different between tacamahac vs tamarack

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

From Canadian French tamarac, believed to derive from an Algonquian word.

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

tamarack (countable and uncountable, plural tamaracks)

1. Any of several North American larches, of the genus Larix.
   • 2005, Joseph Boyden, Three Day Road, Penguin 2008, p. 36:

     The women peeled tamarack bark for tea, dug through the deep snow in hopes of finding a few dried fiddleheads.

2. The wood from such a tree.

Synonyms

• hackmatack
• tacamahac

References