Indian word ;) an animal of 

 the stag kind. 



Chocolate, (Mexican, chocolatl, probably connected with cacao, 

 which see ;) a paste or cake composed of the kernel of cacao, with 

 other ingredients. 



Hackmatack, (thought by Dr. D wight to be an American In- 

 dian word,) the popular name of the red larch, Pinus microcarpa. 



Hommoc, (thought by Dr. Webster to be an American Indian 

 word ;) a hillock or small eminence of a conical form. 



Hommony, (Powhatan, homony, broken maize ;) maize hulled 

 and broken, but coarse, prepared for food by being mixed with 

 water and boiled. Hence a vulgar comparison in many parts of 

 this country " as coarse as hommony." 



Inca, or Ynca, (Peruvian, king or lord, comp. Choctaw, ingka, 

 father ;) an appellation given to a dynasty of Peruvian kings, 

 and to the princes of the blood, before the conquest of that coun- 

 try by the Spaniards, and to the descendants of these kings since. 



Maize, (probably an American Indian word ;) Indian corn, or 

 the native corn of America, j^ea Mays. 



Moccason, (a word derived from the Massachusetts Indians, 

 but found in most of the languages of the Algonkin-Lenape fam- 

 ily; as, Knistinaux, woscasm; Algonkin and Chippeway, maki- 

 sin and maukisin ; ScofFi, mastcshun ; Souriquois, mekczen ; 

 Abenaki, mkessen ; Massachusetts, niohkissonah ; Narraganset, 

 niocnssinass ; Mohican, rnkissin ; Delaware, maksen ; Nanticoke, 

 meckissius ; Pam phco, moggiso7i ; Powhatan, wioc/casm; Miami, 

 m'kasiu; Illinois, mahkissina ; Mcnomeni, maukalishen ; some 

 of which have a plural termination ;) an Indian shoe or covering 

 for the foot. 



Mohawk or Mohock, (tlie native name of one of the Iroquois 

 tribes of Indians ;) an Indian of the Mohawk tribe ; by extension, 

 a ruffian in the streets of London. 



