THE AMATEUR WORD NERD: What’s the story behind Moxie?

By Barbara McAllister
Word of the Day: Moxie

Moxie, with a capital M is a soft drink. With a small m, it means spunk or nerve and comes from the soft drink that began as a patent medicine with close ties to New England. It was created in 1876 by Dr. Augustin Thompson born in Union. Thompson created a medicine that promised to cure everything from sleep disorders to nervous exhaustion. When the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906 required medicinal products to prove their claims, Moxie became a soft drink.
The source of the name Moxie is as mysterious as its original ingredients. The word has been attributed to a Yiddish word and also to a Native American word meaning “dark water.” Thompson himself claimed he named the beverage after Lt. Moxie, a friend who supposedly discovered the “rare plant” used in the cure-all. The rare plant turned out to be gentian root, which gives Moxie its distinctively strong, bitter taste. There is suspicion that Lt. Moxie was a marketing ploy as questionable as his rare discovery.
Moxie remains closely associated with New England, particularly the state of Maine which declared Moxie the official state soft drink in 2005. For the past 35 years, Lisbon Falls has designated the second weekend in July as Moxie Days, an annual festival that attracts people from across the country. Sadly, COVID-10 has affected this along with many other summer activities this year. We will have to wait to celebrate all things Moxie with parades and foods like Moxie baked beans, Moxie chocolate cake, Moxie ice cream, Moxie ribs and Moxie wings. Of course, you can try Moxie recipes at home, but even fans of the beverage admit it’s an acquired taste. Those not familiar with the soft drink might do well to note that gentian, one of its principal ingredients, is also called bitter root.