gumption / moxie
Jan. 15th, 2016 07:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordgumption (GUMP-shuhn) - n., (Brit.) common sense, initiative, resourcefulness; (US) courage, resourcefulness, initiative, guts, spunk.
moxie (MOK-see) - n., determination, courage, fortitude; pep, vigor.
Two synonyms. Gumption dates to 1719, originally Scottish, with the meaning common sense/shrewdness, then later drive/initiative. It's possibly connected with Middle English gome attention/heed, from Old Norse gaumr, same meaning. The sense of "initiative" is first recorded 1812. In the US, its use is (or at least, for a long time was) largely in the southeastern states. In contrast, Moxie started in the 1880s as the trademarked name for a soft drink, originally a patent medicine but still made and drunk in New England, with a strong flavor (it's flavored with gentian root extract, making it something of an acquired taste). The drink's creator obscured the name's origin with a couple stories, including claiming it was the family name of the man who found the key ingredient, an "unknown" medicinal plant in South America, but it's speculated that it derives from an Abenaki word meaning "dark water," used in lake and river names in Maine. Its regional use is more strongly restricted to New England, although the first generic use in the modern sense is from a Damon Runyon story.
---L.
moxie (MOK-see) - n., determination, courage, fortitude; pep, vigor.
Two synonyms. Gumption dates to 1719, originally Scottish, with the meaning common sense/shrewdness, then later drive/initiative. It's possibly connected with Middle English gome attention/heed, from Old Norse gaumr, same meaning. The sense of "initiative" is first recorded 1812. In the US, its use is (or at least, for a long time was) largely in the southeastern states. In contrast, Moxie started in the 1880s as the trademarked name for a soft drink, originally a patent medicine but still made and drunk in New England, with a strong flavor (it's flavored with gentian root extract, making it something of an acquired taste). The drink's creator obscured the name's origin with a couple stories, including claiming it was the family name of the man who found the key ingredient, an "unknown" medicinal plant in South America, but it's speculated that it derives from an Abenaki word meaning "dark water," used in lake and river names in Maine. Its regional use is more strongly restricted to New England, although the first generic use in the modern sense is from a Damon Runyon story.
---L.
