Massasauga

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small, venomous rattlesnake with dark blotches found in the grasslands and wetlands of central North America
2. A compact pit viper native to central North America, recognized by its dark spots and its rattle at the tail
3. A small rattlesnake of the central United States and adjacent Canada, typically inhabiting marshes, prairies and damp lowlands

Etymology: The massasauga is a small, venomous rattlesnake of the Great Lakes region and the American Midwest, and its name may have come from a river rather than from the snake's appearance. The likeliest source is the Mississagi River in Ontario, Canada. The name traces to the Ojibwe phrase "misiza:gi:", meaning roughly "inhabitant of the great river mouth," which French speakers rendered as "Mississague" or "Missisague." The same name gave us "Mississauga," and the two forms are doublets, meaning they descend from one source by separate paths. The connection is not certain, and the snake's name does not explicitly describe its habitat. What makes the origin plausible is that the snake's range overlaps with the waters where the Mississagi people lived, so a name attached to that region could easily have transferred to the animal.

Synonyms: swamp rattler