September is Etymology Month (7)

МАМОНТ [mámont] 'mammoth'. 17th century (for some time in the 19th century also мамут, cf. Pol./Cz. mamut, id.), possibly from a Jakut or Tungus word meaning 'living in the ground' (the mammoth was thought to be a burrowing animal, cf. Tatar mama 'earth' and early accounts of a 'sea elephant' that lived underground). Alternatively, from the Gr. mammoúth, with phonetic shape affected, perhaps, by the OR name Мамонтъ, cf. absence of -n- in Eng., and in Fr. mammouth, id., Ger. Mammut, id., explained, perhaps, by a misreading of -on- as -ou-, or by derivation from an earlier form. Finally, the name could have been transferred from some other exotic animal, based on the мамоны (nocturnal predators said to live in hills or rocks) described in travellers' tales from India, perhaps wild cats or lynxes, or, perhaps most logically in view of the burrowing legends, mole-like creatures (cf., however, OR мамоны 'monkeys').