Editing Skunk (section)

== Terminology ==
The word ''skunk'' is dated from the 1630s, adapted from a southern New England [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian language]] (probably [[Abenaki language|Abenaki]]) {{lang|alg|seganku}}, from [[Proto-Algonquian]] {{lang|alg-x-proto|*šeka:kwa}}, from {{lang|alg-x-proto|*šek-}} 'to urinate' + {{lang|alg-x-proto|*-a:kw}} 'fox'.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/skunk |publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary |title=skunk (n.) |access-date=March 18, 2021}}</ref> ''Skunk'' has historic use as an insult, attested from 1841.<ref>{{OEtymD|skunk}}</ref>

In 1634, a skunk was described in ''[[The Jesuit Relations]]'':
{{Blockquote|The other is a low animal, about the size of a little dog or cat. I mention it here, not on account of its excellence, but to make of it a symbol of sin. I have seen three or four of them. It has black fur, quite beautiful and shining; and has upon its back two perfectly white stripes, which join near the neck and tail, making an oval that adds greatly to their grace. The tail is bushy and well furnished with hair, like the tail of a Fox; it carries it curled back like that of a Squirrel. It is more white than black; and, at the first glance, you would say, especially when it walks, that it ought to be called Jupiter's little dog. But it is so stinking and casts so foul an odor, that it is unworthy of being called the dog of Pluto. No sewer ever smelled so bad. I would not have believed it if I had not smelled it myself. Your heart almost fails you when you approach the animal; two have been killed in our court, and several days afterward there was such a dreadful odor throughout our house that we could not endure it. I believe the sin smelled by [[Catherine of Siena|Saint Catherine de Sienne]] must have had the same vile odor.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/relations_06.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011215150426/http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/relations_06.html|archive-date=2001-12-15|title=The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents. Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France 1610—1791|editor=Thwaites, Reuben Gold |volume=VI|place=Quebec|year=1633–1634
}}</ref>{{efn|French: L'autre est vn animal basset, de la grandeur des petits chiens, ou d'vn chat ; ie luy donne place icy, non pour son excellence, mais pour en faire vn symbole du peché ; i'en ay veu trois ou quatre. Il est d'vn poil noir assez beau et luisant, il porte sur son dos deux rayes toutes blanches, qui se ioignans vers le col et croche de la queuë, font une ouale qui luy donne tres belle grace ; la queuë est touffuë et bien fournie de poil, comme la queuë d'vn Regnard, il la porte retroussée, comme vn Escurieux, elle est plus blanche que noire : vous diriez à l'œil notamment quand il marche, qu'il meriteroit estre nommé le petit chien de Iupiter ; mais il est si puant, et iette vne odeur si empestée, qu'il est indigne d'estre appellé le chien de Pluton, il n'y a voirie si infecte ; ie ne l'aurois pas creu si ie ne l'auois senty moy mesme, le cœur vous manque quasi quand vous en approchez. On en a tué deux dans nostre court ; plusieurs iours apres il sentoit si mal par tout nostre maison, qu'on n'en pouuoit supporter l'odeur. Ie croy que le peché que sentit saincte Catherine de Sienne, deuoit estre de mesme puanteur.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors=Jesuits | date= 1858 | language=fr| title=Relations des Jésuites contenant ce qui s'est passé de plus remarquable dans les missions des Pères de la Compagnie de Jésus dans la Nouvelle-France | trans-title=The Jesuit Relations, Containing the Most Remarkable Things Which Have Transpired in the Missions of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus in New France| publisher=Augustin Coté|place=Québec | url=http://archive.org/details/relationsdesjs01jesu | page=212}}</ref>}}}}

In Southern United States dialect, the term ''polecat'' is sometimes used as a [[colloquialism|colloquial]] nickname for a skunk,<ref>{{cite web|title=Skunk Fact Sheet|url=https://georgiawildlife.com/sites/default/files/wrd/pdf/fact-sheets/2005_skunk.pdf|website=The Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division|language=en}}</ref> even though [[polecat]]s are only distantly related to skunks.

As a verb, ''[[wikt:skunk#Verb|skunk]]'' is used to describe the act of overwhelmingly defeating an opponent in a game or competition. ''Skunk'' is also used to refer to certain strong-smelling [[Cannabis strain|strains of ''Cannabis'']] whose smell has been compared to that of a skunk's spray.