mush/mouche/marche/mash/march/much

[Dave Robertson]

Howdy,

At this point it would not seem likely that "mush" came into English via
Chinook Jargon.  In fact, I'd make a casual bet that CJ in the Klondike
(the classic setting for the popularization of "mush") was about as useful
as sign language.  Admittedly the documentation is sparse, but I've probably
read enough to have a feel for the "socio" side of that Gold Rush, and my
sense is that Chinook Jargon was useful throughout the Panhandle of
Southeast Alaska, including Skagway.  There, with CJ you could hire yourself
a crew of Indian guys to help pack your kit over the Pass, and maybe some
ways beyond depending on your finances, the weather, and luck.  I
extrapolate that plenty of cheechakos tried using Jargon as a contact lingo
with Native people in the Klondike per se, and that some of these Indians
picked up some Jargon.  But it would seem as though Outsiders extremely
quickly became the huge majority of the population of that region, and
pretty much managed by themselves to get along without the sort of reliance
on Indian goodwill characteristic of the histories of Puget Sound or the
Columbia-Willamette regions.

At any rate, more probably this word came from earlier contact with
French-speaking woodsmen, traders for example.

There is no plausible connection with French "la mouche" (a fly--the insect)
nor with any denominal verbs derived from it.

That old citation in the OED, though, is of interest in raising the question
of hypercorrection.  Perhaps our English-speaking author in that instance
had never heard the word "mush" said, and knowing it to be "French", gave it
the ever-popular Continental Vowel Treatment.  This is a fancy way of saying
he got all hoidy-toidy.

Cheers,
Dave