nocake

English

WOTD – 8 August 2020

Etymology

Indian corn, from which nocake is made.

A respelling, probably influenced by cake, of nokehick, nokehike, which derives from an Algonquian language, probably Narragansett nokehick or Massachusett nookhik (“nocake”, literally “(that which is) pounded till soft”); the word is related to Abenaki nokhigan (“flour”), and English rokeag and yokeag.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈnəʊkeɪk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈnoʊˌkeɪk/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: no‧cake

Noun

nocake (uncountable)

1. Indian corn parched and pounded into meal (powder), used as food by Native Americans, sometimes mixed with maple sugar.

   Synonyms: nokehick, nokehike, rokeag, yokeag, rokeage, yokeage

   • 1634, William Wood, “Of Their Dyet, Cookery, Meale-times, and Hospitality at Their Kettles”, in Nevv Englands Prospect. […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Bellamie,  […], →OCLC, page 68:

     If their imperious occaſions cauſe them to travell, the beſt of their victuals for their journey is Nocake, (as they call it) which is nothing but Indian Corne parched in the hot aſhes; the aſhes being ſifted from it, it is afterwards beaten to powder, and put into a long leatherne bag, truſſed at their backe like a knapſacke; out of which they take thrice three ſpoonefulls a day, dividing it into three meales.

   • 1760, [Thomas] Hutchinson, “Of the Original State of the Country, with Respect to the Inhabitants and Soil”, in The History of the Colony of Massachusets-Bay, […], 2nd edition, London: […] M. Richardson, […], →OCLC, page 465:

     A ſmall pouch of parched corn, ground or rather pounded into meal, and called Nuichicke, which is well enough tranſlated Nocake, would ſupport them ſeveral days in their travelling, when they could get no other proviſions; [...]

   • [1863, Sylvester Judd, chapter XXXII, in History of Hadley, including the Early History of Hatfield, South Hadley, Amherst and Granby, Massachusetts, […], Northampton, Mass.: […] Metcalf & Company, →OCLC, footnote ‡, page 366:

     Nookhick or nokehick, the Indian name of the meal of parched corn, was pronounced nocake, by the English, who sometimes hired Indian women to prepare it for them. Winthrop says the parched corn was "turned almost inside outward, and was white and floury." It must have resembled our parched popcorn.]

   • [1865, John Gorham Palfrey, chapter I, in The History of New England during the Stuart Dynasty. [...] In Three Volumes, volume I, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, book I (The Settlement), page 28:

     The Indians had not the art of making bread. Their boiled their corn [...] or they ate the parched kernels whole; or with a stone pestle and a wooden mortar they broke them up into meal, which, moistened with water into a paste, they called nookhik.¹ [Footnote 1: Nookhik, meal, (Eliot's Indian Bible,) was corrupted by the English into nocake.]]

   • 1898, Alice Morse Earle, “Indian Corn”, in Home Life in Colonial Days […], New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 137:

     This preparation of corn was called nocake or nookick. [...] It was held to be the most nourishing food known, and in the smallest and most condensed form.

   • 1920 November 1, George S. Bryan, “Good Eating in Puritan Days”, in The Mentor, volume 8, number 17 (number 213 overall), New York, N.Y.: Crowell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 35, column 1:

     The Puritans raised corn (or maize) which they got from the Indians; and they soon learned the virtues of "nocake"—a name derived from the Indian of noohkik. Nocake was made of selected Indian corn, parched in hot ashes, then well sifted and thoroughly pulverized. It was mixed with cold water and drunk. The early Virginians knew it as "rockahomonie." Nocake was the rudiment with which the New England folk began the study of foods prepared from Indian corn.

   • 1930 January, Gladys Tantaquidgeon, “Notes on the Gay Head Indians of Massachusetts”, in Indian Notes, volume VII, number I, New York, N.Y.: Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, →ISSN, →OCLC, pages 5–7:

     [pages 5–6] In connection with the mortar and pestle, our attention is directed towards the preparation of nocake (nókek‘, corn parched and pounded) and the realization of its unsurpassed tastiness and value as a staple food. [...] [page 7] One informant confessed, of his own accord, his occasional craving for nocake, and remarked upon the individual satisfaction derived from preparing and eating it. For making nocake, Indian or "native" corn of the yellow variety is preferred.

   • 1962 April 3, Fred Schwengel, quoting Margo Cairns, “America’s First Food Concentrate—Nocake: Extension of Remarks of Hon. Fred Schwengel of Iowa in the House of Representatives, Monday, April 2, 1962”, in Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 87th Congress, Second Session: Appendix (United States House of Representatives), volume 108, part 23, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →ISSN, →OCLC, page A2541, column 1:

     It was some time before the white man learned the red man's secret—Nocake. Undoubtedly the first American food concentrate was Nocake. Simple to prepare, easy to carry, always dependable, it was his dependence in the forests, on the trails, even on the warpath.

   • [1980, Howard S[ymmes] Russell, “The Family Meals”, in Indian New England before the Mayflower, Lebanon, N.H.: University Press of New England, →ISBN, part III (The Household), pages 92–93:

     Long journeys like this, as well as quick removes, required a lightweight but nourishing ration. "Nokehick" or "nokake," the meal from parched corn described above, was the answer.]

   • 1998 August, Sara Donati [pseudonym; Rosina Lippi], chapter XXXVIII, in Into the Wilderness (A Delta Book), trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Dell, published October 2008, →ISBN, page 510:

     [S]he took a mouthful of nocake to chew slowly, and she focused her energies on putting one foot in front of the other.

   • 1999, Michael Jensen, chapter 5, in Frontiers: A Novel, trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, published May 2000, →ISBN, page 70:

     He held out the bowl. "This here is some nocake. I figured we earned a quick bever." I quickly ate the ground Indian corn mixed with water.

   • 2003, William Cronon, “Seasons of Want and Plenty”, in Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Hill and Wang, →ISBN, part II (The Ecological Transformation of Colonial New England), page 47:

     Especially for men away from camp, winter was a time of occasional hunger between kills; most carried only a small store of parched corn flour called nocake as traveling fare.

Translations

Indian corn parched and pounded into meal

• Massachusett: nookhik
• Mohegan-Pequot: yoakheage, yok'hig
• Narragansett: nokehick