Etymology

muskellunge

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Today it means: A large freshwater gamefish of the pike family, native to the lakes and rivers of eastern and middle western North America; Esox masquinongy. Full definition →

French masque allongé ← Ojibwe maashkinoozhe ← Algonquin maskinunga
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The story

  1. Algonquin · derived frommaskinunga
  2. Ojibwe · derived frommaashkinoozhe
  3. French · borrowed frommasque allongé
  4. English todaymuskellunge

From French masque allongé (literally “long mask”), a corruption of Ojibwe maashkinoozhe (literally “ugly pike”) or Algonquin maskinunga. Not related to German Muskel (“muscle”) or Lunge (“lung”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.