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Groundhog
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==Etymology== Common names for the groundhog include '''chuck''', '''wood-chuck''', '''groundpig''', '''whistle-pig''',<ref name="si">{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=''Marmota monax'' |url=http://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/image_info.cfm?species_id=146 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160122132702/http://www.mnh.si.edu/mna/image_info.cfm?species_id=146 |archive-date=January 22, 2016 |access-date=February 1, 2015 |website=North American Mammals |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref> '''whistler''', '''thickwood badger''', '''Canada marmot''', '''monax''', '''moonack''', '''weenusk''', '''red monk''',<ref name="Seton1928">{{cite book|last1=Seton|first1=Ernest Thompson|year=1928|title=Lives of Game Animals|volume=IV|publisher=Doubleday, Doran & Company}}</ref>{{rp|300}} '''land beaver'''<ref>{{Cite web |last=Keck |first=Nina |date=December 17, 2020 |title=Where Do The Terms 'Woodchuck' And 'Flatlander' Come From? |url=https://www.vpr.org/post/where-do-terms-woodchuck-and-flatlander-come |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125122508/https://www.vpr.org/post/where-do-terms-woodchuck-and-flatlander-come |archive-date=January 25, 2021 |access-date=February 2, 2021 |website=www.vpr.org |language=en}}</ref> and, among French Canadians in [[eastern Canada]], '''siffleux'''.<ref>{{cite web |title=La marmotte commune |url=http://www.hww.ca/fr/faune/mammiferes/la-marmotte-commune.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180805052150/http://www.hww.ca/fr/faune/mammiferes/la-marmotte-commune.html |archive-date=August 5, 2018 |work=Canadian Wildlife Federation - Faune et flore du pays |language=fr}}</ref> The name "thickwood badger" was given in the Northwest to distinguish the animal from the [[American badger|prairie badger]]. Monax ({{Lang|alg|Móonack}}) is an [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]] name of the woodchuck, which means "digger" (cf. [[Delaware languages|Lenape]] {{Lang|del|monachgeu}}).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Chamberlain |first=Alexander F. |date=November 22, 2018 |title=Algonkian Words in American English: A Study in the Contact of the White Man and the Indian |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |volume=15 |issue=59 |pages=240–267 |doi=10.2307/533199 |jstor=533199}}</ref><ref name="Seton1928"/>{{rp|300–301}} Young groundhogs may be called chucklings.<ref name="Schoonmaker">{{cite book |last=Schoonmaker |first=W.J. |title=The World of the Woodchuck |publisher=J.B. Lippincott |year=1966 |isbn=978-1135544836 |ref=Schoonmaker}}</ref>{{rp|66}} The etymology of the name ''woodchuck'' is unrelated to [[wood]] or any sense of [[wikt:chuck|chucking]]. It stems from an [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]] (possibly [[Narragansett (tribe)|Narragansett]]) name for the animal, ''wuchak''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://animaldiversity.org/site/accounts/information/Marmota_monax.html|title=''Marmota monax'': Woodchuck|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203032645/http://animaldiversity.org/site/accounts/information/Marmota_monax.html|archive-date=February 3, 2015|work=animaldiversity.com|access-date=February 24, 2015}}</ref> The similarity between the words has led to the popular [[tongue-twister]]:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bussongs.com/songs/how_much_wood_would_a_woodchuck_chuck.php|title=Lyrics and Words for Children's Nursery Rhymes and Songs|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726131619/http://bussongs.com/songs/how_much_wood_would_a_woodchuck_chuck.php|archive-date=July 26, 2011|work=BusSongs.com|access-date=September 15, 2011}}</ref> :[[How much wood would a woodchuck chuck]] ::if a woodchuck could chuck wood? :A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could ::if a woodchuck could chuck wood!
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