A Surprising Connection

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1) It can be quite surprising to understand that the words “buckaroo” and “vaccine” are actually derived from the same source inasmuch as a buckaroo is a casual way of identifying a cowboy and a vaccine is a substance that can be used to prevent disease.

2) The word “buckaroo” might not be easily recognizable at first as a borrowing into English of the Spanish word vaquero, which in Spanish refers to a cowboy. The initial letter “v” in Spanish is pronounced with two lips rather than the pronunciation with the upper front teeth and lower lip of an English “v” and can sound more like the letter “b” than the letter “v” to an English speaker; thus, the English variation of the Spanish word begins with a “b” rather than a “v.” The English word also begins with the syllable “buck,” which is somewhat similar in sound to the first syllable of the Spanish word and is also an easily identifiable word itself in English.

3) The Spanish word vaquero comes from vacca, the Latin word for “cow.” Another word from the same Latin source is “vaccine.” In the late eighteenth century, the English physician Edward Jenner discovered that inoculation with a form of cowpox was effective in preventing the dreaded disease smallpox. French chemist Louis Pasteur, who was himself experimenting with a number of varieties of inoculation, used the word “vaccination” for preventative inoculation in general and the word “vaccine” for the substance inoculated in honor of Jenner’s earlier contribution to the development of vaccines.