† mestequen.

Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps < a Mexican toponym (compare quot. 1589), perhaps < Misteca (from 1558 in Spanish sources), variant of Mixteca , the name of the ancient Mexican province corresponding to the present Oaxaca (compare Mixtec n.), although this would not accord well with the geography implied in quot. 1589. Compare Spanish cochinilla mestiza denoting a variety of the cochineal insect (1787 in E. Terreros y Pando Dicc. castellano; in a cross-reference given also in spelling mestica).Réaumur Hist. des insectes (1738) IV. 90 says: ‘Elle [sc. la cochenille fine] est appelée cochenille Mesteque, parce qu'on en fait des recoltes à Meteque [sic] dans la province de Honduras.’ However, no such place name is known to have existed in Honduras. Réaumur's reference probably had considerable influence on later use, although the attested later spelling variation suggests that Réaumur is unlikely to be the source of all the later references (as suggested in N.E.D. s.v.).