Did You Know? The First “American” Word
In a letter he sent home in 1608, British explorer John Smith described a critter he called a rahaughcum. There was no English word for the North American animal, so Smith borrowed the sounds used by the Algonqulan. Over the years, the name was simplified to raccoon, which is now considered one of the first English words coined in America.
~Rosemarie Ostler
