"mush": from French or from Chinuk-wawa?

[Mike Cleven]

Dave Robertson wrote:
>
> Hi, a question touching on Nadja's and Alan's postings:  Is it more likely that the dog-team word "mush" is directly derived from French, or from Chinuk-wawa?  Why?
>
> Jack London and some others I seem to recall reading in our family library used the word "mush" also to mean "trekking arduously", no?  As in the journey from Skagway over the mountains to the interior goldfields.  The seeming connection with the coast makes me consider a Chinook influence possible.

The reason I said (along with Alan) that it was more likely directly
from French is that dogsleds are/were in wide use throughout northern
Canada and that the origin of that term is likely _much_ older than the
exploration of the Pacific Northwest (1780/90 onwards) and certainly
MUCH older than the Klondike Goldrush; I'm not certain about this but
I'll bet dinner on it (whoever wins has to get here, or corner me at
next year's whatever).  French is/was widely used both in the Mounties
and the fur companies/industry - and in more native and Metis
communities in Ontario (still) than you might at first guess; I'd think
it comes from northern Ontario/Quebec, or Manitoba, and probably dates
back to the 1600s.....

Also, "mush, mush, mush" means "go, go, go" - directly from marcher (to
go), whereas (as I said before) the Jargon/Chinuk-Wawa's "mahsh"
(whatever the spelling in GR) apparently comes from "marche-t'en bas"
(put that down) or something similar, and "mahsh, mahsh, mahsh" would
mean "throw, throw, throw" or "go away, go away, go away" or, in fact,
many other things depending on context, of course.

Mike Cleven