Maddock

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A digging tool consisting of a handle attached to a head with a pointed pick on one end and a flat blade or adze on the other
2. An implement used for excavating or breaking up soil, having a dual head with both a pointed and flat striking end
3. A hand tool designed for loosening and turning earth, featuring a pick and flat chisel end mounted on a wooden or metal handle

Etymology: The English word "maddock" is an old name for a small worm or maggot, and it has a surprisingly unglamorous ancestry. It was recorded in Middle English as "maddok," but the form behind it was never written down in Old English. Scholars reconstruct it from the Old Norse "maðkr," meaning worm, which has close relatives in modern Scandinavian languages: Danish "maddike" and Swedish "mask," both still meaning worm or maggot. Underneath lies a Proto-Germanic root, "*maþô," also meaning worm. Old English had its own cognate, "maþa," and the English word appears to be a diminutive of that base. The ending "-ock" is a familiar English diminutive suffix, the same one found in "hillock" and "bullock," so "maddock" is essentially a little worm. A related word, "made," meaning maggot, existed alongside it in English and gives the "mad" portion of the form.