puccoon

English

Alternative forms

  • paucon, pauson
  • pocones [17th c.]

Etymology

From Virginia Algonquian i.e. Powhatan poughkone.[1][2] Related to poke, pocan.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pəˈkuːn/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)

Noun

puccoon (countable and uncountable, plural puccoons)

  1. (countable, botany) Any one of several plants yielding a red pigment which is used by the North American Indians, such as bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) and two species of Lithospermum, Lithospermum caroliniense and Lithospermum canescens.
    • 2002, Stephen G Ausband, Byrd's line, page 62:
      The puccoon dye was used as a sort of body rouge; it rubbed off on English linen quite easily, as Byrd's men discovered.
  2. (uncountable) The red pigment (dye) obtained from these plants.
    • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, quoted by Kupperman in 1988, page 61:
      their head and shoulders [were] painted red, with Oyle and Pocones mingled together, which Scarlet-like colour made an exceeding handsome shew [...].

Derived terms

References

  1. ^
    2002, Charles L. Cutler, Tracks that Speak: The Legacy of Native American Words in North American Culture, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 42:
  2. ^
    1972, Philip Alexander Bruce, William Glover Stanard, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography:
    [puccoon] (59,355) WS pocones (122, taken from Smith) poughkone, :the red paint or dye" (197) Apparently a Chesapeake area name, though the plant (Sanguinaria Canadensis) is widespread. Compare: Del. (Unami) pēkōn […]
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