Well here we go.
Why is a mattock called a mattock?
Etymology. From Middle English mattok (“mattock, pickaxe”), from Old English mattuc, meottoc, mettoc (“mattock, fork, trident”), from Proto-Germanic *mattukaz (“mattock, ploughshare”), from Proto-Indo-European *met- (“to cut, reap”).
1. A pick is a tool with a pointed end for breaking up hard soil or loosening rocks. Picks oftten have a large pointed end and a smaller pointed end. Many picks have the second point flattened to a horizontal cutting blade about 1 1/2" wide to allow a limited ability to cut through roots etc..
2. Pick-driver, miners pick or pick-hammer. This is a pick with only one pointed blade but the opposite side has a stub "hammer" for breaking rocks or hard lumps dug out by the pick. If you are a good shot it can be used for driving stakes and tent-pegs.
3. Pick-axe. There are two types. The Americans refer to a pick-axe as a tool that has one pointed end and a long flat blade with a sharp edge horizontal like a mattock but narrower and made for cutting roots etc. It can be used for digging.
In other places a pick-axe can be a tool with the narrow point and on the other side a shorter vertical "axe-like" blade for cutting roots etc. While it can not be used for digging like the American pick-axe it is far more efficient for chopping with similar charecteristics to a proper axe. See the blade on the Grubbing Mattock below.
4. Mattock. This is a tool that can have pick-like pointed end and a fairly short curved horizontal blade (much wider and usually shorter than the American pick axe blade) for chopping and digging. Some mattocks come without the pointed side and have the "Hammer" stub, some mattocks come with the vertical axe, probably most common, and some mattocks come with a large and small curved flat blade for different jobs.
5. A hoe, which does not come from New York, is a lighter tool with a broad horizontal blade with or without a pointed opposite side usually referred to as a gardening implement (tell this to people swinging them in a rice paddy)
Here is a selection. Americans commonly call all pick types a "Pick Axe" even if they have a point on each side or no opposite blade like a miners pick without any axe function at all. The rest of the world differentiates between Pick and Pick Axe.
Lastly a photo of what I have found to be almost universally seen in photos of American WW2 equipment. Shovel with steel "D" handle and normal blade angle, standard axe, mattock with round pick point (not the axe type)
