Editing Muskrat (section)

== Etymology ==
The muskrat's name probably comes from a word of [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]] (possibly [[Powhatan]]<ref>{{cite web|work=[[Online Etymology Dictionary]]|title=muskrat |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=muskrat|access-date=25 September 2021}}</ref>) origin, ''muscascus'' (literally "it is red", so called for its colorings), or from the [[Abenaki]] native word ''mòskwas'', as seen in the archaic English name for the animal, ''musquash''. Because of the association with the "[[musk]]y" odor, which the muskrat uses to mark its territory, and its flattened tail, the name became altered to musk-beaver;<ref>{{cite book|last=Hearne |first=Samuel |author-link=Samuel Hearne|year=2007|title=A Journey to the Northern Ocean: The Adventures of Samuel Hearne |series=Classics West|place=Victoria, British Columbia|publisher=TouchWood Editions |isbn=978-1-894898-60-7|lccn=2007931913}}{{page needed|date=September 2021}}</ref> later it became "muskrat" due to its resemblance to rats.<ref name="caras">{{cite book|last=Caras |first=Roger A.|author-link=Roger A. Caras|year=1967 |title=North American Mammals: Fur-bearing Animals of the United States and Canada |place=New York |publisher=Galahad Books |isbn=0-88365-072-X}}{{page needed|date=September 2021}}</ref><ref name="nowak">{{cite book|last1=Nowak|first1=Ronald M.|last2=Paradiso|first2=John L.|year=1983 |title=Walker's Mammals of the World |place=Baltimore, Maryland |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=0-8018-2525-3|lccn=82049056}}{{page needed|date=September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|work=Merriam-Webster Dictionary|access-date=October 2, 2011|title=Muskrat|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/muskrat}}</ref>

Similarly, its [[specific name (zoology)|specific name]] ''zibethicus'' means "musky", being the adjective of ''zibethus'' "[[civet (perfumery)|civet musk]]; [[civet]]".<ref>{{Cite OED|zivet}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Lemery|first=Nicolas|author-link=Nicolas Lemery|title=Dictionnaire universel des drogues simples|url=https://archive.org/details/b30411026|year=1759|place=Paris|publisher=L.-Ch. d'Houry|language=fr|page=[https://archive.org/details/b30411026/page/942 942]|quote=Zibethum [...], en français, ''civette'', est une matière liquid [...] d'une odeur forte & désagréable. [Zibethum, in French, ''civette'', is a liquid [...] with a strong and unpleasant odour.]}}</ref> The genus name comes from the [[Wyandot language|Huron]] word for the animal, ''ondathra'',<ref>{{cite book|last=Valmont de Bomare|first=Jacques-Christophe |author-link=Jacques-Christophe Valmont de Bomare|title=Dictionnaire raisonné universel de l'histoire naturelle|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionnairerai20bomagoog|year=1791|language=fr|place=Lyon |publisher=Bruyset Frères|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionnairerai20bomagoog/page/n213 205]}}</ref> and entered [[Neo-Latin]] as ''Ondatra'' via French.<ref>{{Merriam-Webster|Ondatra}} Unabridged {{Subscription required}}</ref>