yokeag

English

WOTD – 5 February 2017

Kernels of white sweet corn. Corn kernels are dried and pulverized to make yokeag.

Etymology

From Mohegan-Pequot yoakheage, yok'hig, shortening of yok'higan (“(that which is) made soft”), related to Abenaki nokhigan (“flour”) (see nocake) and Quiripi *rōhkhīk (see rokeag).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈjəʊkiːɡ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈjoʊˌkiɡ/
• Hyphenation: yo‧keag

Noun

yokeag (uncountable)

1. (US) Synonym of nocake
   • 1995, Melissa Jayne Fawcett [Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel], The Lasting of the Mohegans: Part I, The Story of the Wolf People, Uncasville, Conn.: Mohegan Tribe, →OCLC, page 55:

     Tables were arranged inside and the festival was held Wednesday and Thursday and many visitors appeared for the midday meal, clam chowder, oyster stew, succotash and the famous traveling food—yokeag, made of mortars of pepperidge wood. Yokeag was used by hunters and warriors. It was light to carry and nourishing. We have been told that a small quantity was placed in a deerskin sack to be placed at the waist of the warrior or hunter and with water served as a meal.

   • 2006, Patricia Klindienst, The Earth Knows My Name: Food, Culture, and Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans, Boston, Mass.: Beacon Press, →ISBN, page 235:

     She lingers over the Aquinnahs' continued love of yokeag, the food made from white flint corn that has been parched and pounded—the fine cornmeal the Narragansetts shared with Roger Williams, the same food that Thomas Stanton must have eaten on his long walk to Boston three centuries earlier.

   • 2014, Gladys Tantaquidgeon, “An Affectionate Portrait of Frank Speck”, in Siobhan Senier, editor, Dawnland Voices: An Anthology of Indigenous Writing from New England, Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, page 584:

     The Mohegan were farmers and fishermen and they provided vegetables (mostly corn), meat and fish for the [Annual Brush Arbor or Wigwam] Festival. One ceremonial food was "Yokeag." One year old yellow corn kernels were parched and ground to fine meal. Every family had a wooden mortar and stone pestle and the men worked long hours in preparing this. Traditionally it was known as "Traveling Food" and was carried by hunters and warriors.

Translations

dried, pulverized corn kernels — see nocake