What Gave the Squash Its Name?

The process of squashing or crushing fruit or vegetables to extract juice inspired the name for squash. The Narragansett people, an Algonquin group from New England, derived the name squash from their word askutasquash, which means “eaten raw or uncooked.”

They used the term askutasquash to describe certain tender varieties of the vegetable that people could eat fresh off the vine. Today, members of the Narragansett tribe enroll in the federally recognized Narragansett Indian Tribe, which headquarters in Rhode Island. The translation of the name Narragansett means “people of the little points and bays” and “(People) of the Small Point.”

When British colonists arrived in New England in the early 17th century, they encountered the vegetable and shortened the complex indigenous word down to simply “squash.” Northeastern Native American tribes cultivated pumpkins, yellow crooknecks, patty pans, Boston marrows, and turbans, while Southern tribes raised the winter crooknecks, cushaws, and green and white striped sweet potato squashes.

Native Americans roasted or boiled the squashes and pumpkins, and they preserved the flesh as conserves in syrup. They also ate the young shoots, leaves, flowers, and seeds.

Virginia and New England settlers did not impress the Indians’ squash until they had to survive the harsh winter, at which point they adopted squash and pumpkins as staples. They baked squashes, cut them, and moistened them with animal fat, maple syrup, and honey.

They eventually learned the wonders of the squash though. Squashes come in many different shapes and colors including tan, orange, and blue. The terms pumpkin, winter squash, and summer squash describe fruits of different species.

Did you know: The name ‘game of squash’ is shared by coincidence? It comes from a soft, easily “squashed” rubber ball that players used in an offshoot of the game rackets played at England’s Harrow School.

Content for this question contributed by Tracy LaDuke, resident of Chicopee, Hampden County, Massachusetts, USA