from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Canadian French tobagan, from Mi'kmaq topaghan.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
The noun is attested since 1829, the verb since 1846. Both derive from French tabaganne, which derives from an Algonquian word, probably the Mi'kmaq tepaqan or the Abenaki dabôgan, influenced by similar words in other Eastern Canadian Indian languages. The US sense, "hat", is recorded in 1929, and toboggan cap in 1928.
