2875: Gopher (Animal), Nov 2024

Last week, ‘gopher’ as a type of wood was explored, but not the type of animal, more specifically the pocket gopher. This word is definitely unrelated, but it’s not clear exactly where it comes from. One leading theory is that it is related to ‘waffle’. The ways in which the sound changes from ‘gopher’, or really from French ‘gaufre’ can be explored more here, but the name refers to the holes they dig, like the shape of a waffle or literally (originally anyway)  a honeycomb. It may also be a native word from a Muskogean language.