different between tacamahac vs hackmatack

English

Alternative forms

• tacamahaca

Etymology

From Nahuatl tecamac.

In the 19th century, some authorities questioned if tacamahac, tamarack, and hackmatack could be cognate to one another, perhaps all corruptions of one term, but such cognacy is unlikely.

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

• (the balsam poplar): hackmatack, tamarack

References

• tacamahac in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

English

Etymology

Believed to derive from Abenaki, though no specific etymon has been found. The term is first attested in the 1760s–90s, when it was spelled hakmantak and referred to dense forest.

In the 19th century, some authorities questioned if tacamahac, tamarack, and hackmatack could be cognate to one another, perhaps all corruptions of one term, but such cognacy is unlikely.

Compare the late 19th century German Low German term Hackemtackem (“tacamahac (medicinal resin)”).

Noun

hackmatack (plural hackmatacks)

1. A larch, a tree of the species Larix laricina.
2. A balsam poplar, a tree of the species Populus balsamifera.

Quotations

• 1867, Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for the year 1866, page 483:

  The hackmatack is remarkable for having a principle root, which sometimes equals in size the trunk to which it belongs.

Synonyms

• (larch): tamarack, tacamahac

References