From: Mark Odegard
Message: 921
Date: 2000-01-14
I recall having read that it is related to a Tungusic word for 'earth', but I'd have to check that.There are lots of online resources for questions like this. The American Heritage Dictionary via Lycos has a nice etymological note:
< /a>h ttp://www.lycos.com/cgi-bin/pursuit?mtemp=main&etemp=error&maxh its=15&cat=inso&query=mammoth
Obsolete Russian mamut, mamot.]
&nbs p; &nb sp; Word History: The mammoth was
&nb sp; &n bsp; introduced to the English-speaking world
&nb sp; &n bsp; after mammoth skeletons were
&nb sp; &n bsp; discovered in Siberia, so it is no surprise
&nb sp; &n bsp; that this creature's name is taken from
&nb sp; &n bsp; Russian, even though the animal roamed
&nb sp; &n bsp; over Eurasia and North America. The
&nb sp; &n bsp; Russian word, now mamant' but formerly
&nb sp; &n bsp; mamot as well, was borrowed into English
&nb sp; &n bsp; in variant spellings. It was first recorded
&nb sp; &n bsp; in 1706 in the form Mammuth, but in
&nb sp; &n bsp; 1763 we find the form mammon. It is
&nb sp; &n bsp; said that the Russian word is a borrowing
&nb sp; &n bsp; of an Ostyak word (the Ostyak people live
&nb sp; &n bsp; in western Siberia), but this has not been
&nb sp; &n bsp; proved.
Ostyak (I hope!) is a Uralic language also known as Khanty, and is within the Ob-Ugric group, spoken in the basin of the Ob River in Siberia. The online Encyclopædia Brittanica states:
It is important that Khanty(Ostyak) be differentiated from Selkup (Ostyak Samoyed) and from Ket (Yenisey Ostyak, a non-Uralic tongue), which should not be confused with Enets (Yenisey).
http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/7/0,5716,11812 7+5,00.html
Mark.