Where Does the Word "Musher" Come From?
A musher is the proper name of a dog sled driver, no matter if the driver is a professional dog sled racer or an amateur. Dog sled was the fastest method of overland travel for the native tribes in the Arctic regions of Russia, Canada and America. Mushers control their dogs by means of vocal commands. One of the commands used to get the dogs running is the word, "mush," although that command has fallen out of favor in recent years.
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Misconceptions
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The words "mush" and "musher" do not come from any Native American language or from Siberia. Neither Native Americans nor native Siberian tribes participate in the sport of dog sledding, a sport dominated by Caucasian men and women.
History
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French traders and explorers were the first Europeans in the Arctic regions of North America and learned dog sledding from the natives. In French, "marcher" means "to go" and "marchent" ("let's get walking") was a command called to sled dogs by the French traders to get the pack of sled dogs moving. Both words sound very much like "musher." The English then learned from the French, but adapted some of the French words to make it easier for them to say.
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Theories/Speculation
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Native English speakers have trouble pronouncing French words. Eventually, the command "marchent" meant a driver of sled dogs rather than just one of the many commands given to the dogs. This language difficult may be due in part to the historical animosity between England and France that was inherited by early colonists.
Effects
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Over the years, through exposure to books, movies and television, mushers were seen to command their dogs by saying "Mush!" As a consequence, a lot of mushers today do not train their dogs to respond to that verbal command because that is what spectators are yelling. Instead, the word "hike" is often used, as well as whistles, inarticulate yells or commands in the musher's own language to "go."
Significance
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As dog sledding began to be a competitive sport in the 1900s, the word "musher" was used as a nod to tradition and to the French traders that gave us the word. There are now thousands of mushers who compete in dog sled races from America, Canada, France, Norway, Sweden and Germany. Mushers have their own jargon, including "stove up," which means a musher is injured. The most prestigious race in the dog sledding calendar is the Iditarod in Alaska.
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Resources
- Photo Credit Image of the 2005 Iditarod from Wikimedia Commons
