Ahashewaghick and Ahashewaghkameck, the _Footprints of the Red Men Indian geographical names in the valley of Hudson's river, the valley of the Mohawk, and on the Delaware: their location and the probable meaning of some of them.

1715, is given as the name of the northeast boundmark of the Manor of

Livingston, and described as "the northernmost end of the hills that

are to the north of Tachkanick"--specifically by the surveyor, "To a

heap of stones laid together on a certain hill called by the Indians

Ahashawaghkik, by the north end of Taghanick hill or mountain"--has

been translated from _Nash-ané-komuk_ (Eliot), "A place between." Dr.

Trumbull noted _Ashowugh-commocke,_ from the derivatives

quoted--_Nashaué,_ "between"; _-komuk,_ "place," limited, enclosed,

occupied, _i. e._ by "a heap of stones laid together," probably by the

surveyor of the prior Van Rensselaer Patent, of which it was also a

boundmark. The hill is now the northeast comer of the Massachusetts

boundary line, or the north end of Taghkanick hills.

Taghkanick, the name of a town in Columbia County and primarily of a

tract of land included in the Livingston Patent and located "behind

_Potkoke,_" is written _Tachkanick_ in the Indian deed of 1685;

_Tachhanick_ in the Indian deed of 1687-8; "Land called _Tachhanick_

which the owners reserved to plant upon when they sold him _Tachhanick,_

with the land called Quissichkook;" _Tachkanick,_ "having the kill on

one side and the hill on the other"; _Tahkanick_ (Surveyor's notation)

1715--is positively located by the surveyor on the east side of the kill

called by the Indians _Saukhenak,_ and by the purchasers Roelof Jansen's

Kill. Of the meaning of the name Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan wrote:

"_Tachanûk,_ 'Wood place,' literally, 'the woods,' from _Takone,_

'forest,' and _ûk,_ 'place'"; which Dr. Trumbull regarded as "the least

objectionable" of any of the interpretations that had fallen under his

notice, and to which he added: "Literally, 'wild lands,' 'forest.'" It

would seem to be more probable that _Tachk, Taghk, Tachh, Tahk,_ etc.,

represents _Tak_ (Taghk), with formative _an, Taghkan,_ meaning "wood;"

and _ek,_ animate plural added, "Woods," "trees," "forest." Dr.

O'Callaghan's _ûk_ (ook), "Land or place," is not in any of the

orthographies. The deed-sentence, "When they sold him Tachanick," reads

literally, from the name, "When they sold him the woods." The name was

extended to the reserved field, to the stream and to the mountain. [FN]

The latter is familiar to geologists in what is known as the Taconic

rocks. Translations of the name from Del. _Tuphanné,_ "Cold stream,"

and _Tankkanné,_ "Little river," are without merit, although _Tankhanné_

would describe the branch of Roelof Jansen's Kill on which the

plantation was located.

* * * * *

[FN] The purchasers claimed but the Indians denied having sold the

mountain. It was heavily wooded no doubt. Livingston claimed it from

having bought "the woods." The Moravian missionaries wrote, in 1744,

_W'takantschan,_ which Dr. Trumbull converted to _Ket-takone-wadchu,_

"Great woody mountain."

Wichquapakat, Wichquapuchat, Wickquapubon, the latter by the surveyor,

given as the name of the southeast boundmark of the Livingston Patent

and therein described as "the south end of the hills," of which

Ahashawagh-kameck was the north. _Wichqua_ is surely an equivalent of

_Wequa_ (_Wehqua,_ Eliot), "As far as; ending at; the end or extreme,

point." [FN] Now the southwest corner on the Massachusetts line.

* * * * *

[FN] Robert Livingston, who wrote most of the Indian names in his

patent, was a Scotchman. He learned to "talk Dutch" in Rotterdam, and

picked up an acquaintance with the Indian tongues at Fort Orange

(Albany). Some of his orthographies are singular combinations.

Mahaskakook, a boundmark in the Livingston Patent, is described, in one

entry, as "A copse," _i. e._ "A thicket of underbrush," and in another

entry, "A cripple bush," _i. e._ "A patch of low timber growth"--Dutch,

_Kreupelbosch,_ "Underwood." Probably the Indian name has, substantially,

the same moaning. _Manask_ (Del.), "Second crop"; _-ask,_ "Green, raw,

immature"; _-ak,_ "wood"; _-ook_ (_ûk_), locative. The location has not

been ascertained.

Nachawawakkano, given as the name of a creek described as a "creek which

comes into another creek," is an equivalent of _Léchau-wakhaune_

(Lenape), "The fork of a river," a stream that forks another stream.

Aupaumut, the Stockbridge Historian, wrote, with locative suffix,

_Naukhuwwhnauk,_ "At the fork of the streams."

Mawichnauk--"the place where the two streams meet being called

Mawichnauk"--means "The fork place," or place where the Nachawawakkano

and the Tawastaweka came together, or where the streams meet or flow

together. In the Bayard Patent the name is written Mawighanuck and

Wawieghanuck. (See Wawighanuck.)

Shaupook and Skaukook are forms of the name assigned to the eastern

division of a stream, "which, a little lower down," was "called

Twastawekah," known later as Claverack Creek. It may be translated from

_Sóhk,_ Mass., "outlet," and _ûk,_ locative, "At the outlet" or mouth

of the stream.

Twastawekah and Tawastawekah, given, in the Livingston Patent, as the

name of Claverack Creek, is described as a place that was below Shaukook,

The root is _Tawa,_ an "open space," and the name apparently an

equivalent of Lenape _Tawatawikunk,_ "At an open place," or an

uninhabited place, a wilderness. _Tauwata-wique-ak,_ "A place in the

wilderness." (Gerard.)

Sahkaqua, "the south end of a small piece of land called Sahkaqua and

Nakawaewick"; "to a run of water on ye east end of a certain flat or

piece of land called in ye Indian tongue, Sahkahka; then south . . . one

hundred and forty rods to . . . where two runs of water come together

on the south side of the said flat; then west . . . to a rock or great

stone on the south corner of another flat or piece of low land called by

the Indians Nakaowasick." (Doc. Hist., iii, 697.) On the surveyor's map

Nakaowasick, the place last named, is changed to Acawanuk. From the

text, _Sahkaqua_ described "Land or place at the outlet or mouth of a

stream," from _Sóhk,_ "outlet," and _-ohke,_ "land" or place. The

second name _Nakawaewick_ (Nakaouaewik, Nakawasick, Acawasik) is

probably from _Nashauewasuck,_ "At (or on) a place between," _i. e._

between the streams spoken of.

Minnischtanock, in the Indian deed to Livingston, 1685, located the end

of a course described as "Beginning on the northwest side of Roelof

Jansen's Kill," and in the patent, "Beginning on the other side of the

creek that runs along the flat or plain land _over against_

Minnisichtanock, and from thence along a small hill to a valley," etc.

The name has been interpreted "Huckleberry-hill place," from _Min,_

"Small fruit or grain of any kind"; _-achtenne,_ "hill"; _-ûk,_ locative.

Kackkawanick, written also Kachtawagick, Kachkawyick, and Kachtawayick,

is described in the deed, as "A high place to the westward of a high

mountain." Location has not been ascertained. From the map it seems to

have been a long, narrow piece of land between the hills.

Quissichkook, Quassighkook, etc., one of the two places reserved by the

Indians "to plant upon" when they sold Tachkanik, is described in the

deed as a place "lying upon this (_i. e._ the west) side of Roelof

Jansen's Kill" and "near Tachanik," the course running "thence along a

small hill to a valley that leads to a small creek called by the Indians

Quissichkook, and over the creek to a high place to the westward of a

high mountain called by the natives Kachtawagick." In a petition by

Philip Schuyler, 1686, the description reads: "Quassichkook, . . .

lying on the east side of Roelof Jansen's Kill," and the place as a tract

of woodland. The name was probably that of a wooded bluff on the east

side of the creek. It seems to be from _Kussuhkoc_ (Moh.), "high," and

_-ook,_ locative--"At, to or on a high place"--from which the stream and

the plantation was located. (See Quassaick.)

Pattkoke, a place so called, also written _Pot-koke,_ gave name to a

large tract of land patented to Johannes Van Rensselaer in 1649. In

general terms the tract was described as lying "South of Kinder-hook,

[FN-1] east of Claverack, [FN-2] and west of Taghkanick" (Doc. Hist.

N. Y., iii, 617), and also as "Lying to the east of Major Abraham's

patent of Claverack." [FN-3] Specifically, in a caveat filed by John

Van Rensselaer, in 1761, "From the mouth of Major Staats, or Kinderhook

Kill, south along the river to a point opposite the south end of Vastrix

Island, thence easterly twenty-four English miles," etc. (Cal. N. Y.

Land Papers, 307. See also, Wachanekasaik.) It was an immense tract,

covering about eight miles on the Hudson by twenty-four miles deep, and

became known as "The Lower Manor of Rensselaerswyck," but locally as

Claverack, from its frontage on the river-reach so called. The name was

that of a particular place which was well known from which it was

extended to the tract. In "History of Columbia County" this particular

place is claimed to have been the site of an Indian village situate

"about three (Dutch, or nine English) miles inland from Claverack."

(Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv, 84.) The record does not give the name, nor does

it say "village," but place. The local story is, therefore, largely

conjectural. The orthographies of the name are imperfect. Presumably,

they may be read from Mass. _Pautuckoke,_ meaning "Land or country

around the falls of a stream," and the reference to some one of the

several falls on Claverack Creek, or on Eastern Creek, its principal

tributary. Both streams were included in the patent, and both are marked

by falls and rifts, but on the latter there are several "cataracts and

falls of great height and surpassing beauty." "Nothing but a greater

volume of water is required to distinguish them as being among the

grandest in the world," adds the local historian. The special reference

by the writer was to the falls at the manufacturing village known as

Philmont, nine miles east of the Hudson, corresponding with the record

of the "place" where the Indians assembled in 1663-4. _Pautuck_ is met

in many forms. It means, "The falls of a stream." With the suffix, _-oke_

(Mass. _-auke_), "Land, ground, place, unlimited"--"the country around

the falls," or the falls country. (See Potick.)

* * * * *

[FN-1] Kinderhook is an anglicism of Dutch _Kinder-hoek,_ meaning,

literally, "Children's point, angle or corner." It dates from the

Carte Figurative of 1614-16, and hence is one of the oldest names on

Hudson's River. It is supposed to have been applied from a gathering of

Indian children on a point of land to gaze upon the ship of the early

navigator. It could not have been a Dutch substitute for an Indian name.

It is pure Dutch. It was not an inland name. The navigator of 1614-16

did not explore the country.

[FN-2] _Claverack_--Dutch, _Claverrak_--literally, "Clover reach--a

sailing course or reach, so called from three bare or open fields which

appear on the land, a fancied resemblance to _trefoil_ or three-leaved

clover," wrote Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter in their Journal in

1679-80. Presumably the places are specifically located in the patent

to Jan Frans van Heusen, May, 1667, on which the city of Hudson now

stands, which is described as "A tract of land which takes in three of

the Clavers on the south." From the locative the reach extended some

miles north and south and to lands which it bounded. It is still

preserved as the name of a creek, a town and a village. Of record it

dates back to De Laet's map of 1625-6, and is obviously much older. It

is possible that the "three bare places" were fields of white clover,

as has been claimed by one writer, but there is no record stating that

fact. Dankers and Sluyter, who wrote only fifty-four years after the

application of the name, no doubt gave correctly the account of its

origin as it was related to them by living witnesses. If interpreted as

were the names of other reaches, the reference would be to actual

clover fields.

[FN-3] "Major Abraham" was Major Abraham Staats, who located on a neck

of land on the north side of "Major Staats' Creek," now Stockport Creek.

(See Ciskhakainck.) "West of Taghkanick," probably refers to the

mountains now so known. It means, literally, however, "The woods."

(See Taghkanick.) There was a heated controversy between the patroon of

Rensselaerswyck and Governor Stuyvesant in regard to the purchase of

the tract. It was decided in 1652 in favor of the former, who had, in

the meantime, granted several small leaseholds. (See Brodhead's Hist.

N. Y., i.) The first settlement by the patroon was in 1705 at Claverack

village.

Ciskhekainck and Cicklekawick are forms of the name of a place granted

by patent to Major Abraham Staats, March 25, 1667, and to his son in

1715, described as "Lying north of Claverack [Hudson], on the east side

of the river, along the Great Kill [Kinderhook Creek], to the first fall

of water; then to the fishing place, containing two hundred acres, more

or less, bounded by the river on one side and by the Great Kill on the

other." Major Staats had made previous settlement on the tract under

lease from Van Rensselaer. His house and barn were burned by the Indians

in the Esopus war of 1663. In 1715, he being then dead, his son, Abraham,

petitioned for an additional tract described as "Four hundred acres

adjoining the north line of the neck of land containing two hundred

acres now in his possession, called Ciskhekainck, on the north side of

Claverack, on ye east side of Hudson's River." (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers,

118.) The petition was granted and the two parcels consolidated. The

particular fall referred to is probably that now known as Chittenden's,

on Kinderhook (now Stockport) Creek, a short distance west of Stockport

Station. It may be called a series of falls as the water primarily

descended on shelves or steps. It was noted as remarkable by Dankens

and Sluyter in 1679-80. [FN] Claverack Creek unites with Stockport Creek

just west of the falls. In other connections both streams are called

mill streams. In the Stephen Bayard patent of 1741, the name of the fall

on Stockport Creek is noted as "A certain fall . . . called by the

Indians _Kasesjewack_" The several names are perhaps from _Cochik'uack_

(Moh.), "A wild, dashing" stream. _Cochik'uack,_ by the way, is one of

the most corrupted names of record.

* * * * *

[FN] "We came to a creek, where, near the river, lives a man whom they

call the Child of Luxury (_t'kinder van walde_). He had a sawmill on

the creek or waterfall, which is a singular one. The water falls quite

steep in one body, but it comes down in steps, with a broad rest

sometimes between them. These steps were sixty feet or more high, and

were formed out of a single rock."

Kesieway's Kil, described in an Indian deed to Garritt van Suchtenhorst,

1667-8. "A certain piece of land at Claverack between the bouwery of

Jan Roother and Major Abraham Staats, beginning at a fall at the kil

called Kesieway's Kil." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 51, 57.) The tract seems

to have been on Claverack Creek south of Stockport "Jan Roothers" is

otherwise written, "Jan Hendricksen, alias Jan Roothaer." _Roth_ (German)

means "red," _-aer_ is from German _Haar_ (hair). He was known locally

as "Jan, the red-head." The location of the fall has not been

ascertained. _Kashaway_ Creek is a living form of the name in the town

of Greenport, Columbia County. On the opposite side of the Hudson the

same name apparently, appears in Keesieway, Kesewey, etc., as that of a

"chief or sachem" of the Katskill Indians. (See Keessienwey's Hoeck.)

Pomponick, Columbia County. (N. Y. Land Papers.) _Pompoenik,_ a fort to

be erected at "about the barn of Lawrence van Alen." (Doc. Hist. N. Y.,

ii, 90.) _Pompoen_ is Dutch for pumpkin. The name is also written as

that of an Indian owner--"the land bought by Jan Bruyn of Pompoen."

(Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 545.) Pompoeneck is the form of the signature

to deed.

Mawighanuck, Mawighunk, Waweighannuck, Wawighnuck, forms of the name

preserved as that of the Bayard Patent, Columbia County, described as a

place "Lying to the northwest of Kinderhook, about fifteen miles from

Hudson's River, upon Kinderhook River and some branches thereof, part of

which tract is known by the Indian name of Mawighanuck." The particular

"part" noted has not been located, but it seems to have been where one

of the branches of Kinderhook Creek united with that stream. (See

Mawichnauk.)

Mogongh-kamigh, a boundmark of the Bayard Patent (Land Papers, 245), is

located therein, "From a fall on said river called by the Indians

Kasesjewack to a certain place called by the natives Mogongh-kamigh,

then up the southeast branch," etc. The name means, probably, "Place of

a great tree."

Kenaghtiquak, "a small stream" so called, was the name of a boundmark of

the Peter Schuyler Patent, described, "Beginning where three oak trees

are marked, lying upon a small creek, to the south of Pomponick, called

by the Indians Kenaghtiquak, and running thence," etc. It probably

stands for _Enaughtiqua-ûk,_ "The beginning place."

Machachoesk, a place so called in Columbia County, has not been located.

It is described of record as a place "lying on both sides of Kinderhook

Creek," and may have taken its name from an adjacent feature.

Wapemwatsjo, the name of a hill in Columbia County, is a Dutch

orthography of _Wapim-wadchu,_ "Chestnut Hill." The interpretation is

correctly given in the accompanying alternate, "or Karstengeberg"

(Kastanjeberg, Dutch), "Chestnut Hill."

Kaunaumeek, an Indian village sixteen miles east of Albany, in the town

of Nassau, Rensselaer County, was the scene of the labors of Moravian

missionaries, and especially of Missionary Brainerd. It was long known

as Brainerd's Bridge, and is now called Brainerds. The name is Lenape

(German notation) and the equivalent of _Quannamáug,_ Nar., _Gunemeek,_

Len., "Long-fish place," a "Fishing-place for lampreys." The form,

Kaunaumeek, was introduced here by the Moravian missionaries.

Scompamuck is said to have been the name of the locality now covered by

the village of Ghent, Columbia County, perhaps more strictly the head

of the outlet of Copake Lake where an Indian settlement is located on

early maps. The suffix, _-amuck,_ is the equivalent of _-amaug,_ "fishing

place." _Ouschank-amaug,_ from _Ousch-acheu,_ "smooth, slippery," hence

eel or lamprey--"a fishing-place for eels."

Copake, the modern form of the name of a lake in Columbia County, is of

record _Achkookpeek_ (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii. 628), meaning, literally,

"Snake water," from _Achkook,_ "Snake," and _-péek,_ "Water place," pool

or pond. Hendrick Aupaumut, the Historian of the Stockbridge-Mahicans,

wrote: "_Ukhkokpeck;_ it signifies snake-water, or water where snakes

are abundant." On a map of the boundary line between Massachusetts and

New York an Indian village is located at the outlet of the lake,

presumably that known as Scompamuck.

Kaphack, on Westenhook River, a place described as "Beginning at an

Indian burying-place hard by Kaphack," probably means "A separate

place"--"land not occupied." The tract began at "an Indian

burying-place," and presumably took its name therefrom. _Chépeck,_ "The

dead;" _Chépeack,_ "Place of the dead." (See Shapequa.)

Valatie, the name of a village in Columbia County, is Dutch. It means

"Vale, valley, dale, dell," and not "Little Falls," as rendered in

French's Gazetteer. _Waterval_ is Dutch for "Waterfall." _Vallate,_ Low

Latin for "valley," is the derivative of _Valatie,_ as now written.

Schodac, now covered by the village of Castleton (Schotax, 1677;

Schotack, 1768), was the place of residence of Aepjin, sachem, or "peace

chief," of the Mahicans. [FN-1] It has been translated from _Skootay,_

Old Algonquian (_Sqúta,_ Williams), "fire," and _-ack,_ "place,"

literally, "Fire Place," or place of council. It was extended to Smack's

Island, opposite Albany, which was known to the early Dutch as

"Schotack, or Aepjen's Island." It is probable, however, that the

correct derivative is to be found in _Esquatak,_ or Eskwatak, the record

name of the ridge of land east of Castleton, near which the Mahican fort

or palisaded village was located, from which Castleton takes its name.

_Esquatak_ is pretty certainly an equivalent of _Ashpohtag_ (Mass.),

meaning "A high place." Dropping the initial _A,_ and also the letter

_p_ and the second _h,_ leaves Schotack or Shotag; by pronunciation

Schodac. Eshodac, of which Meshodack [FN-2] is another form, the name of

a high peak in the town of Nassau, Rensselaer County, has become Schodac

by pronunciation. It has been claimed that the landing which Hudson made

and so particularly described in Juet's Journal, was at Schodac. [FN-3]

The Journal relates that the "Master's mate" first "went on land with

an old savage, the governor of the country, who carried him to his house

and made him good cheere." The next day Hudson himself "Sailed to the

shore, in one of their canoe's, with an old man who was chief of a tribe

consisting of forty men and seventeen women," and it is added, "These I

saw there in a house well constructed of oak bark and circular in shape,

so that it had the appearance of being built with an arched roof."

Presumably the house was near the shore of the river and in occupation

during the fishing and planting season. The winter castle was further

inland. The "arched roof" indicates that it was one of the "long" houses

so frequently described, not a cone-like cabin. The "tribe" was the

sachem's family.

* * * * *

[FN-1] Aepjin's name appears of record first in 1645 as the

representative of the Westchester County clans in negotiating a treaty

of peace with the Dutch. In the same capacity he was at Esopus in 1660.

He could hardly have been the "old man" whom Hudson met in 1609. In one

entry his name is written "Eskuvius, alias Aepjin (Little Ape)," and in

another "Called by the Dutch Apeje's (Little Ape's) Island." He may have

been given that name from his personal appearance, or it may have been

a substitute for a name which the Dutch had heard spoken. Eliot wrote,

"_Appu,_ He sits; he rests, remains, abides; _Keu Apean,_ Those that

sittest," descriptive of the rank of a resident ruler or peace chief,

one of a class of sachems whose business it was to maintain the

covenants between his own and other tribes, and negotiate treaties of

peace on their behalf or for other tribes when called upon. From his

totemic signature he was of the Wolf tribe of the Mahicans. (See

Keessienway's Hoeck.)

[FN-2] The prefixed _M,_ sometimes followed by a short vowel or an

apostrophe (M'), has no definite or determinate force. (Trumbull.)

[FN-3] The Journal locates the place at Lat. 42 deg. 18 min. This would

be about five miles (statute) north of the present city of Hudson.

"But," wrote Brodhead, "Latitudes were not as easily determined in

those days as they are now; and a careful computation of the distances

run by the Half-Moon, as recorded in Juet's day-book, shows that on the

18th of September, 1609, when the landing occurred, she must have been

'up six leagues higher' than Hudson, in the neighborhood of Schodac and

Castleton."

Sickenekas, given as the name of a tract of land on the east side of the

river, "opposite Fort Orange (Albany), above and below," dates from a

deed to Van Rensselaer, 1637, the name of one of the grantors of which

is written Paepsickenekomtas. The name is now written Papskanee and

applied to an island.

Sicajoock, (Wickagjock, Wassenaer), is given as the name of a tract on

the east side of the river extending from Smack's Island to Castle Island

where it joined lands "called Semesseeck," Gesmessecks, etc., which

extended north to Negagonse, "being about twelve miles (Dutch), large

measure." The northern limit seems to have been Unuwat's Castle on the

north side of a stream flowing to the Hudson north of "opposite to

Rensselaer's Kil and waterfall." _Sicajoock_ (Dutch notation), "Black,

or dark colored earth," from _Sûcki_ "Dark colored, inclining to black,"

and _-ock,_ "land." The same name is written Suckiage (_ohke_) in

application to the Hartford meadows, Conn.

Gesmesseeck, a tract of land so called, otherwise entered of record

"Nawanemit's particular land called _Semesseerse,_ lying on the east

bank, opposite Castle Island, off unto Fort Orange." "Item--from

Petanoc, the mill stream, away north to Negagonse." In addition Van

Rensselaer then purchased lands held in common by several owners,

"extending up the river, south and north" from Fort Orange, "unto a

little south of Moeneminnes castle," "being about twelve miles, large

measure." Moeneminne's castle was on Haver Island at Kahoes.

_Semesseerse_ is the form of the name in deed as printed in Col. Hist.

N. Y., vol. i, p. 44, and Gesmesseecks p. 1, v. iv. Kesmesick is another

form and perhaps also Taescameasick. (See Patuckquapaen.) The several

forms of the name illustrate the effort on the part of the early Dutch,

who were then limitedly acquainted with the Indian tongue, to give

orthographies to the names which they heard spoken.

Passapenoc, Pahpapaenpenock and Sapanakock, forms of the name of Beeren

Island, lying opposite Coeymans, is from an edible tuber which was

indigenous on it. [FN] The Dutch name Beeren or Beerin, means, literally,

"She bear," usually called Bear's Island. De Laet wrote "Beeren" in 1640.

* * * * *

[FN] "The Indians frequently designated places by the names of esculent

or medicinal roots which were there produced. In the Algonquin language

the generic names for tubers was _pen,_ varying in some dialects to

_pin, pena, pon,_ or _bun._ This name seems originally to have belonged

to the common ground nut: _Apias tuberosa._ Abnaki, _pen,_ plural,

_penak._ Other species were designated by prefixes to this generic, and,

in the compositions of place names, was employed to denote locality

(_auk, auki, ock,_ etc.), or by an abundance verb (_kanti-kadi_). Thus

_p'sai-pen,_ 'wild onions,' with the suffix for place, _ock,_ gave

_p'sai-pen-auk,_ or as written by the Dutch, _Passapenock,_ the Indian

name for Beeren Island." (J. H. Trumbull, Mag. of Am. Hist I, 387.)

Patuckquapaen and Tuscumcatick are noted in French's Gazetteer as names

of record in what is now the town of Greenbush, Rensselaer County,

without particular location. The first is in part Algonquian and in part

Dutch. The original was, no doubt, _Patuckquapaug,_ as in Greenwich,

Ct., meaning "Round pond." The Dutch changed _paug_ to _paen_ descriptive

of the land--low land--so we have, as it stands, "Round land," "elevated

hassocks of earth, roots," etc. (See Patuckquapaug.) The second name is

written in several forms--Taescameatuck, Taescameesick, and

Gessmesseecks. _Greenbush_ is an anglicism of _Gran Bosch,_ Dutch,

meaning, literally, "Green forest." The river bank was fringed by a long

stretch of spruce-pine woods. Dutch settlement began here about 1631.

In 1641 a ferry was established at the mouth of the _Tamisquesuck_ or

Beaver Creek, and has since been maintained. About the same year a small

fort, known as Fort Cralo, was constructed by Van Rensselaer's

superintendent.

Poesten Kill, the name of a stream and of a town in Rensselaer County,

is entered in deed to Van Rensselaer in 1630, "Petanac, the mill stream";

in other records, "_Petanac,_ the Molen Kil," and "De Laet's Marlen Kil

and Waterval." _Petanac,_ the Indian name, is an equivalent of

Stockbridge _Patternac,_ which King Ninham, in an affidavit, in 1762,

declared meant "A fall of water, and nothing more." "Molen Kil" (Dutch),

means "mill water." "De Laet's Marlen Kil ende Waterval," locates the

name as that of a well-known waterfall on the stream of eighty feet.

Weise, in his "History of Troy," wrote: "Having erected a saw-mill upon

the kill for sawing posts and timber, which was known thereafter as

Poesten mill, the name became extended to the stream," an explanation

that seems to bear the marks of having been coined. From the character

of the stream the name is probably a corruption of the Dutch _Boosen,_

"An angry stream," because of its rapid descent. The stream reaches the

Hudson on the north line of Troy. (See Gesmessecks.)

Paanpaach is quoted by Brodhead (Hist. N. Y.) as the name of the site of

the city of Troy. It appears in 1659 in application to bottom lands known

as "The Great Meadows," [FN-1] lying under the hills on the east side of

the Hudson. At the date of settlement by Van der Huyden (1720), it is

said there were stripes or patches within the limits of the present city

which were known as "The corn-lands of the Indians," [FN-2] from which

the interpretation in French's Gazetteer, "Fields of corn," which the

name never meant in any language. The name may have had an Indian

antecedent, but as it stands it is Dutch from _Paan-pacht,_ meaning "Low,

soft land," or farm of leased land. The same name appears in _Paan-pack,_

Orange county, which see.

* * * * *

[FN-1] Weise's Hist. of Troy.

[FN-2] Woodward's Reminiscences of Troy.

Piskawn, of record as the name of a stream on the north line of Troy,

describes a branch or division of a river. Rale wrote in Abnaki,

"_Peskakōōn,_ branche," of which _Piskawn_ is an equivalent.

Sheepshack and Pogquassick are record names in the vicinity of

Lansingburgh. The first has not been located. It seems to stand for

_Tsheepenak,_ a place where the bulbous roots of the yellow lily were

obtained--modern Abnaki, _Sheep'nak._ _Pogquassick_ appears as the name

of a "piece of woodland on the east side of the river, near an island

commonly called Whale-fishing Island," correctly, Whalefish Island. [FN]

This island is now overflowed by the raising of the water by the State

dam at Lansingburgh. The Indian name does not belong to the woodland;

it locates the tract near the island, in which connection it is probably

an equivalent of _Paugasuck,_ "A place at which a strait widens or opens

out" (Trumbull), or where the narrow passage between the island and the

main land begins to widen. In the same district _Pogsquampacak_ is

written as the name of a small creek flowing into Hoosick River.

* * * * *

[FN] "Whale-fishing Island" is a mistranslation of "Walvish Eiland"

(Dutch), meaning simply "Whale Island." It is related by Van der Donck

(1656) that during the great freshet of 1647, a number of whales

ascended the river, one of which was stranded and killed on this

island. Hence the name.

Wallumschack, so written in return of survey of patent granted to

Cornelius van Ness and others, in 1738, for lands now in Washington

County; _Walloomscook,_ and other forms; now preserved in Walloomsac, as

the name of a place, a district of country, and a stream flowing from a

pond on the Green Mountains, in the town of Woodford, near Bennington,

Vermont. [FN-1] It has not been specifically located, but apparently

described a place on the adjacent hills where material was obtained for

making paints with which the Indians daubed their bodies. (See Washiack.)

It is from a generic root written in different dialects, _Walla, Wara_

etc., meaning "Fine, handsome, good," etc., from which in the Delaware,

Dr. Brinton derived _Wálám,_ "Painted, from the sense to be fine in

appearance, to dress, which the Indians accomplished by painting their

bodies," and _-'ompsk_ (Natick), with the related meaning of standing or

upright, the combination expressing "Place of the paint rocks." [FN-2]

The ridges of many of the hills as well as of the mountains in the

district are composed of slate, quartz, sandstone and limestone, which

compose the Takonic system. By exposure the slate becomes disintegrated

and forms an ochery clay of several colors, which the Indians used as

paint. The washing away of the rock left the quartz exposed in the form

of sharp points, which were largely used by the Indians for making axes,

lance-heads, arrow points, etc. Some of the ochre beds have been

extensively worked, and plumbago has also been obtained. White Creek,

in the same county, takes that name from its white clay banks.

* * * * *

[FN-1] Vermont is from _Verd Montagne_ (French), meaning "Green

Mountains," presumably from their verdure, but actually from the

appearance of the hills at a distance from the color of the rocks

reflected in the atmosphere. To the Indian they were Wal'ompskeck,

"fine, handsome rocks."

[FN-2] An interpretation of the name from the form Wallumscnaik, in

Thompson's Hist. Vermont, states that "The termination _'chaik'_

signifies in the Dutch language, 'scrip.' or 'patent.'" This is

erroneous. There is no such word as _chaik_ in the Dutch language. The

_ch_ in the name here stands for _k_ and belongs to _'ompsk._

Tomhenack, Tomhenuk, forms of the name given as that of a small stream

flowing into the Hoosick from the north, [FN] takes that name,

apparently, from an equivalent of _Tomheganic,_ Mass., _Tangamic,_ Del.,

a stone axe or tomahawk, referring to a place where suitable stones were

obtained for making those implements. (Trumbull.) (See Wallumschack.)

* * * * *

[FN] "At a creek called Tomheenecks, beginning at the southerly bounds

of Hoosick, and so running up southerly, on both sides of said creek,

over the path which goes to Sanckhaick." (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 194;

petition of John de Peyster, 1730.)

Tyoshoke, now the name of a church at San Coick, Rensselaer County, is

probably from an equivalent of _Toyusk,_ Nar., "a bridge," and _ohke,_

"Place"--a place where the stream was crossed by a log forming a bridge.

It was a well-known fording place for many years, and later became the

site of Buskirk's Bridge.

Sanckhaick, now San Coick, a place in North Hoosick, Rensselaer County,

appears of record in petition of John de Peyster in 1730, and in Indian

deed to Cornelius van Ness and others, in 1732, for a certain tract of

land "near a place called Sanckhaick." The place, as now known, is near

the junction of White Creek and the Wallompskack, where one Van Schaick

made settlement and built a mill at an early date. In 1754 his buildings

were burned by Indian allies of the French. After the war of that period

the mill was rebuilt and became conspicuous in the battle of Bennington,

Aug. 16, 1777. It is claimed that the name is a corruption of Van

Schaick. Col. Baume, commandant of the Hessians in the battle of

Bennington (1777) wrote it Sancoik, which is very nearly Van Schaick.

Schaghticoke, now so written as the name of a town in the northeast

corner of Rensselaer County, and in other connections, is from

_Pishgachtigok_ Mohegan, meaning "Land on the branch or division of a

stream." The locative of the name was at the mouth of Hoosick River on

the Hudson, in Washington County. The earliest record (1685) reads,

"Land at _Schautecógue_" (-ohke). It is a generic name and appears in

several forms and at several places. _Pishgachtigok_ is a form on the

west side of the Housatonic at and near the mouth of Ten-Mile River. It

was the site of an Indian village and the scene of labor by the Moravian

missionaries. In some cases the name is written with locative, "at,"

etc., in others, with substantive meaning land or place, and in others

without suffix. Writes Mr. Gerard, "The name would probably be correctly

written _P'skaghtuk-uk,_" when with locative "at." [FN] Although first

of record in 1685, its application was probably as early as 1675, when

the Pennacooks of Connecticut, fleeing from the disastrous results of

King Phillip's War in which they were allies, found refuge among their

kindred Mahicans, and later were assigned lands at Schaghticoke by

Governor Andros, where they were to serve as allies of the Mohawks. They

seem to have spread widely over the district and to have left their

footprints as far south as the Katskill. It is a tradition that

conferences were held with them on a plain subsequently owned by

Johannes Knickerbocker, some six miles east of the Hudson, and that a

veritable treaty tree was planted there by Governor Andros in 1676-7,

although "planting a tree" was a figurative expression. In later years

the seat of the settlement seems to have been around Schaghticoke hill

and point, where Mashakoes, their sachem, resided. (Annals of Albany,

v, 149.) In the French and Indian war of 1756, the remnant of the tribe

was carried away to Canada by the St. Francis Indians, an organization

of kindred elements in the French service. At one time they are said to

have numbered six hundred warriors. (See Shekomeko.)

* * * * *

[FN] The root of the name is _Peske_ or _Piske_ (_Paske,_ Zeisb.),

meaning, primarily, "To split," "To divide forcibly or abruptly."

(Trumbull.) In Abnaki, _Peskétekwa,_ a "divided tidal or broad river or

estuary"--_Peskahakan_ (Rale), "branche." In the Delaware, Zeisberger

wrote _Pasketiwi,_ "The division or branch of a stream." _Pascataway,_

Md., is an equivalent form. _Pasgatikook,_ Greene County, is from the

Mohegan form. _Paghataghan_ and _Pachkataken,_ on the east branch of

the Delaware, and _Paghatagkam_ on the Otterkill, Vt., are equivalent

forms of _Peskahakan,_ Abnaki. The Hoosick is not only a principal

branch, but it is divided at its mouth and at times presents the

appearance of running north in the morning and south at night.

(Fitch's Surv.)

Quequick and Quequicke are orthographies of the name of a certain fall

on Hoosick River, in Rensselaer County. In petition of Maria van

Rensselaer, in 1684, the lands applied for were described as "Lying on

both sides of a certain creek called Hoosock, beginning at ye bounds of

Schaakook, and so to a fall called Quequick, and thence upward to a

place called Nachacqikquat." (Cal. Land Papers, 27.) The name may stand

for _Cochik'uack_ (Moh.), "Wild, dashing" waters, but I cannot make

anything out of it. The first fall east of Schaakook (Schagticoke)

Patent is now known as Valley Falls, in the town of Pittstown

(Pittstown Station).

Pahhaoke, a local name in Hoosick Valley, is probably an equivalent of

_Pauqna-ohke,_ "Clear land," "open country." It is frequently met in

Connecticut in different forms, as in Pahqui-oke, Paquiag, etc., the

name of Danbury Plains. The form here is said to be from the Stockbridge

dialect, but it is simply an orthography of an English scribe. It has

no relation whatever to the familiar Schaghticoke or Scat'acook.

Panhoosick, so written in Indian deed to Van Rensselaer in 1652, for a

tract of land lying north and east of the present city of Troy,

extending north to nearly opposite Kahoes Falls and east including a

considerable section of Hoosick River, appears in later records as an

apheresis in Hoosick, Hoosack, and Hoosuck, in application to Hoosick

River, Hoosick Mountains, Hoosick Valley, Hoosick Falls, and in "Dutch

Hossuck," an early settlement described in petition of Hendrick van Ness

and others, in 1704, as "land granted to them by Governor Dongan in

1688, known by the Indian name of Hoosack." (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers,

27, 74.) The head of the stream appears to have been the outlet of a

lake now called _Pontoosuc_ from the name of a certain fall on its

outlet called _Pontoosuck,_ "A corruption," wrote Dr. Trumbull, "of

_Powntucksuck,_ 'falls of a brook,' or outlet." "_Powntuck,_ a general

name for all falls," according to Indian testimony quoted by the same

writer. "_Pantuck,_ falls of a stream." (Zeisb.) Several interpretations

of the name have been suggested, of which the most probably correct is

from Massachusetts _Pontoosuck,_ which would readily be converted to

Hoosick or Panhoosick (Pontoosuck). It was applicable to any falls, and

may have had locative at Hoosick Falls as well as on the outlet of

Pontoosuck Lake. Without examination or warrant from the local dialect,

Heckewelder wrote in his Lenape tradition, "The Hairless or Naked Bear":

"_Hoosink,_ which means the basin, or more properly, the kettle." The

Lenape or Delaware _Hōōs,_ "certainly means, in that dialect, 'a pot or

kettle.' Figuratively, it might be applied to a kettle-shaped depression

in land or to a particular valley. _Hoosink_ means 'in' or 'at' the pot

or kettle. _Hoosack_ might be read 'round valley land,' or land with

steep sides." (Brinton.) Of course this does not explain the prefix

_Pan_, nor does it prove that _Hōōs_ was in the local dialect, which,

in 1652, was certainly Mahican or Mohegan. Still, it cannot be said that

the tradition was not familiar to all Algonquians in their mythical

lore.

Heckewelder's tradition, "The Naked or Hairless Bear," has its

culmination at a place "lying east of the Hudson," where the last one

of those fabulous animals was killed. "The story," writes Dr. Brinton,

"was that the bear was immense in size and the most vicious of animals.

Its skin was bare except a tuft of white hair on the back. It attacked

and ate the natives and the only means of escape from it was to take to

the waters. Its sense of smell was remarkably keen, but its sight was

defective. As its heart was very small, it could not be easily killed.

The surest plan was to break its back-bone; but so dangerous was it that

those hunters who went in pursuit of it bade families and friends

farewell, as if they never expected to return. The last one was tracked

to Hoosink, and a number of hunters went there and mounted a rock with

precipitous sides. They then made a noise and attracted the beast's

attention, who rushed to the attack with great fury. As he could not

climb the rock, he tore at it with his teeth, while the hunters above

shot him with arrows and threw upon him great stones, and thus killed

him." [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] "The Lenape and their Legends."

The Hoosick River flows from its head, near Pittsfield, Berkshire

County, in Massachusetts, through the Petersburgh Mountains between

precipitous hills, and carries its name its entire length. Fort

Massachusetts, in the present town of Adams, Mass., was on its borders

and in some records was called Fort Hoosick. It was captured by the

French and their Indians in 1746. The general course of the stream is

north, west, and south to the Hudson in the northwest corner of

Rensselaer County, directly opposite the village of Stillwater,

Saratoga County. There are no less than three falls on its eastern

division, of which the most considerable are Hoosick Falls, where the

stream descends, in rapids and cascades, forty feet in a distance of

twelve rods. Dr. Timothy Dwight, who visited it in the early part of the

19th century, described it as "One of the most beautiful rivers in the

world." "At different points," he wrote, "The mountains extend their

precipitous declivities so as to form the banks of the river. Up these

precipitous summits rise a most elegant succession of forest trees,

chiefly maple, beech and evergreens. There are also large spots and

streaks of evergreens, chiefly hemlock and spruce." Though, with a

single exception, entered in English records by the name of "Hoosick or

Schaahkook's Creek," it was, from the feature which especially attracted

Dr. Dwight's attention, known to the Iroquois as the _Ti-oneenda-howe,_

or "The river at the hemlocks." [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] See Saratoga. _Ti-oneenda-howe_ was applied by the Mohawks to the

Hoosick, and _Ti-ononda-howe_ to the Batten Kill as positive boundmarks,

the former from its hemlock-clad hills (_onenda_), and the latter from

its conical hills (_ononda_). The late Horatio Hale wrote me:

"_Ti-ononda-howe_ is evidently a compound term involving the word

_ononda_ (or _ononta_), 'hill or mountain.' _Ti-oneenda-howe,_ in like

manner, includes the word _onenda_ (or _onenta_), 'hemlock.' There may

have been certain notable hills or hemlocks which as landmarks gave

names to the streams or located them. The final syllables _howe,_ are

uncertain." (See Di-ononda-howe.)

Cossayuna, said to be from the Mohawk dialect and to signify "Lake of

the pines," is quoted as the name of a lake in the town of Argyle,

Washington County. The translation is correct, substantially, but the

name is Algonquian--a corruption of _Coossa,_ "Pine," [FN] and _Gummee,_

"Lake," or standing water. The terms are from the Ojibway dialect, and

were probably introduced by Dr. Schoolcraft.

* * * * *

[FN] It is of record that "the borders of Hudson's River above Albany,

and the Mohawk River at Schenectady," were known, in 1710, as "the best

places for pines of all sorts, both for numbers and largeness of trees."

(Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii, 656.) Mass. _Kowas-'ktugh,_ "pine tree." The

name is met in many orthographies.

Anaquassacook, the name of a patent in Washington County, and also of a

village and of a stream of water, was, primarily, the name of a

boundmark. The locative has not been ascertained. _Anakausuk-ook,_ "At

the end of a course," or as far the brook.

Podunk, a brook so called in the town of Fort Ann, Washington County,

is met in several other places. (See Potunk, L. I.) Its meaning has not

been ascertained.

Quatackquaohe, entered on Pownal's map as the name of a tract of land on

the south side of a stream, has explanation in the accompanying entry,

"Waterquechey, or Quatackquaohe." Waterquechey (English) means "Moist

boggy ground," indicating that _Quatackquaohe_ is an equivalent of

_Petuckquiohke,_ Mass., "Round-land place," _i. e._ elevated hassocks

of earth, roots, etc. The explanation by Gov. Pownal may supply a key

to the translation of other names now interpreted indefinitely.

Di-ononda-howe, a name now assigned to the falls on the Batten Kill

below Galeville, Washington County, is Iroquoian and of original

application to the stream itself as written in the Schuyler Patent. It

is a compound descriptive of the locality of the creek, the reference

being to the conical hills on the south side of the stream near the

Hudson, on one of which was erected old Fort Saratoga. The sense is,

"Where a hill interposes," between the object spoken of and the speaker.

The late Superintendent of the Bureau of Ethnology, Prof. J. W. Powell,

wrote me: "From the best expert information in this office, it may be

said that the phonetic value of the final two syllables _howe_ is far

from definite; but assuming that they are equivalent to _huwi_ (with the

European vowel values), the word-sentence Di-ononda-howe means, 'There

it has interposed (a) mountain,' Written in the Bureau alphabet, the

word-sentence would be spelled Ty-ononde-huwi. It is descriptive of the

situation of the creek, but not of the creek itself, and is applicable

to any mountain or high hill which appears between a speaker and some

other object." (See Hoosick.)

Caniade-rioit is given as the name of Lake George, and "The tail of the

lake" as the definition, "on account of its connection with Lake

Champlain." (Spofford's Gazetteer.) Father Jogues, who gave to the lake

the name "Lac de Saint Sacrament" (Lake of the Holy Sacrament), in 1645,

wrote the Mohawk name, _Andiato-rocte_ (French notation), with the

definition, "There where the lake shuts itself in," the reference being

to the north end of the lake at the outlet. This definition is not far

from a correct reading of the suffix _octe_ (_okte,_ Bruyas), meaning

"end," or, in this connection, "Where the lake ends." _Caniade,_ a form

of _Kaniatare,_ is an Iroquoian generic, meaning "lake." The lake never

had a specific name. _Horicon,_ which some writers have endeavored to

attach to it, does not belong to it. It is not Iroquoian, does not mean

"north," nor does it mean "lake" or "silver water," [FN] The present

name was conferred by Sir William Johnson, in honor of King George III,

of England.

* * * * *

[FN] _Horikans_ was written by De Laet, in 1624, as the name of an

Indian tribe living at the head waters of the Connecticut. On an ancient

map _Horicans_ is written in Lat. 41, east of the Narragansetts on the

coast of New England. In the same latitude _Moricans_ is written west

of the Connecticut, and _Horikans_ on the upper Connecticut in latitude

42. _Morhicans_ is the form on Carte Figurative of 1614-16, and

_Mahicans_ by the Dutch on the Hudson. The several forms indicate that

the tribe was the _Moricans_ or _Mourigans_ of the French, the _Maikans_

or _Mahikans_ of the Dutch and the _Mohegans_ of the English. It is

certain that that tribe held the headwaters of the Connecticut as well

as of the Hudson. The novelist, Cooper, gave life to De Laet's

orthography in his "Last of the Mohegans."

Ticonderoga, familiar as the name of the historic fortress at Lake

George, was written by Sir William Johnson, in 1756, _Tionderogue_ and

_Ticonderoro,_ and in grant of lands in 1760, "near the fort at

_Ticonderoga._" Gov. Golden wrote _Ticontarogen,_ and an Iroquoian sachem

is credited with _Decariaderoga._ Interpretations are almost as numerous

as orthographies. The most generally quoted is from Spofford's Gazetteer:

"_Ticonderoga,_ from _Tsindrosie_, or _Cheonderoga,_ signifying

'brawling water,' and the French name, _Carillon,_ signifying 'a chime

of bells,' were both suggested by the rapids upon the outlet of Lake

George." The French name may have been so suggested, but neither

_Tsindrosie_ or _Cheonderoga_ means "brawling water." The latter is

probably an orthography of _Teonderoga._ Ticonderoga as now written, is

from _Te_ or _Ti,_ "dual," two; _Kaniatare,_ "lake," and _-ogen,_

"intervallum, divisionem" (Bruyas), the combination meaning, literally,

"Between two lakes." Horatio Hale wrote me of one of the forms:

"_Dekariaderage,_ in modern orthography, _Tekaniataroken,_ from which

Ticonderoga, means, simply, 'Between two lakes.' It is derived from

_Tioken,_ 'between,' and _Kaniatara,_ 'lake.' Its composition illustrates

a peculiar idiom of the Iroquoian language, _Tioken_ when combined with

a noun, is split in two, so to speak, and the noun inserted. Thus in

combining _Tioken_ with _Ononte,_ 'mountain,' we have _Ti-ononte-oken,_

'Between two mountains,' which was the name of one of the Mohawk

castles--sometimes written Theonondiogo. In like manner, _Kaniatare,_

'lake,' thus compounded, yields _Te-kaniatare-oken,_ 'Between two lakes.'

In the Huron dialect _Kaniatare_ is contracted to _Yontare_ or _Ontare,_

from which, with _io_ or _iyo,_ 'great,' we get _Ontario_ (pronounced

Ontareeyo), 'Great lake' which, combined with _Tioken,_ becomes

_Ti-onteroken,_ which would seem to be the original of Colden's

_Tieronderoga._"

There is rarely an expression of humor in the use of Indian place-names,

but we seem to have it in connection with Dekariaderoga, one of the forms

of Ticonderoga quoted above, which is of record as having been applied

to Joseph Chew, Secretary of Indian Affairs, at a conference with chiefs

of the Six Nations. (Col. Hist. N. Y., viii, 501.) Said the sachem who

addressed Secretary Chew, "We call you Dekariaderoga, the junction of

two lakes of different qualities of water," presumably expressing

thereby, in keeping with the entertainment usually served on such

occasions, that the Secretary was in a condition between "water and

firewater." Neither "junction" or "quality of water" are expressed in

the composition, however; but perhaps are related meanings.

Caniade-riguarunte is given by Governor Pownal as the Iroquoian name of

Lake Champlain, with the legend, "The Lake that is the gate of the

country." (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii, 1190.) The lake was the route taken

by the Algonquians of Canada in their forays against the Mohawks. Later,

it became a link in the great highway of travel and commerce between

New York and Quebec, via. Hudson's River, in which connection it was

literally "The gate of the country." The legend is not an interpretation

of the Iroquoian name, however. In the French missionary spelling the

generic word for "lake" is _Kaniatare_ of which _Caniaderi_ is an

English notation. The suffix _-guarûnte,_ in connection with

_Caniaderi,_ gives to the combination the meaning, "A lake that is part

of another lake." (J. B. N. Hewitt.) The suffix is readily confused with

_Karonta,_ or _-garonta_ (Mohawk), meaning "tree," from which, probably,

Fennimore Cooper's "Lake of the Woods." "Lake of the Iroquois," entered

on early maps, does not mean that when Champlain visited it in 1609 it

was owned by the Iroquois, but that it was the route from Quebec to the

Iroquois country.

On Long Island.

* * * * *

Matouwackey, Sewanhackey and Paumanackey, in varying orthographies,

are names of record for Long Island, derived from _Meitauawack_

(_Metaûhock,_ Nar.), the name of the shell-fish from which the Indians

made the shell-money in use among them, [FN-1] called by English _Peag,_

from _Wau-paaeek_ [FN-2] (Moh.), "white," and by the Dutch _Sewan_ or

_Zeewan,_ [FN-3] from _Sewaûn_ (Moh.), _Sueki_ (Nar.), "black." This

money was both white and black (so called), the latter the most rare

and valuable. It was in use by the Europeans as a medium of trade with

the Indians, as well as among themselves, by the Indians especially for

the manufacture of their historic peace, tribute, treaty and war belts,

called _Paumaunak_ (_Pau-pau-me-numwe,_ Mass.), "an offering." [FN-4]

_Meitouowack,_ the material, _Waupoaeek_ and _Sewaûn,_ the colors;

_Paumanack,_ the use, "an offering." The suffix of either term (_hock,

hagki, hackee_) is generic for shell--correctly, "An ear-shaped shell."

(Trumbull.) Substantially, by the corruption of the suffix to _hacki_

(Del.), "land" or place, the several terms, as applied to the island,

have the meaning, "The shell island," or "Place of shells." De Laet

wrote, in 1624: "At the entrance of this bay are situated several

islands, or broken land, on which a nation of savages have their abode,

who are called Matouwacks; they obtain a livelihood by fishing within

the bay, whence the most easterly point of the land received the name

of Fisher's Hook and also Cape de Bay." Van der Donck entered on his

map, "t' Lange Eyland, alias, Matouwacks." "Situate on the island called

by the Indians Sewanhacky." (Deed of 1636.) "Called in ye Indian tongue

Suanhackey." (Deed of 1639.) Than these entries there is no claim that

the island ever had a specific name, and that those quoted were from

shells and their uses is clear. Generically the island was probably

known to the Minsi and neighboring tribes as _Menatey,_ "The island,"

as stated by Dr. Trumbull; smaller islands being known as _Menatan,_ from

which _Manathan_ and _Manhatan._ The occupants of the island were a

distinct group of Algonquian stock, speaking on the east a dialect more

or less of the Massachusetts type, and on the west that known as

Monsey-Lenape, both types, however, being largely controlled by the

Dutch and the English orthographies in which local notings appear. They

were almost constantly at war with the Pequods and Narragansetts, but

there is no evidence that they were ever conquered, and much less that

they were conquered by the Iroquois, to whom they paid tribute for

protection in later years, as they had to the Pequods and to the

English; nor is there evidence that their intercourse with the river

tribes immediately around them was other than friendly.

* * * * *

[FN-1] "_Meteauhock,_ the Periwinkle of which they made their wampum."

(Williams.) "Perhaps derived from _Mehtauog,_ 'Ear-shaped,' with the

generic suffix _hock_ (_hogki, hackee_), 'shell.'" (Trumbull.)

[FN-2] _Wompompeag_ is another form quoted as Mohegan, from which

_Wompum._ "_Wompom,_ which signifies white." (Roger Williams.)

[FN-3] _Seahwhoog,_ "they are scattered." (Eliot.) "From this word the

Dutch traders gave the name of _Sewan,_ or _Zeawand,_ to all shell

money; just as the English called all _Peag,_ or strung beads, by the

name of the white, _Wampum._" (Trumbull.)

[FN-4] An interpretation of _Paumanack_ as indicating a people

especially under tribute, is erroneous. The belts which they made were

in universal use among the nations as an offering, the white belts

denoting good, as peace, friendship, etc., the black, the reverse. The

ruling sachem, or peace-chief, was the keeper and interpreter of the

belts of his nation, and his place sometimes took its name from that

fact. That several of the sachems did sign their names, or that their

names were signed by some one for them, "Sachem of Pammananuck," proves

nothing in regard to the application of that name to the island.

Wompenanit is of record as the name of "the utmost end eastward" of the

Montauk Peninsula. The description reads: "From the utmost end of the

neck eastward, called Wompenanit, to our utmost bound westward, called

Napeake." (Deed of July 11, 1661.) In other papers Wompenonot and

Wompenomon, corrupted orthographies. The meaning is "The utmost end

eastward," _i. e._ from the east side of Napeake to the extreme end.

The derivatives are Nar. _Wompan_ (from _Wompi,_ white, bright), "It is

full daylight, bright day," hence the Orient, the East, the place of

light, and _-anit,_ "To be more than," extending beyond the ordinary

limit. The same word appears in _Wompanánd,_ "The Eastern God"

(Williams), the deity of light. From _Wompi,_ also _Wapan_ in

_Wapanachkik,_ "Those of the eastern region," now written _Abanaqui_ and

_Abnaki,_ and confined to the remnant of a tribe in Maine. (See

Wahamanesing,) Dr. Trumbull wrote: "_Anit,_ the subjunctive participle

of a verb which signifies 'To be more than,' 'to surpass'"; with

impersonal _M_ prefixed, _Manit,_ as in _Manitou,_ a name given by the

Indians, writes Lahontan, "To all that passes their understanding";

hence interpreted by Europeans, "God." It has no such meaning in

_Wompenanit,_ but defined a limit that was "more than," or the extreme

limits of the island. No doubt, however, the Indians saw, as do visitors

of to-day, at the utmost end of the Montauk Peninsula, in its breast of

rock against which the ocean-waves dash with fearful force; its

glittering sun-light and in its general features, a _Wompanánd,_ or

Eastern God, that which was "more than ordinary, wonderful, surpassing,"

but those features are not referred to in _Wompenanit,_ except, perhaps,

as represented by the glittering sun-light, the material emblem of the

mystery of light--"where day-light appears."

Montauk, now so written--in early orthographies _Meantacut,_

_Meantacquit,_ etc.--was not the name of the peninsula to which it is

now applied, but was extended to it by modern Europeans from a specific

place. The extreme end was called by the Indians _Wompenanit,_ and the

point, _Nâïag,_ "Corner, point or angle," from which Adriaen Block

wrote, in 1614, _Nahicans,_ "People around the point," a later Dutch

navigator adding (War Dep. Map) the topographical description, _Nartong,_

"A barren, ghastly tongue." The name has had several interpretations by

Algonquian students, but without entire satisfaction even to themselves.

Indeed, it may be said with truth, "It has been too much translated" to

invite further study with the hope of a better result. The orthography

usually quoted for interpretation appears first in South Hampton Records

in an Indian deed of 1640, "_Manatacut,_ his X mark," the grantor being

given the name of the place which he represented, as appears from the

same records (1662), "Wyandanch, Meantacut sachem," or sachem of

Meantac. The Indian deed reads: "The neck of land commonly known by the

name of Meantacquit, . . . Unto the east side of Napeak, next unto

Meantacut high lands." In other words the high lands bounded the place

called Meantacqu, the suffix _-it_ or _-ut_ meaning "at" that place.

The precise place referred to was then and is now a marsh on which is a

growth of shrub pines, and cedars. Obviously, therefore, _Meantac_ or

_Meantacqu,_ is an equivalent of Mass. _Manantac,_ "Spruce swamp," and

of Del. _Menántac,_ "Spruce, cedar or pine swamp." (Zeisb.) The Abn.

word _Mannaⁿdakôô,_ "cedar" (Mass. _-uɧtugh;_ Nar. _áwtuck_), seems

to establish conclusively that _-ántak_ was the general generic suffix

for all kinds of coniferous trees, and with the prefix _Men, Man, Me,_

etc., described small or dwarf coniferous trees usually found growing

in swamps, and from which swamps took the name. [FN] There is nothing

in the name or in its corruptions that means "point," "high lands,"

"place of observation," "fort," "fence," or "confluence"; it simply

describes dwarf coniferous trees and the place which they marked. The

swamp still exists, and the dwarf trees also at the specific east bound

of the lands conveyed. (See Napeak.)

* * * * *

[FN] The Indians had specific names for different kinds of trees. The

generic general word was _Me'hittuk_ or _M'hittugk,_ Del., _M'tugh,_

Mass., which, as a suffix, was reduced to _-ittuk, -utugh, -tagh,

-tack, -tacque,_ etc., frequently _ak,_ which is the radical. Howden

writes in Cree: "_Atik_ is the termination for the names of trees,

articles made of wood," etc. _Mash-antack-uk,_ Moh., was translated by

Dr. Trumbull from _Mish-untugh-et,_ Mass., "Place of much wood."

_Mannaⁿdakōō_ is quoted as the Abn. word for "cedar;" _Mishquáwtuck,_

Nar., "Red cedar." _Menántachk,_ "Swamp" (Len. Eng. Dic.), is explained

by Rev. Anthony, "with trees meeting above." _Menautac,_ "Spruce,

cedar or pine swamp" (Zeisb.), from the kind of trees growing in the

swamp, but obviously _antac_ never described a swamp, or trees growing

in swamps, without the prefix _Men, Man, Me,_ etc. _Keht-antak_ means

a particularly large tree which probably served as a boundmark. It may

be a question if the initial _a_ in _antak_ was not nasal, as in Abn.,

but there can be none in regard to the meaning of the suffix.

Napeak, East Hampton deed of 1648, generally written _Napeaka, Neppeage_

and _Napeague,_ and applied by Mather (Geological Survey) to a beach

and a marsh, and in local records to the neck connecting Montauk Point

with the main island, means "Water land," or "Land overflowed by water."

The beach extends some five miles on the southeast coast of Long Island.

The marsh spreads inland from the beach nearly across the neck where it

meets Napeak Harbor on the north coast. It is supposed to have been, in

prehistoric times, a water-course which separated the island from the

point. Near the eastern limit are patches of stunted pines and cedars,

and on its east side at the end of what are called the "Nominick hills,"

where was obviously located the boundmark of the East Hampton deed,

"Stunted pines and cedars are a feature," wrote Dr. Tooker in answer to

inquiry. (See Montauk.)

Quawnotiwock, is quoted in French's Gazetteer as the name of Great Pond;

authority not cited. Prime (Hist. L. I.) wrote: "The Indian name of the

pond is unknown." The pond is two miles long. It is situate where the

Montauk Peninsula attains its greatest width, and is the largest body

of fresh water on the island. It would be correctly described by _Quinne_

or _Quawnopaug,_ "Long pond," but certainly not by _Quawnotiwock,_ the

animate plural suffix _-wock,_ showing that it belonged to the

people--"People living on the Long River." [FN] (See Quantuck and

Connecticut.)

* * * * *

[FN] The suffix _-og, -ock, -uck,_ is, in the dialect here, a plural

sign. Williams wrote _-oock, -uock, -wock,_ and Zeisberger wrote _-ak,

-wak._ _Quinneh-tuk-wock,_ "People living on the Long River"--"a

particular name amongst themselves." _Kutch-innû-wock,_ "Middle-aged

men;" _Miss-innû-wock,_ "The many." _Lénno,_ "Man"; _Lénno-wak,_ "Men."

(Zeisberger.) _Kuwe,_ "Pine"; _Cuweuch-ak,_ "pine wood, pine logs."

Strictly, an animate plural. In the Chippeway dialect, Schoolcraft

gives eight forms of the animate and eight forms of 'the inanimate

plural. The Indians regarded many things as animates that Europeans do

not.

Assup, given as the name of a neck of land--"A tree marked X hard by the

northward side of a cove of meadow"--means "A cove." It is an equivalent

of _Aucûp_ (Williams), "A little cove or creek." "_Aspatuck_ river" is

also of record here, and probably takes that name from a hill or height

in proximity. "Aspatuck hill," New Millford, Conn.

Shinnecock, now preserved as the name of an Indian village in the town

of Southampton, on the east side of Shinnec'ock Bay, for many years in

occupation by a remnant of the so called Shinnec'ock Indians who had

taken on the habits and customs of European life, appears in its present

form in Plymouth Records in 1637, in treaty association with the

Massachusetts government. They claimed to be the "true owners of the

eastern end of Long Island," but acknowledged the primacy of Wyandanch,

sachem of the Montauks, who had been elected by other sachems as chief

sachem or the "sachem of sachem" of the many clans. The name is probably

from the root _Shin,_ or _Schind,_ "Spruce-pine" (Zeisb.); _Schindikeu,_

"Spruce-pine forest"; _Shinak-ing,_ "At the land of spruce-pines."

(Brinton); _Schindak-ock,_ "Land or place of spruce-pines." There was

an extended spruce-pine forest on that part of the island, a considerable

portion of which remains in the district south of Peconic River in the

town of Southampton. The present form of the name is pronounced

Shinnec'ock.

Mochgonnekonck is written, in 1643, as the name of a place unlocated

except in a general way. The record reads: "Whiteneymen, sachem of

Mochgonnekonck, situate on Long Island." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiv, 60.)

Whiteneymen, whose name is written Mayawetinnemin in treaty of 1645, and

"Meantinnemen, alias Tapousagh, chief of Marsepinck and Rechawyck," in

1660 (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 58), was son of Mechowodt, sachem of

Marsepingh, and probably succeeded his father as sachem of that clan.

(Col. Hist. N. Y., xiv, 540.) His last possession was Cow Neck, in the

present town of North Hampton, which was given to him by his father; it

may have been the Mochgonnekonk of 1643. De Vries met him in conference

in 1645, and notes him as a speaker of force, and as having only one

eye. Brodhead wrote of him: "Kieft, therefore, by the advice of his

council determined to engage some of the friendly Indians in the interest

of the Dutch, and Whiteneymen, the sachem of Mochgonnecocks, on Long

Island, was dispatched, with several of his warriors, 'to beat and

destroy the hostile tribes.' The sachem's diplomacy, however, was better

than his violence. In a few days he returned to Fort Amsterdam bearing

friendly messages from the sachems along the Sound and Near Rockaway,"

and a formal treaty of peace soon followed. He was elected "sachem of

sachems" by the sachems of the western clans on the island, about the

time the jurisdiction of the island was divided between the English at

New Haven and the Dutch at Manhattan, the former taking the eastern

clans under Wyandanch, and as such appears in the treaties with the

Dutch in 1645, '56--His record name is variously written--Tapousagh,

Tackapousha, etc. It is frequently met in Long Island Records.

_Mochgonneckonck_ the name of his sachemdom in 1643, has not been

identified further than that he was the owner of Cow Neck, now called

Manhasset (Manhas'et), Queens County, the largest neck or point of land

on the coast.

Quaunontowunk, Quannotowonk, Konkhonganik and Konghonganoc, are forms

of two distinct names applied respectively to the north and south ends

of Fort Pond, as per deed for the tract known as "the Hither Woods

purchase," which reads: "The name of the pond is Quaunontowunk on the

north and Konkhonganik on the south." Dr. Tooker translated the former

from _Quaneuntéow-unk,_ (Eliot), "Where the fence is," the reference

being to a certain fence of lopped trees which existed on the north end

of the pond, [FN-1] and the latter from _Kuhkunhunganash_ (Eliot),

"bounds," "At the boundary place." The present name of the pond is from

two Indian forts, one known as the Old Fort, on the west, and one known

as the New Fort, on the east, the latter remaining in 1661, the former

destroyed, the deed reading, "Where the Old Fort stood." Wyandanch, [F-2]

"the sachem of Manatacut,"--later called "The great sachem of

Montauk"--had his residence in the Old Fort. He was the first ruler of

the Montauks known to the Dutch, his name appearing in 1637. (See

Montauk.)

* * * * *

[FN-1] The deed reads: "The north fence from the pond to the sea, shall

be kept by the town; the south fence, to the sea, by the Indians."

Presumably the fences were there when the land was sold.

[FN-2] Wyandach, or Wyandance, is said to have been the brother of

Paggatacut, sachem of Manhas'set or Shelter Island, the chief sachem

of fifteen sachemdoms. On the death of the latter, in 1651, Wyandanch

became, by election, the successor of his brother and held the office

until his death by poison in 1659.

Mastic, preserved as the name of a river and also as that of a village

in Brookhaven, is of uncertain meaning. _Wampmissic,_ the name of

another village, is supposed to have been the name of a swamp--Mass.

_Wompaskit,_ "At or in the swamp, or marsh."

Poosepatuck, a place so called and now known as the Indian Reservation,

back of Forge River at Mastick, probably means "On the other side," or

"Beyond the river," from _Awossi,_ "Over, over there, on the other side,

beyond," and _-tuck,_ "Tidal river."

Speonk, the name of a village in Southampton near East Bay, on an

inlet of the ocean, to which flows through the village a small brook,

has lost some of its letters. _Mas-sepe-onk_ would describe a place on

a broad tidal river or estuary. In the same vicinity _Setuck_ is of

record as the name of a place. It may also be from Mas-sepe-tuck. (See

Southampton Records.) While the English settlers on eastern Long Island

were careful to preserve Indian names, they were very careless in

orthographies.

Poquatuck is quoted by Thompson (Hist. L. I.) as the name of Oyster

Pond in the town of Southold. It is now claimed as the name of Orient,

a village, peninsula or neck of land and harbor on the east side of the

pond. Probably from _Pohqu'unantak,_ "Cleared of trees," a marshy neck

which had been cleared or was naturally open. The same name is met in

Brookhaven.

Cataconoche, given as the name of the Great Neck bounding Smithtown on

the east, has been translated by Dr. Tooker from _Kehte-komuk,_ "Greatest

field," later known as the Old Man's Field, or Old Field.

Yaphank, Yamphank, etc., a village in Brookhaven, is from Niantic

dialect in which _Y_ is used for an initial letter where other dialects

employ _L, N_ or _R._ Putting the lost vowel _e_ back in the word, we

have _Yapehánek,_ in Lenape _Rapehánek,_ "Where the stream ebbs and

flows." The name is written Yampkanke in Indian deed. (Gerard.) The name

is now applied to a small tributary of the Connecticut, but no doubt

belongs to a place on the Connecticut where the current is affected by

the tide. (See Connecticut.)

Monowautuck is quoted as the Indian name of Mount Sinai, a village in

the town of Brookhaven, a rough and stony district on what is known as

Old Man's Bay, a small estuary surrounded by a salt-marsh meadow. The

name seems to be an equivalent of _Nunnawanguck,_ "At the dry land." Old

Man's Bay takes that name from the Great Neck called Cataconche,

otherwise known as the Old Man's Meadow, and as the Old Field. "The two

neckes or hoeces (hooks) of meadow that lieth next beyond the Old Man's

Meadow"--"with all ye privileges and appurtenances whatsoever, unto the

Old Field." Presumably _Man's_ was originally _Manse_ (English),

pronounced _Mans,_ "the dwelling of a landholder with the land attached,"

and called _Old_ because it was the first land or field purchased. (See

Cataconche.)

Connecticut, now so written and of record _Connetquoit,_ etc, is not the

name of the stream to which it is applied, but of the land on both sides

of it. It is an equivalent of _Quinnituckquet,_ "Long-river land," as in

Connecticut. (Trumbull.) _Quinnituk,_ "Long river"; with locative _-et_

or _-it,_ "Land or place on the long-river." The stream is the outlet

of Ronkonkoma Lake, and flows south to Fire-place Bay, where the name is

of primary record. There were two streams to which it was applied; one

is a small stream in Islip, and the other, the largest stream on the

island, as described above. In old deeds it is called East Connecticutt.

Fire-place is now retained as the name of a village on Bellport Bay, and

its ancient locative on the Connecticut is now called South Haven. [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] There were two places bearing the name of Fire-place, one on the

north side of the island on Gardiner's Bay, and one on the south side.

The latter is referred to here.

Minasseroke, quoted as the name of Little Neck, town of Brookhaven,

probably means "Small-stone land" or place--_Min-assin-ohke, r_ and _n_

exchanged.

Patchogue, Pochough, Pachough, the name of a village in the town of

Brookhaven, Suffolk County, on Patchough Bay, is probably met in

Pochaug, Conn., which Dr. Trumbull read from _Pohshâog,_ where two

streams form one river, signifying, "Where they divide in two." The name

was early extended to a clan known as the Pochoughs, later Patchoogues,

who seem to have been a family of the Onchechaugs, a name probably the

equivalent of _Ongkoué_ (Moh.), "beyond," with _-ogue_ (ohke), "land

beyond," _i. e._ beyond the bay. [FN] (See Moriches.)

* * * * *

[FN] Otherwise written _Unquetauge_--"land lying at Unquetauge, on the

south side of Long Island, in the county of Suffolk." Literally, "Land

beyond;" "on the further side of; in the same direction as, and further

on or away than." _Onckeway,_ a place beyond Stamford, on Connecticut

river. (Col. Hist. N. Y.) "_Ongkoué,_ beyond Pequannuc river."

(Trumbull.)

Cumsequogue is given in will of William Tangier Smith as the name of

what is now known as Carman's River, flowing to Bellport Bay. It is

probably a pronunciation of _Accomb-suck-ohke,_ "Land or place at the

outlet beyond." The record name of Bellport is Occombomeck, Accobamuck,

etc., meaning, "Fishing-place beyond," which, as the deeds show, was a

fishing-place at a freshwater pond, now dried up. The name is readily

confused with Aquebogue.

Moriches, a neck of land "lying at Unquetague, on the south side of

Long Island, being two necks called by ye names of _Mariges_ and

_Namanock_" (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 45), is now in the town of

Brookhaven. Namanock seems, from the locative, to be a corruption of

_Nam'e-ohke,_ "Fish-place"--Namanock or Namecock. (Trumbull.) [FN]

_Moriches,_ or _Mariges,_ is a corruption of Dutch _Maritches_ (Morichi,

Mariche), from _Moriche Palmita_ (Latin), meaning, in popular use, any

plant thought to resemble a palm. _Mauritia_ a species of Mauriticæ,

or South-American palm, so called in honor of Prince Maurice of Nassau.

(See Palmagat.)

* * * * *

[FN] _Namaus,_ generic, "a fish"--_Namohs,_ Eliot; _Namés,_ Abn.,

_Namaes,_ Heck.; _Namees,_ Zeisb.; with suffix _-aki, -ohke,_ etc.,

"fish-land," place or country. _Améessok,_ Zeisb.; _Anmesooak,_ Abn.,

_Aumsûog,_ Mass., "small fishes." As a generic suffix, _-ama'ug,_ Mass.,

_-ama'uk,_ Del., "fishing-place." "_Ama'ug_ is only used at the end of

a compound name, where it is equivalent to _Nameaug,_ at the beginning."

(Trumbull.) The final syllable, _-ug, -uk,_ etc., is an animate plural.

On Long Island, _-Ama'ug_ is frequently met in _-amuck;_ in other

places, _-amwack, -amwook, -ameock,_ etc.

Kitchaminchoke, given as the name of a boundmark, said to be Moriches

Island, is interpreted by Dr. Tooker, "The beginning place." The

description (1630) reads, "Beginning at" a place called, _i. e._ an

object or feature which would definitely locate a boundmark--apparently

an equivalent of _Schiechi-kiminschi-aki,_ Lenape, "Place of a soft-maple

tree." The territory conveyed extended to _Enaughquamuck,_ which Dr.

Tooker rendered correctly, "As far as the fishing-place."

Niamug and Niamuck are forms of the name of what is now known as Canoe

Place, on the south side of Long Island, near Southampton. "_Niamug,_ the

place where the Indians haul over their canoes out of the North Bay to

the South Bay." (Deed of 1640.) Dr. Trumbull translated from _Nôe-amuck,_

"Between the fishing places." Local tradition affirms that centuries

ago the Indians made a canal here for the purpose of passing their

canoes from Mecox Bay to Paconic Bay. Mongotucksee, the hero of the

story, was a chieftain who reigned over the Montauks in the days of their

pride and power. The tradition has no other merit than the fact that

Niamug was a place at which canoes were hauled across the island.

Sicktew-hacky (deed of 1638); _Sicketewackey_ (Van der Donck, 1656):

"All the lands from Rockaway eastward to Sicktew-hackey, or Fire Island

Bay"; "On the south coast of Long Island, at a place called Sicktewacky,

or Secontague, near Fire Island Inlet" (Brodhead); Seaquetauke, 1659;

Setauck Neck, the south bound of St. George's Manor, now Manorville; of

record as the name of an Indian clan and village near Fire Island Inlet,

with the Marsapinks and Nyacks for neighbors; now preserved in several

forms of which Setauket probably locates a place near Secontague.

_Sicketeuhacky,_ writes Mr. Gerard, "is the Lenape equivalent of

_Secatogue,_ meaning 'Burned-over land.' Whether the mainland or Fire

Island was the 'Burned-over land,' history does not tell us." Lands were

burned over by the Indians to destroy the bushes and coarse grasses, and

probably some field of this character was referred to by the Indian

grantors, from which the name was extended to the Neck and to Fire

Island, although it is said that fires were kindled on the island for

the guidance of fishermen.

Saghtekoos--"called by the native Indians Saghtekoos; by the Christians

Appletree Neck"--the name of the Thompson estate in Islip--probably

means, "Where the stream branches or divides," or "At the branch,"

referring to Thompson's brook. The suffix _-oos_ evidently stands for

"small." (See Sohaghticoke.) "Apple-tree Neck" is not in the composition,

but may indicate that the Indian owners had planted apple trees there.

Amagansett, the Indian name of what is now East Hampton, was translated

by Dr. Trumbull, "At or near the fishing place"; root _Am,_ "to take by

the mouth"; _Amau,_ "he fishes"; Abn., _Amaⁿgaⁿ,_ "_ou péche lá,_" "he

fishes there," (Rasles); _s,_ diminutive or derogatory; _ett,_ "Near or

about," that is, the tract was near a small or inferior fishing-place,

which is precisely what the composition describes.

Peconic, now so written and applied to Peconic Bay and Peconic River, but

primarily to a place "at the head of the river," or as otherwise

described, "Land from ye head of ye bay or Peaconnack, was Shinnec'ock

Indians' Land" (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiv, 600), is not the equivalent of

_Peqan'nuc,_ "a name common to all cleared land," as translated by Dr.

Trumbull, but the name given as that of a small creek tributary to

Peconic River, in which connection it is of record _Pehick-konuk,_ which,

writes Mr. Gerard, "plainly stands for _K'pe-hickonuk,_ or more properly

_Kĕpehikanik,_ 'At the barrier,' or weir. _Kĕpehikan_ from _Kepehike,_

'he closes up,' or obstructs, _i. e._ 'dams.'" The bounds of the

Shinnec'ock Indians extended east to this stream; or, as the record

reads, "To a river where they did use to catch the fish commonly called

alewives, the name of which creek was Pehickkonuk, or Peconic." (Town

Records.)

Agwam, Agawam, is quoted by French as the name of Southampton, L. I. Dr.

Trumbull wrote: "Acawan, Agawan or Auquan, a name given to several

localities in New England Where there are low meadows--a low meadow or

marsh." Presumably from _Agwu,_ "Underneath, below." Another authority

writes: "_Agawam_ from _Magawamuk,_ A great fishing place." (See

Machawameck.)

Sunquams is given by French as the Indian name of Mellville in

Southampton, L. I., with the interpretation, "Sweet Hollow." The

interpretation is mere guess-work.

Massaback, a hill so called in Huntington, Suffolk County--in English

"Half hill," and in survey (1703) "Half-hollow hill"--probably does not

belong to the hill which the English described as "half-hollow," but to

a stream in proximity to it--_Massabeset,_ "At a (relatively) great

brook." (Trumbull.)

Mattituck, the name of a village in Southold, near the west end of the

town, was primarily written as that of a tract of land including the

present town of Riverhead, from which it was extended to a large pond

between Peconic Bay and the Sound. Presumably the same name is met in

Mattatuck, Ct., written Matetacoke, 1637, Matitacoocke, 1673, which was

translated by Dr. Trumbull from Eliot's _Mat-uh'tugh-auke,_ "A place

without wood," or badly wooded. (See Titicus.)

Cutchogue, Plymouth Records, 1637; "_Curchaug,_ or Fort Neck;"

_Corch'aki,_ deed of 1648; now Cutchogue, a village in Southold, in the

vicinity of which was an Indian fort, the remains of which and of an

Indian burial ground are objects of interest, is probably a corruption

of _Maskutchoung,_ which see. Dr. Tooker translated from _Kehti-auke,_

"The principal place," the appositeness of which is not strikingly

apparent. The clan bearing the name was party to the treaty with the

Massachusetts people in 1637, and to the sale of the East Hampton lands.

Their earliest sachem was Momoweta, who acknowledged the primacy of

Wyandanch.

Tuckahoe, a level tract of land near Southampton village, takes that

name from one or the other of the larger "round" roots (Mass.

_P'tuckweōō_), possibly the Golden Club, or Floating Artmi, a root

described "as much of the bigness and taste of potatoes." (Trumbull.)

[FN] The same name is met in Westchester County.

* * * * *

[FN] Dr. Brinton writes: "They also roasted and ate the acrid cormus of

the Indian turnip, in Delaware _taw-ho, taw-hin_ or _tuck-ah,_ and

collected the seeds of the Golden Club, common in the pools along the

creeks and rivers. Its native name was _taw-kee._" ("The Lenape and

their Legends.") The name of another place on Long Island, written

_Hogonock,_ is probably an equivalent of Delaware _Hóbbenac_ (Zeisb.),

"Potatoes," or "Ground-nuts"; _Hóbbenis,_ "Turnips." (See Passapenoc.)

Sagabonock has left only the remnant of its name to Sag-pond and

Sag-harbor. It is from _Sagabonak,_ "Ground nuts, or Indian potatoes."

(Trumbull.) The name is of record as that of a boundmark "two miles from

the east side of a Great Pond," and is described as a "pond or swamp" to

which the name of the tuber was extended from its product.

Ketchepunak, quoted as the name of Westhampton, describes "The greatest

ground-nut place," or "The greatest ground-nuts." (See Kestaubniuk.)

Wequaganuck is given as the name of that part of Sag-harbor within the

town of East Hampton. It is an equivalent of _Wequai-adn-auke,_ "Place

at the end of the hill," or "extending to the hill." (Trumbull.) The hill

is now known as Turkey Hill, on the north side of which the settlement

of Sag-harbor was commenced.

Namke, from _Namaa,_ "fish," and _ke,_ "place"--fish-place--was the name

of a place on the creek near Riverhead. (O'Gallaghan.) More exactly,

_Nameauke,_ probably.

Hoppogues, in Smithtown, Suffolk County, is pretty certainly from

_Wingau-hoppague,_ meaning, literally, "Standing water of good and

pleasant taste." The name was that of a spring and pond. In a deed of

1703, the explanation is, "Or ye pleasant springs." Supposed to have been

the springs which make the headwaters of Nissequogue river at the

locality now bearing the name of Hauppauge, a hamlet.

Massapeage--_Massapeag,_ 1636; _Massapeague, Rassapeage_--a place-name

from which extended to an Indian clan whose principal seat is said to

have been on Fort Neck, in the town of Oyster Bay, was translated by Dr.

Trumbull from _Massa,_ "great"; _pe,_ the radical of water, and _auke,_

"land," or "Land on the great cove." Thompson (Hist. L. I.) assigns the

name to "a swamp on the south side of Oyster Bay," now South Oyster Bay,

and it is so applied in Indian deeds. There were two Indian forts or

palisaded towns on the Neck. Of one the name is not given; it was the

smallest of the two; its site is said to be now submerged by water. The

second, or largest, is called in Dutch records _Matsepe,_ "Great river."

It is described as having been situated on the most southerly point of

land adjoining the salt meadows. Both forts were attacked by Dutch forces

under Capt. Pieter Cock and Capt. John Underhill, in the summer of 1644

(a local record says August) and totally destroyed with heavy loss to

the Indians. (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv, 15, 16.) In Prime's and other local

histories the date is given as 1653, on the authority of "Hubbard's

Indian Wars," and Capt. Underhill is assigned to the command in the

attack on the largest fort. The official Dutch record, however, assigns

that honor to Capt. Pieter Cock. The year was surely 1644, (Brodhead's

Hist. N. Y., i, 91.) The prefix _Mass,_ appears in many forms--Massa,

Marsa, Marsha, Rassa, Mesa, Missi, Mas, Mes, etc., and also _Mat,_ an

equivalent of _Mas._

Massepe, quoted in Dutch records as the name of the Indian fort on Fort

Neck, where it seems to have been the name of Stony Brook, is also met

in Jamaica Records (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiv, 505) as the name of a creek

forming a mowing boundary or division line extending from a certain place

"Eastward to ye great creek called Massepe." The name is fully explained

by the description, "Great creek." _Massepe-auke_ means "Great creek

(or river) land," or place; _Mas-sepe-ink,_ "At or on the great creek."

The Indian residents came to be known as the Marsepincks.

Maskutchoung, a neck of land so called forming one of the boundaries of

Hempstead Patent as entered in confirmatory deed of "Takapousha, sachem

of Marsapeage," and "Wantagh, the Montauke sachem," July 4th, 1657:

"Beginning at a marked tree standing at the east side of the Great Plain,

and from thence running on a due south line, and at the South Sea by a

marked tree in a neck called Maskutchoimg, and thence upon the same line

to the South Sea." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiv, 38, 416.) "By a marked tree

in a neck called Maskachoung." (Thompson's Hist. L. I., 9, 15, 47.) It

is probably an equivalent of _Mask-ek-oug,_ "A grassy swamp or marsh."

A local interpretation reads: "Grass-drowned brook," a small stream

flowing through the long marsh-grass, to which the name was extended.

Maskahnong, so written by Dr. O'Callaghan in his translation of the

treaty between the Western Long Island clans, in 1656, is noted in

"North and South Hempstead Records," p. 60, "A neck of land called

Maskahnong." It disappears after 1656, but probably reappears as

Maskachoung in 1658, and later as Maskutchoung, which see.

Merick, the name of a village in Hempstead, Queens County, is said to

have been the site of an Indian village called _Merick-oke._ It has been

interpreted as an apheresis of a form of _Namanock,_ written _Namerick,_

"Fish place." (See Moriches.) Curiously enough, Merrick was a proper name

for man among the ancient Britons, and the corruption would seem to have

been introduced here by the early English settlers from resemblance to

the Indian name in sound. The place is on the south side of the island.

The Indian clan was known as the Merickokes.

Quantuck, a bay so called in Southampton, is of record, in 1659,

_Quaquanantuck,_ and applied to a meadow or neck of land. "The meadow

called Quaquunantuck"--"the neck of land called Quaquanantuck"--"all the

meadows lying west of the river, commonly called or known by the name of

Quantuck." One of the boundmarks is described as "a stumpy marsh,"

indicating that it had been a marsh from which the trees had been

removed. The name seems to correspond with this. It is probably from

_Pohqu'un-antack,_ "cleared or open marsh" or meadow. (See Montauk.)

Quogue, the name of a village near Quantuck Bay, and located, in Hist.

Suffolk County, as "the first point east of Rockaway where access can

be had to the ocean without crossing the bay," has been read as a

contraction of Quaquaunantuck, but seems to be from _Pŏque-ogue,_ "Clear,

open space," an equivalent of _Pŏque-auke,_ Mass.

Rechqua-akie, De Vries; _Reckkouwhacky,_ deed of 1639; now applied to a

neck on the south side of Long Island and preserved in Rockaway, was

interpreted by the late Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan: "_Reck_ 'sand'; _qua,_

'flat'; _akie,_ 'land'--the long, narrow sand-bar now known as Rockaway

Beach," but is more correctly rendered with dialectic exchange of R and

L, _Lekau._ (Rekau), "sand or gravel," _hacki,_ "land" or place. (Zeisb.)

"Flats" is inferred. A considerable division of the Long Island Indians

was located in the vicinity, or, as described by De Vries, who visited

them in 1643, "near the sea-shore." He found thirty wigwams and three

hundred Indians, who were known in the treaty of 1645, as Marechkawicks,

and in the treaty of 1656 as Rockaways. [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] The names in the treaty of 1645, as written by Dr. O'Callaghan,

are "Marechkawicks, Nayecks, and their neighbors"; in the treaty of

1656, "Rockaway and Canorise." The latter name appears to have been

introduced after 1645 in exchange for Marechkawick. (See Canarise.)

_Rechqua_ is met on the Hudson in Reckgawaw-onck, the Haverstraw flats.

It is not an apheresis of Marechkawick, nor from the same root.

Jamaica, now applied to a town, a village and a bay, was primarily given

to the latter by the English colonists. "Near unto ye beaver pond called

Jamaica," and "the beaver path," are of record, the latter presumably

correct. The name is a pronunciation of _Tomaque,_ or _K'tamaque,_ Del.,

_Amique,_ Moh., "beaver." "_Amique,_ when aspirated, is written

_Jamaique,_ hence Yameco, Jamico, and modern Jamaica." (O'Callaghan.)

The bay has no claim to the name as a beaver resort, but beavers were

abundant in the stream flowing into it.

Kestateuw, "the westernmost," _Castuteeuw,_ "the middlemost," and

_Casteteuw,_ "the eastermost," names of "three flats on the island

Sewanhackey, between the bay of North river and the East river." The

tracts came to be known as Flatlands; "the easternmost," as "the Bay,"

or Amesfort.

Sacut, now known as Success Pond, lying on a high ridge in Flushing, is

a corruption of _Sakûwit_ (_Sáquik_), "Mouth of a river" (Zeisb.), or

"where the water flows out." The pond has an outlet, but it rarely

overflows. It is a very deep and a very clear body of water.

Canarsie, now so written and applied to a hamlet in the town of

Flatlands, Kings County, is of record _Canari See, Canarisse, Canarise,

Canorise_ (treaty of 1655), _Kanarisingh_ (Dutch), and in other forms,

as the name of a place or feature from which it was extended to an

Indian sub-tribe or family occupying the southwest coast of Long Island,

and to their village, primarily called _Keshaechquereren_ (1636). On the

Lower Potomac and Chesapeake Bay the name is written _Canais, Conoys,

Ganawese,_ etc. (Heck, xlii), and applied to a sub-tribe of Naniticokes

residing there who were known as "The tide-water people," or "Sea-shore

settlers." On Delaware Bay it is written _Canaresse_ (1651, not 1656 as

stated by Dr. Tooker), and applied to a specific place, described in

exact terms: "To the mouth of the bay or river called Bomptjes Hoeck, in

the Indian language _Canaresse._" (Col. Hist. N. Y. xii, 166.) "Bomptjes

Hoeck" is Dutch and in that language describes a low island, neck or

point of land covered with small trees, lying at the mouth of a bay or

stream, and is met in several connections. The point or place described

on the Delaware (now Bombay Hook) was the end of the island, known on

old maps as "Deep Point," and the "Hook" was the bend in the currents

around it forming the marshy inlet-bay on the southwest connecting with

a marshy channel or stream, and the latter on the north with a small

stream by which the island was constituted. Considered from the

standpoint of an Algonquian generic term, the rule is undisputed that

the name must have described a feature which existed in common at the

time of its application, on the Delaware and on Long Island, and it only

remains to determine what that feature was. Obviously the name itself

solves the problem. In whatever form it is met it is the East Indian

_Canarese_ (English _Can'a-resé_) pure and simple, and obviously employed

as a substitute for the Algonquian term written _Ganawese,_ etc., of the

same meaning. In the "History of New Sweden" (Proc. N. Y. Hist. Soc,

2d Ser. v. i.), the locative on the Delaware is described: "From

Christina Creek to _Canarose_ or _Bambo_ Hook." In "Century Dictionary"

_Bambo_ is explained: "From the native East Indian name, Malay and Java

_bambu_, Canarese _banbu_ or _bonwu._" Dr. Brinton translated _Ganawese_

from _Guneu_ (Del.), "Long," but did not add that the suffix--_wese,_

or as Roger Williams wrote it, _quese,_ means "Little, small," the

combination describing Bambo grasses, _i. e._ "long, small" grasses,

which, in some cases reach the growth of trees, but on Long Island and

on the Delaware only from long marsh grasses to reeds, as primarily in

and around Jamaica Bay and Gowanus Bay, on Reed Island, etc. True,

Ganawese would describe anything that was "long, small," but obviously

here the objective product. Canarese, Canarose, Kanarische, Ganawese,

represent the same sound-"in (East) Indian, Canaresse," as represented

in the first Long Island form, Canari See, now Jamaica Bay.

Keschaechquereren, (1636), _Keschaechquerem_ (1637), the name of the

settlement that preceded Canarese, disappears of record with the advent

of the English on Barren Island and at Gravesend soon after 1637-8. It

seems to describe a "Great bush-net fishing-place," from

K'sch-achquonican, "Great bush-net." (Zeisb.), the last word from

_Achewen,_ "Thicket"; from which also _t' Vlact Bosch_ (Dutch), modern

Flatbush. The Indian village was between the Stroome (tidewater) Kil and

the Vresch Kil, near Jamaica.

Narrioch was given by the chief who confirmed the title to it in 1643,

as the name of what is now known as Coney Island, and _Mannahaning_ as

that of Gravesend Neck. (Thompson's Hist. L. I., ii, 175.) The Dutch

called the former Conynen, and the latter Conyne Hoeck--"_t' Conijen

Conine._" Jasper Dankers wrote in 1679: "On the south (of Staten Island)

is the great bay, which is enclosed by Najaq, t' Conijen Island,

Neversink," etc. Conijen (modern Dutch, Konijn), signifies "Rabbit"--Cony,

Coney--inferentially "Small"--literally, "Rabbit, or Coney Island," in

Dutch. The Indian names have been transposed, apparently. _Mannahaning_

means "At the island," and _Narrioch_ is the equivalent of _Nayaug,_ "A

point or comer," as in Nyack. The latter was the Dutch "Conyne Hoeck."

Judge Benson claimed Conyn as "A Dutch surname, from which came the name

of Coney, or Conyn's Island," but if so, the surname was from "Rabbit"

surely.

Gowanus--_Gowanus,_ 1639; _Gowanes,_ 1641; _Gouwanes,_ 1672--the name of

one of the boundmarks of a tract of land in Brooklyn, is probably from

_Koua_ (_Kowaw,_ Williams; _Curve,_ Zeisb.), "Pine"; _Kowawese_

(Williams), "A young pine," or small pine. It was that of a place on a

small stream, the description in the Indian deed of 1639, reading:

"Stretching southward to a certain kil or little low bushes." The land

conveyed is described as being "overflowed at every tide, and covered

with salt-meadow grass." The latter gave to it its value. The claim that

the name was that of an Indian owner is not well sustained. The evidence

of the Dutch description of the bay as Boompje Hoek, meaning, literally,

"Small tree cape, corner or angle," and the fact that small pines did

abound there, seems to establish _Koua_ as the derivative of the name.

Marechkawick, treaty of 1645--_Mereckawack,_ Breeden Raddt, 1649;

_Mareckawick_ and _Marechkawieck,_ Rapelie deed, 1630; _Marechkourick,_

O'Callaghan; _Marechkawick,_ Brodhead--forms of the name primarily given

as that of Wallabout Bay, [FN] "The bought or bend of Marechkawick"--"in

the bend of Marechkawick," 1630--has been translated by Dr. Tooker from

_Men'achk_ (_Manachk,_ Zeisb.), "fence, fort," and _-wik,_ "house"

(Zeisb.), the reference being to a fenced or palisaded cabin presumably

occupied by a sachem and his family of the clan known in Dutch history

as the Mareckawicks. The existence of a palisaded cabin in the vicinity

of "the bought or bend" is possible, but the name has the appearance of

an orthography (Dutch) of _Mereca,_ the South-American name of a teal,

(Mereca Americani) the Widgeon, and _-wick_ (_Wijk,_ M. L. G.), "Bay,

cove, inlet, retreat," etc., literally "Widgeon Bay." "Situate on the

bay of Merechkawick," is entered on map of 1646 in Stiles' "History of

Brooklyn." _Merica_ was the Mayan name of the American Continent. It is

spread all over South America and was applied to many objects as in the

Latinized Mereca Americani. The early Dutch navigators were no doubt

familiar with it in application to the Widgeon, a species of wild duck,

and employed it in connection with the word _-wijk._ Until between 1645

and 1656, the Indians residing on the west end of Long Island were known

as Marechkawicks; after 1656 they were called Canorise. (See Canar'sie.)

Brooklyn is from Dutch _Breukelen,_ the name of a village about eighteen

miles from Amsterdam. It means "Broken land." (Breuk.) On Van der Donck's

map the name is written correctly. A record description reads: "There is

much broken land here."

* * * * *

[FN] Wallabout Bay takes its first name from Dutch _Waal,_ "gulf,

abyss," etc., and _Bocht,_ "bend," It was spoken of colloquially by the

early Dutch as "The bay of the foreigners," referring to the Walloons

who had settled on the north side of the bay in 1625. The first white

child, Sarah Rapelie, born in New Netherland, now the State of New York,

was born here June 17th, 1625.

Manette, so written of record--"near Mannato hill," about thirty miles

from Brooklyn and midway between the north and south sides of the

island--has been interpreted from its equivalent, _Manitou,_ "Hill of

the Great Spirit," but means strictly, "That which surpasses, or is more

than ordinary." (Trumbull.) It was a word in common use by the Indians

in application to everything that was more than ordinary or that they

could not understand. In this instance it seems to have been applied to

the water of a spring or well on the rising ground which they regarded

as of surpassing excellence; from the spring transferred to the hill.

The tradition is that some ages ago the Indians residing in the vicinity

of the hill were suffering for water. They prayed to the Great Spirit

for relief, and were directed to shoot an arrow in the air and where it

fell to dig and they would find water. They did so and dug the well now

on the rising ground, the water of which was of surpassing excellence,

or Manitou. The story was probably invented to account for the name. It

is harmless fiction.

Rennaquakonck, Rinnegahonck, a landmark so called in the boundaries of

a tract on Wallabout Bay, described in deed as "A certain swamp where

the water runs over the stones," and, in a subsequent deed, "At the

sweet marsh" (Hist. of Brooklyn), is an orthography of _Winnegackonck,_

meaning "At the sweet place," so called from some plant which was found

there, or to distinguish the marsh as fresh or sweet, not a salt marsh.

The exchange of R and W may be again noted.

Comac, the name of a village in Suffolk County, is an apheresis of

_Winne-comac,_ as appears of record. The combination expresses, "Good

enclosed place," from _Winne,_ "Good, fine, sweet, beautiful, pleasant,"

etc., and _-komuck,_ "Place enclosed," or having definite boundaries,

limited in size.

Nyack, the name of the site of Fort Hamilton, is a generic verbal from

_Nâï,_ "A point or corner." (_Nâïag,_ Mass., _Néïak,_ Len.) The

orthographies vary--Naywayack, Narrack, Nanak, Narrag, Najack, Niuck,

Narrioch, etc. With the suffix _-ak,_ the name means "Land or place at

the point." (See Nyack-on-the-Hudson.) Dankers and Sluyter wrote in

their Journal (1679-80): "We went part of the way through the woods and

fine, new-made land, and so along the shore to the west end of the

island called Najack. . . . Continuing onward from there, we came to the

plantation of the Najack Indians, which was planted with maize, or

Turkish Wheat." The Nayacks removed to Staten Island after the sale of

their lands at New Utrecht. (See Narrioch.)

Nissequague, now so written, the name of a hamlet in Smithtown, and of

record as the name of a river and of a neck of land still so known, is

of primary record _Nisinckqueg-hackey_ (Dutch notation), as the name of

a place to which the Matinnecock clan removed after the war of 1643.

(Col. Hist. N. Y., xiv, 60.) The English scribes wrote Nesequake (1650),

Nesaquake (1665), Nessequack (1686), Wissiquack (1704), (Cal. N. Y.

Land Papers), and other forms. The Indian deed of 1650 (Smithtown

Records) recites the sale by "Nasseoonseke, sachem of Nesequake," of a

tract "Beginning at a river called and commonly known by the name of

Nesaquake River, and from that river eastward to a river called

Memanusack." "Nesaquauke River" is the entry in patent to Richard Smith,

1665. The stream has its source in a number of springs in the southern

part of Smithtown, the flow of which forms a considerable river.

(Thompson.) The theory that "The tribe and river derived their name from

Nesequake, an Indian sagamore, the father of Nassaconset" (Hist. Suf.

Co.), is not well sustained. The suffix _-set,_ cannot be applied to an

animate object; it is a locative meaning "Less than at." In addition to

this objection, Nassaconset is otherwise written Nessaquauke-ecoompt-set,

showing that the name belonged to a place that was "On the other side"

of Nessaquauke. Neesaquauke stands for _Neese-saqû-auke,_ from _Nisse,_

"two," _Sauk,_ "Outlet," and _-auke,_ "Land" or place, and describes a

place at "the second outlet," or as the text reads, "At a river called

and commonly known by the name of Nesaquake River." The sagamore may

have been given the name from the place, but the place could not have

taken the name from the sagamore. The estuary, now known as Nissequage

Harbor into which the stream flows, extends far inland and forms the

west boundary of Nissequage Neck.

Marsepinck, a stream so called in Queens County, from which extended to

the land which was sold, in 1639, by "Mechowout, chief sachem of

Marossepinck, Sint-Sink and dependencies," and also extended to an

Indian clan known as Marsepings, is no doubt an orthography of _Massepe_

and _-ing,_ locative. It means "At, to or on the great river." _Mas_ is

an abbreviation of _Massa, Missi,_ etc., "great," and _Sepe,_ means

"river." It was probably used comparatively-the largest compared with

some other stream. (See Massepe.)

Unsheamuck, otherwise written Unthemamuk, given as the name of Fresh

Pond, on the boundary line between Huntington and Smithtown, means

"Eel-fishing place." (Tooker.)

Suggamuck, the name of what is now known as Birch Creek, in Southampton,

means "Bass fishing-place." (Tooker.)

Rapahamuck, a neck or point of land so called, is from _Appé-amuck,_

"Trap fishing-place." (Tooker.) The name is assigned to the mouth of

Birch Creek. (See Suggamuck.)

Memanusack and _Memanusuk,_ given as the name of Stony Brook, probably

has its locative "At the head of the middle branch of Stony Brook,"

Which formed the boundmark noted in the Indian deed. The same name is

probably met in _Mayomansuk,_ from _Mawé,_ meaning "To bring together,"

"To meet"; and _-suck,_ "Outlet," _i. e._ of a pond, marsh or river.

The brook was "stony" no doubt, but that description is English.

Cussqunsuck is noted as the name of Stony Brook referred to in

Memanusack. The stream is probably the outlet of the waters of a swamp.

In his will Richard Smith wrote: "I give to my daughter Sarah, 130 acres

of land at the _two_ swamps called _Cutts-cunsuck._" The first word

seems to stand for _Ksúcqon,_ "Heavy" (Zeisb.), by metonymie, "Stone,"

_-es,_ "Small," and _-uck,_ locative, "Place of small stone." _Ksúcqon_

may be employed as an adjectival prefix. Eliot wrote, "_Qussukquemin,_

Stone fruit," the cherry.

Mespaechtes, deed to Governor Keift, 1638, from which Mespath (Brodhead),

Mespat (Riker), Mashpeth and Mashpett (Co. Hist. N. Y., xiv, 602), now

Maspeth, a village in Newtown, Queens County, and met in application to

Newtown Creek (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 25), has been translated by Dr.

Tooker, "From _Mech-pe-is-it,_ Bad-water place," and by Wm. R. Gerard,

"From _Massapichtit,_ verbal describing scattered settlements, as though

the Indians who sold the lands had said, 'We include the lands of those

living here and there.'" [FN] Flint, in his "Early History of Long

Island," wrote: "Mespat Kills, now Maspeth, from the Indian _Matsepe,_

written by the Dutch, _Maespaatches Kiletje_"--long known as "Dutch

Kills." In patent of 1642, for lands described as lying "on the east

side of Mespatches Kil," the boundary is stated: "Beginning at the kil

and the tree standing upon the point towards the small kil." Obviously

there were two streams here, the largest called Mespatches, which seems

to be, as Flint states, a Dutch rendering of _Matsepe-es,_ from _Mas_

(Del. _Mech_), a comparative term--"great," as distinguished from

"small," the largest of two, and _Sepees (Sepoûs, Sepuus),_ "a brook."

_Sepe, Sipo, Sipu,_ etc., is generally applied to a long stream. The

west branch of Mespatt Kill has the record name of _Quandoequareus._

Flint wrote: "The _Canapauke,_ or Dutch Kills, sluggishly winding its

way through the meadows of bronzed grasses." _Canapauke_ stands for

_Quana-pe-auke,_ "Long water-land," or "Land on the long water." The

stream is a tidal current receiving several small streams. (See

Massepe.) Mespatches seems to belong to the stream noted in patent of

1642.

* * * * *

[FN] "_Missiachpitschik,_ those who are or live scattered." (Zeisberger's

Onond. Dic.)

Sint-Sink, of record as the name of Schout's Bay, [FN] also, "Formerly

called Cow Neck, and by the Indians Sint-Sink," was the name of a place

now known as Manhasset. (Col. Hist. N. Y.) It means "Place of small

stones," as in Sint-Sink, modern Sing-Sing, on the Hudson.

* * * * *

[FN] Known also as "Martin Garretson's bay." Garretson was Schout

(Sheriff), hence "Schout's bay." The neck of land "called by the Indians

Sint-Sink," was fenced for the pasturage of cows, and became known as

"Cow Neck," hence "Cow bay" and "Cow harbor," now Manhasset bay. (See

Matinnec'ock and Mochgonneck-onck.)

Manhasset, correctly _Manhanset,_ means, "Near the Island," or something

less than at the island. The locative was long known as "Head of Cow

Neck."

Matinnecock is noted in a survey for Lewis Morris, in 1685: "A tract of

land lying upon the north side of Long Island, within the township of

Oyster Bay, in Queens County, and known by the name of Matinicock," and

in another survey: "A certain small neck of land at a place called

Mattinicock." Extended also to an island and to an Indian clan. Cornelius

van Tienhoven wrote in 1650: "Martin Garritson's Bay, or Martinnehouck,

[FN-1] is much deeper and wider than Oyster Bay; it runs westward in and

divides into three rivers, two of which are navigable. The smallest

stream runs up in front of the Indian village called Martinnehouck,

where they have their plantations. The tribe is not strong, and consists

of about thirty families. In and about this bay were formerly great

numbers of Indian plantations which now lie waste. On the rivers are

numerous valleys of sweet and salt meadows." The name has, with probable

correctness, been interpreted from _Metanak-ok_ (Lenape, _Metanak-onk_;

Abn., _Metanak-ook_), meaning, "Along the edge of the island," or, as

Van Tienhoven wrote, "About this bay." The same name appears on the

Delaware as that of what is now known as Burlington Island. [FN-2] It is

corrupted in New Jersey to Tinnicum, and is preserved on Long Island as

the name of a village in the town of Oyster Bay.

* * * * *

[FN-1] A corruption from "Martin."

[FN-2] Mattinacunk, Matinneconke, Matinnekonck--"having been formerly

known by the name of Kipp's Island, and by ye Indian name of

Koo-menakanok-onck." (Col. Hist. N. Y.) _Koo-menakanok-onck_ was the

largest of two islands in the Delaware and was particularly identified

by the Indian name, which means "Pine-tree-islands place." The name by

which the Island came to be known was transferred to it apparently.

Hog's Island, so called by the early settlers, now known as Center

Island, has the record description: "A piece of land on Martin

Garretson's Bay, in the Indian tongue called Matinnecong, alias Hog's

Neck, or Hog's Island, being an island at high tide." (Col. Hist. N. Y.,

xiv, 435.) "Matinneckock, a neck on the Sound east of Muchito Cove."

(See Muchito.) The island is connected with the main land by a neck or

beach which was overflowed at high tide.

Footprints of the Red Men Indian geographical names in the valley of Hudson's river, the valley of the Mohawk, and on the Delaware: their location and the probable meaning of some of them. · 第 5 / 14 题

Ahashewaghick and Ahashewaghkameck, the latter in corrected patent of