Podunk

Meaning

Proper Noun

• Mythical small town of no importance.

Related

Similar words

• backwater, hog waller, hog island, hog town, jerkwater town, one-horse town

Origin

• From an Algonquian, likely Loup A, word or words. Similar names were applied to various small and generally unknown places. By the late 19th century the word came to mean an obscure small town, a use possibly popularized by Mark Twain (see quotation). Carlton and Reed{{cite-journal|en|year=1938|month=February|journal=American Speech|volume=14|issue=1|jstor=451216|pages=99-108|author=Allen Walker Reed|title=The Rationale of 'Podunk'
• survey similar place names and note a transformation from Potaecke to Potunke to Podunk. Carlton suggests a derivation from the adjective petukque ("round"). Tooker compares Ojibwe petobeg (as Chippewa) and Abenaki poteba and divides the word into pot- ("to sink") and -unk (locative). Algonquian expert Ives Goddard says "We have no idea what the word means. You'll be able to find guesses in the sources if you look around. Don't believe any of it."