moose: [17] The moose’s name is a native American word. It comes from Natick moos, which has been linked by some with Narragansett moosu ‘he strips’, an allusion to the moose’s habit of stripping the bark from trees.
1610s, from an Algonquian language, probably Narragansett moos or Abenaki moz (compare Penobscot muns, Ojibwa mooz, Unami Delaware /mo:s/), said by early sources to be from moosu "he strips off," in reference to the animals' stripping bark for food.
