Latest comment: 2 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
The etymology is given as "possibly from English sasquatch", but that seems speculative at best.
The sense "war-cry" is most likely connected to the older North American French sacacoua, which is borrowed from an undetermined Algonquin language. It appeared in a 1705 issue of Mercure Gallant (possibly onomatopoeic) describing the war-cry of a Native American group:
Les Sauvages appellent ce cris Sakakoua, ou cris de mort, autant de cris, autant de personnes tuées ou ausquelles ils ont enlevé la chevelure ; ils font aussi le Sacacoua lorsqu’ils ont enveloppé leurs ennemis, soit dans les bois, soit sur des lacs & des rivieres. Ce cri se fait en frappant legerement de la paume de la main & prononçant le mot susdit." — “Dernier voyage de Marly”, in Mercure galant[1], volume 1, 1705, pages 396–398)
The sense "noise, racket" seems derivative of the earlier "war-cry" meaning and is the primary definition given in Dictionnaire étymologique des créoles français d'Amérique, Deuxième partie: Mots d'origine non-française ou inconnue (2016), but with the speculative origin as a derivation of the French phrase "ça c'est quoi?" It also notes a secondary definition (imposing and noisy person) that is similar to the "big fellow" sense here. It's possible that English "sasquatch" contributed to that meaning or it could be a homophone. —Tcr25 (talk) 19:37, 30 May 2022 (UTC)Reply
