Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
Podunk en · NOUN
Pronunciation
/ˈpoʊdʌŋk/
Etymology
From an Eastern 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 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 (“bog”) (as Chippewa) and Abenaki poteba (“to sink in the mire”) 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."
Meanings
A member of a Native American people who spoke an Algonquian Quiripi language and lived primarily in modern-day Hartford County, Connecticut.
From an Eastern 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 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 (“bog”) (as Chippewa) and Abenaki poteba (“to sink in the mire”) 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."
Meanings
(US) A mythical small town of no importance.
They even know it in Podunk, wherever that may be. 1869, Mark Twain, Mr. Beecher and the Clergy:
Podunk. A term applied to an imaginary place in burlesque writing or speaking. [1877, John Russell Bartlett, Dictionary of Americanisms, 4th edition, page 791:
Podunk, like Atlantis, has no locus. Sought often, it is unfound and apparently unfindable. 1933 February 2, F. W. Buxton, Boston Herald:
This isn't some Podunk charge in some Podunk court. Charged with four counts of perjury and one of obstruction of justice, Bonds, if convicted, could be sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison. 2007 November 15, Scott Miller, “This verdict's already in: Bonds won't hit No. 763”, in CBS Sports:
hog waller (mythical small town of no importance) · jerkwater town (mythical small town of no importance) · backwater (mythical small town of no importance) · hog town (mythical small town of no importance) · hog island (mythical small town of no importance) · one-horse town (mythical small town of no importance)
Translations (22)
zmi ontahmano (mythical small town of no importance) · ro Cucuieții din Deal (mythical small town of no importance) · pl Pcim Dolny (mythical small town of no importance) · gd Lùb a' Gheòidh (mythical small town of no importance) · hu Piripócs (mythical small town of no importance) · nl Nergenshuizen (mythical small town of no importance) · da Østre Bøvelse (mythical small town of no importance) · ru Мухосра́нск (mythical small town of no importance) · ru тьмутарака́нь (mythical small town of no importance) · nl Schubbekutteveen (mythical small town of no importance) · uk чортзна-де (mythical small town of no importance) · pl Pipidówka (mythical small town of no importance) · fr Trifouillis-les-Oies (mythical small town of no importance) · uk хтозна-звідки (mythical small town of no importance) · ms negeri antah-berantah (mythical small town of no importance) · uk звідкілясь (mythical small town of no importance) · nl Lutjebroek (mythical small town of no importance) · ro Cuca Măcăii (mythical small town of no importance) · it vattelapesca (mythical small town of no importance) · poz-sml tempat jin bertendang (mythical small town of no importance) · de Hintertupfingen (mythical small town of no importance) · hu Salakszentmotoros (mythical small town of no importance)