As others kept their eyes peeled for wildlife, I kept mine peeled for – what else – a good etymology. On the Alaska cruise my wife, some close family, and I recently enjoyed, this effort entailed not staring down binoculars, but bottles. Yes, I’m talking about hooch.
Hooch
Among other things, of course, many of Alaska’s historic towns are famous for their old saloons, where grizzly pioneers once guzzled hooch.
This term for alcohol, particularly liquor such as whiskey made cheaply and often illegally, is first recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in 1897, right in the gullet of the Klondike Gold Rush.
Hooch, the OED explains, is shortened from hoochinoo, taken from Hoochinoo, the name of a small native tribe who distilled it. The tribe dwelled on Admiralty Island right by Juneau. Alaskan hooch had quite the notorious reputation – the OED‘s earliest citation, M.H.E. Hayne’s Pioneer of Klondyke, describes it as “weirdly horrible” – and which reputation was often grossly transferred or contributed to Alaskan natives themselves. Apparently, soldiers, and later gold miners, picked up the term after the Alaska Purchase and it became especially popular during Prohibition.
Hoochinoo itself could be made from berries, flour, or sourdough starter with the aid of yeast and molasses. The name Hoochinoo, however, is made from the Tlingit, Hutsnuwu (Xootsnoowú), “grizzly bear fort.” Tlingit – whose initial Tl– is pronounced much like the final sound in the Nahuatl origin of tomato, tomatl, as we’ve seen – is the language of the selfsame people native to southeast Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
“Grizzly bear fort” is apt, as on Admiralty Island today, brown bears (over 1600) far outnumber natives (over 600). The bears also outnumber the speakers of Tlingit, estimated at around 500. I think I need some hooch.
Mashed Radish 
Hello John 🙂
I enjoyed reading this piece. A welcome addition to my vocabulary. 🙂
I recommend you to check out Sesquiotica blog. https://sesquiotic.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/365-words-for-drunk/
You might already be following it. It’s a blog by James Harbeck who is from Canada. This article has 365 words for drunk–one for each day of year.
I look forward to read more from you 🙂
Anand
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Hi, Anand,
Thanks for your comment and very kind words. Yes, I am very familiar with James Harbeck’s work and have the pleasure of writing alongside him on Strong Language, a language blog about swearing you may enjoy as well: https://stronglang.wordpress.com. Thanks for pointing me to that particular article, though, as I was unfamiliar.
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Hello John,
Glad to know that. I would bookmark the site now. Best wishes 🙂
Anand
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As kids we stumbled upon some Moonshine being made in the woods. We ran. The still mysteriously moved shortly. “Cheaply, often illegally”, and illusive everywhere
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How times have changed… now it is being distilled in garages and, ye gods, basements. And I just bought a jar at a liquor store… Apple Pie flavor.
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And small crafted batches are “trendy”!
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And you’re not likely to go blind! How to take the risk out of Risky Whisky!
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Enjoyed reading this. You certainly choose a variety of interesting words to tell us about. Thanks.
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Thanks, Oneta! Fortunately, as I draw lots of inspiration from words buzzing in the news, I have a lot of variety to work with.
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