THE COMPOSITION OF

INDIAN GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES, ILLUSTRATED FROM THE

ALGONKIN LANGUAGES. 

BY J. HAMMOND TRUMBULL. 

PRESS OFCASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINARD, Hartford, Conn. 

[Transcriber's Note: Published 1870]

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[Transcriber's Note: The original book contains some diacriticals thatare represented in this e-text as follows:

 1. A macron is represented by an =, e. G. [=a]

 2. A breve is represented by a ), e. G. , [)a]

 3. [n] represents a superscripted n (see Footnote 4). 

 4. [oo] represents an oo ligature (see Footnote 4. )]

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ON THE COMPOSITION OF

INDIAN GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES. 

A proper name has been defined to be "a mere mark put upon anindividual, and of which it is the characteristic property _to bedestitute of meaning_. "[1] If we accept this definition, it followsthat there are no proper names in the aboriginal languages of America. Every Indian synthesis--names of persons and places not excepted--must"preserve the consciousness of its roots, " and must not only have ameaning but be so framed as to convey that meaning with precision, toall who speak the language to which it belongs. Whenever, by phoneticcorruption or by change of circumstance, it loses itsself-interpreting or self-defining power, it must be discarded fromthe language. "It requires tradition, society, and literature tomaintain forms which can no longer be analyzed at once. "[2] In our ownlanguage, such forms may hold their places by prescriptive right orforce of custom, and names absolutely unmeaning, or applied withoutregard to their original meaning, are accepted by common consent asthe distinguishing marks of persons and places. We call a man Williamor Charles, Jones or Brown, --or a town, New Lebanon, Cincinnati, BatonRouge, or Big Bethel--just as we put a number on a policeman's badgeor on a post-office box, or a trademark on an article of merchandise;and the number and the mark are as truly and in nearly the same senseproper names as the others are. 

[Footnote 1: Mill's Logic, B. I. Ch. Viii. ]

[Footnote 2: Max Müller, Science of Language, (1st Series, ) p. 292. ]

Not that personal or proper names, in any language, were _originally_mere arbitrary sounds, devoid of meaning. The first James or the firstBrown could, doubtless, have given as good a reason for his name asthe first Abraham. But changes of language and lapse of time made thenames independent of the reasons, and took from them all theirsignificance. Patrick is not now, _eo nomine_, a 'patrician;' Bridgetis not necessarily 'strong' or 'bright;' and in the name of Mary, hallowed by its associations, only the etymologist can detect theprimitive 'bitterness. ' Boston is no longer 'St. Botolph's Town;'there is no 'Castle of the inhabitants of Hwiccia'(_Hwic-wara-ceaster_) to be seen at Worcester; and Hartford is neither'the ford of harts, ' (which the city seal has made it, ) nor 'the redford, ' which its name once indicated. 

In the same way, many Indian geographical names, after their adoptionby Anglo-American colonists, became unmeaning sounds. Their originalcharacter was lost by their transfer to a foreign tongue. Nearly allhave suffered some mutilation or change of form. In many instances, hardly a trace of true original can be detected in the modern name. Some have been separated from the localities to which they belonged, and assigned to others to which they are etymologically inappropriate. A mountain receives the name of a river; a bay, that of a cape or apeninsula; a tract of land, that of a rock or a waterfall. And so'Massachusetts' and 'Connecticut' and 'Narragansett' have come to be_proper names_, as truly as 'Boston' and 'Hartford' are in theircis-Atlantic appropriation. 

The Indian languages tolerated no such 'mere marks. ' Every name_described_ the locality to which it was affixed. The description wassometimes _topographical_; sometimes _historical_, preserving thememory of a battle, a feast, the dwelling-place of a great sachem, orthe like; sometimes it indicated one of the _natural products_ of theplace, or the _animals_ which resorted to it; occasionally, its_position_ or _direction_ from a place previously known, or from theterritory of the nation by which the name was given, --as for example, 'the land on the other side of the river, ' 'behind the mountain, ' 'theeast land, ' 'the half-way place, ' &c. The same name might be, in factit very often was, given to more places than one; but these must notbe so near together that mistakes or doubts could be occasioned by therepetition. With this precaution, there was no reason why there mightnot be as many 'Great Rivers, ' 'Bends, ' 'Forks, ' and 'Water-fallplaces' as there are Washingtons, Franklins, Unions, and Fairplays inthe list of American post-offices. 

With few exceptions, the structure of these names is simple. Nearlyall may be referred to one of three classes:

I. Those formed by the union of two elements, which we will call_adjectival_ and _substantival_;[3] with or without a locative suffixor post-position meaning 'at, ' 'in, ' 'by, ' 'near, ' &c. 

[Footnote 3: These terms, though not strictly appropriate to Indiansynthesis, are sufficiently explicit for the purposes of this paper. They are borrowed from the author of "Words and Places" (the Rev. Isaac Taylor), who has employed them (2d ed. , p. 460) as equivalentsof Förstemann's "Bestimmungswort" and "Grundwort, " (_Die deutschenOrtsnamen. _ Nordhausen, 1863, pp. 26-107, 109-174). In Indian names, the "Bestimmungswort" sometimes corresponds to the Englishadjective--sometimes to a noun substantive--but is more generally an_adverb_. ]

II. Those which have a single element, the _substantival_ or'ground-word, ' with its locative suffix. 

III. Those formed from verbs, as participials or verbal nouns, denoting a _place where_ the action of the verb is performed. To thisclass belong, for example, such names as _Mushauwomuk_ (Boston), 'where there is going-by-boat, ' _i. E. _, a ferry, or canoe-crossing. Most of these names, however, may be shown by rigid analysis to belongto one of the two preceding classes, which comprise at leastnine-tenths of all Algonkin local names which have been preserved. 

The examples I shall give of these three classes, will be taken fromAlgonkin languages; chiefly from the Massachusetts or Natick (whichwas substantially the same as that spoken by the Narragansetts andConnecticut Indians), the Abnaki, the Lenni-Lenâpe or Delaware, theChippewa or Ojibway, and the Knisteno or Cree. [4]

[Footnote 4: It has not been thought advisable to attempt thereduction of words or names taken from different languages to auniform orthography. When no authorities are named, it may beunderstood that the Massachusetts words are taken from Eliot'stranslation of the Bible, or from his Indian Grammar; theNarragansett, from Roger Williams's Indian Key, and his publishedletters; the Abnaki, from the Dictionary of Râle (Rasles), edited byDr. Pickering; the Delaware, from Zeisberger's Vocabulary and hisGrammar; the Chippewa, from Schoolcraft (Sch. ), Baraga's Dictionaryand Grammar (B. ), and the Spelling Books published by the AmericanBoard of Commissioners of Foreign Missions; and the Cree, from Howse'sGrammar of that language. 

The character _[oo]_ (_oo_ in 'food;' _w_ in 'Wabash, ' 'Wisconsin'), used by Eliot, has been substituted in Abnaki words for the Greek[Greek: ou ligature] of Râle and the Jesuit missionaries, and for the[Greek: omega] of Campanius. A small [n] placed above the line, showsthat the vowel which it follows is _nasal_, --and replaces the ñemployed for the same purpose by Râle, and the short line or dashplaced under a vowel, in Pickering's alphabet. 

In Eliot's notation, _oh_ usually represents the sound of _o_ in_order_ and in _form_, --that of broad _a_; but sometimes it stands forshort _o_, as in _not_. ]

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Of names of the _first_ class, in central and southern New England, some of the more common substantival components or 'ground-words' arethose which denote _Land_ or _Country_, _River_, _Water_, _Lake_ or_Pond_, _Fishing-place_, _Rock_, _Mountain_, _Inclosure_, and_Island_. 

1. The Massachusetts OHKE (Narr. _aûke_; Delaware, _hacki_; Chip. _ahke_; Abnaki, _'ki_;) signifies LAND, and in local names, PLACE orCOUNTRY. The final vowel is sometimes lost in composition. With thelocative suffix, it becomes _ohkit_ (Del. _hacking_; Chip. _ahki[n]_;Abn. _kik_;) _at_ or _in_ a place or country. 

To the Narragansetts proper, the country east of Narragansett Bay andProvidence River was _wa[n]pan-auke_, 'east land;' and its people werecalled by the Dutch explorers, _Wapenokis_, and by the English, _Wampanoags_. The tribes of the upper St. Lawrence taught the French, and tribes south of the Piscataqua taught the English, to give thename of East-landers--_Abenaquis_, or _Abinakis_--to the Indians ofMaine. The country of the Delawares was 'east land, ' _Wapanachki_, toAlgonkin nations of the west. 

The '_Chawwonock_, ' or '_Chawonocke_, ' of Capt. John Smith, --on whatis now known as Chowan River, in Virginia and North Carolina, --was, tothe Powhattans and other Virginian tribes, the 'south country, ' or_sowan-ohke_, as Eliot wrote it, in Gen. Xxiv. 62. 

With the adjectival _sucki_, 'dark-colored, ' 'blackish, ' we have theaboriginal name of the South Meadow in Hartford, --_sucki-ohke_, (written _Sicaiook_, _Suckiaug_, &c. ), 'black earth. '

_Wuskowhanan-auk-it_, 'at the pigeon country, ' was the name (as givenby Roger Williams) of a "place where these fowl breed abundantly, "--inthe northern part of the Nipmuck country (now in Worcester county, Mass. ). 

'_Kiskatamenakook_, ' the name of a brook (but originally, of somelocality near the brook) in Catskill, N. Y. , [5] is_kiskato-minak-auke_, 'place of thin-shelled nuts' (or shag-barkhickory nuts). 

[Footnote 5: Doc. Hist. Of New York (4to), vol. Iii. P. 656. ]

2. RIVER. _Seip_ or _sepu_ (Del. _sipo_; Chip. _s[=e]p[=e]_; Abn. _sip[oo]_;) the Algonkin word for 'river' is derived from a root thatmeans 'stretched out, ' 'extended, ' 'become long, ' and correspondsnearly to the English 'stream. ' This word rarely, if ever, enters intothe composition of local names, and, so far as I know, it does notmake a part of the name of any river in New England. _Mississippi_ is_missi-sipu_, 'great river;' _Kitchi-sipi_, 'chief river' or 'greatestriver, ' was the Montagnais name of the St. Lawrence;[6] and_Miste-shipu_ is their modern name for the Moise or 'Great River'which flows from the lakes of the Labrador peninsula into the Gulf ofSt. Lawrence. [7]

[Footnote 6: Jesuit Relations, 1633, 1636, 1640. ]

[Footnote 7: Hind's Exploration of Labrador, i. 9, 32. ]

Near the Atlantic seaboard, the most common substantival components ofriver names are (1) _-tuk_ and (2) _-hanne_, _-han_, or _-huan_. Neither of these is an independent word. They are inseparablenouns-generic, or generic affixes. 

-TUK (Abn. _-teg[oo]é_; Del. _-ittuk_;) denotes a river whose watersare driven _in waves_, by tides or wind. It is found in names of tidalrivers and estuaries; less frequently, in names of _broad and deep_streams, not affected by tides. With the adjectival _missi_, 'great, 'it forms _missi-tuk_, --now written _Mystic_, --the name of 'the greatriver' of Boston bay, and of another wide-mouthed tidal river in thePequot country, which now divides the towns of Stonington and Groton. 

Near the eastern boundary of the Pequot country, was the river whichthe Narragansetts called _Paquat-tuk_, sometimes written _Paquetock_, now _Pawcatuck_, 'Pequot river, '--the present eastern boundary ofConnecticut. Another adjectival prefix, _pohki_ or _pahke_, 'pure, ''clear, ' found in the name of several tidal streams, is hardlydistinguishable from the former, in the modern forms of _Pacatock_, _Paucatuck_, &c. 

_Quinni-tuk_ is the 'long tidal-river. ' With the locative affix, _Quinni-tuk-ut_, 'on long river, '--now _Connecticut_, --was the name ofthe valley, or lands both sides of the river. In one early deed(1636), I find the name written _Quinetucquet_; in another, of thesame year, _Quenticutt_. Roger Williams (1643) has _Qunnihticut_, andcalls the Indians of this region _Quintik-óock_, i. E. 'the long riverpeople. ' The _c_ in the second syllable of the modern name has nobusiness there, and it is difficult to find a reason for itsintrusion. 

'_Lenapewihittuck_' was the Delaware name of 'the river of theLenape, ' and '_Mohicannittuck_, ' of 'the river of the Mohicans'(Hudson River). [8]

[Footnote 8: Heckewelder's Historical account, &c. , p. 33. He wasmistaken in translating "the word _hittuck_, " by "a rapid stream. "]

Of _Pawtucket_ and _Pawtuxet_, the composition is less obvious; but wehave reliable Indian testimony that these names mean, respectively, 'at the falls' and 'at the little falls. ' Pequot and Narragansettinterpreters, in 1679, declared that Blackstone's River, was "calledin Indian _Pautuck_ (which signifies, a Fall), because there the freshwater falls into the salt water. "[9] So, the upper falls of theQuinebaug river (at Danielsonville, Conn. ) were called "_Powntuck_, which is a general name for all Falls, " as Indians of that regiontestified. [10] There was another Pautucket, 'at the falls' of theMerrimac (now Lowell); and another on Westfield River, Mass. _Pawtuxet_, i. E. _pau't-tuk-es-it_, is the regularly formed diminutiveof _paut-tuk-it_. The village of Pawtuxet, four miles south ofProvidence, R. I. , is "at the little falls" of the river to which theirname has been transferred. The first settlers of Plymouth wereinformed by Samoset, that the place which they had chosen for theirplantation was called '_Patuxet_, '--probably because of some 'littlefalls' on Town Brook. [11] There was another 'Pautuxet, ' or 'Powtuxet, 'on the Quinebaug, at the lower falls; and a river 'Patuxet'(Patuxent), in Maryland. The same name is ingeniously disguised byCampanius, as '_Poaetquessing_, ' which he mentions as one of theprincipal towns of the Indians on the Delaware, just below the lowerfalls of that river at Trenton; and 'Poutaxat' was understood by theSwedes to be the Indian name both of the river and bay. [12] Theadjectival _pawt-_ or _pauat-_ seems to be derived from a root meaning'to make a loud noise. ' It is found in many, perhaps in all Algonkinlanguages. '_Pawating_, ' as Schoolcraft wrote it, was the Chippewaname of the Sault Ste. Marie, or Falls of St. Mary'sRiver, --pronounced _poú-at-ing´_, or _pau-at-u[n]_, the last syllablerepresenting the locative affix, --"at the Falls. " The same name isfound in Virginia, under a disguise which has hitherto prevented itsrecognition. Capt. John Smith informs us that the "place of whichtheir great Emperor taketh his name" of _Powhatan_, or _Pawatan_, wasnear "the Falls" of James River, [13] where is now the city ofRichmond. 'Powatan' is _pauat-hanne_, or 'falls on a rapid stream. '

[Footnote 9: Col. Records of Connecticut, 1677-89, p. 275. ]

[Footnote 10: Chandler's Survey of the Mohegan country, 1705. ]

[Footnote 11: See Mourt's Relation, Dexter's edition, pp. 84, 91, 99. Misled by a form of this name, _Patackosi_, given in the Appendix toSavage's Winthrop (ii. 478) and elsewhere, I suggested to Dr. Dexteranother derivation. See his note 297, to Mourt, p. 84. ]

[Footnote 12: Descrip. Of New Sweden, b. Ii. Ch. 1, 2; Proud's Hist. Of Pennsylvania, ii. 252. ]

[Footnote 13: "True Relation of Virginia, " &c. (Deane's edition, Boston, 1866), p. 7. On Smith's map, 1606, the 'King's house, ' at'_Powhatan_, ' is marked just below "The Fales" on '_Powhatan flu:_' orJames River. ]

_Acáwmé_ or _Ogkomé_ (Chip. _agami_; Abn. _aga[n]mi_; Del. _achgameu_;) means 'on the other side, ' 'over against, ' 'beyond. ' Asan adjectival, it is found in _Acawm-auké_, the modern 'Accomac, ' apeninsula east of Chesapeake Bay, which was 'other-side land' to thePowhatans of Virginia. The site of Plymouth, Mass. , was called'Accomack' by Capt. John Smith, --a name given not by the Indians whooccupied it but by those, probably, who lived farther north, 'on theother side' of Plymouth Bay. The countries of Europe were called'other-side lands, '--Narr. _acawmen-óaki_; Abn. _aga[n]men-[oo]ki_. With _-tuk_, it forms _acawmen-tuk_ (Abn. _aga[n]men-teg[oo]_), 'other-side river, ' or, its diminutive, _acawmen-tuk-es_ (Abn. _aga[n]men-teg[oo]éss[oo]_), 'the small other-side river, '--a namefirst given (as _Agamenticus_ or _Accomenticus_) to York, Me. , fromthe 'small tidal-river beyond' the Piscataqua, on which that town wasplanted. 

_Peske-tuk_ (Abn. _peské-teg[oo]é_) denotes a '_divided_ river, ' or ariver which another _cleaves_. It is not generally (if ever) appliedto one of the 'forks' which unite to form the main stream, but to someconsiderable tributary received by the main stream, or to the divisionof the stream by some obstacle, near its mouth, which makes of it a'double river. ' The primary meaning of the (adjectival) root is 'todivide in two, ' and the secondary, 'to split, ' 'to divide _forcibly_, or _abruptly_. ' These shades of meaning are not likely to be detectedunder the disguises in which river-names come down to our time. Râletranslates _ne-peské_, "je vas dans le chemin qui en coupe un autre:"_peskahak[oo]n_, "branche. "

_Piscataqua_, Pascataqua, &c. , represent the Abn. _peské-teg[oo]é_, 'divided tidal-river. ' The word for 'place' (_ohke_, Abn. _'ki_, )being added, gives the form _Piscataquak_ or _-quog_. There is another_Piscataway_, in New Jersey, --not far below the junction of the northand south branches of the Raritan, --and a Piscataway river inMaryland, which empties into the Potomac; a _Piscataquog_ river, tributary to the Merrimac, in New Hampshire; a _Piscataquis_(diminutive) in Maine, which empties into the Penobscot. _Pasquotank_, the name of an arm of Albemarle Sound and of a small river which flowsinto it, in North Carolina, has probably the same origin. 

The adjectival _peské_, or _piské_, is found in many other compoundnames besides those which are formed with _-tuk_ or _-hanne_: as in_Pascoag_, for _peské-auké_, in Burrilville, R. I. , 'the dividingplace' of two branches of Blackstone's River; and _Pesquamscot_, inSouth Kingston, R. I. , which (if the name is rightly given) is "at thedivided (or cleft) rock, "--_peské-ompsk-ut_, --perhaps some ancientland-mark, on or near the margin of Worden's Pond. 

_Nôeu-tuk_ (_Nóahtuk_, Eliot), 'in the middle of the river, ' may be, as Mr. Judd[14] and others have supposed, the name which has beenvariously corrupted to Norwottock, Nonotuck, Noatucke, Nawottok, &c. If so, it probably belonged, originally to one of the necks orpeninsulas of meadow, near Northampton, --such as that at Hockanum, which, by a change in the course of the river at that point, has nowbecome an island. 

[Footnote 14: History of Hadley, pp. 121, 122. ]

_Tetiquet_ or _Titicut_, which passes for the Indian name of Taunton, and of a fishing place on Taunton River in the north-west part ofMiddleborough, Mass. , shows how effectually such names may bedisguised by phonetic corruption and mutilation. _Kehte-tuk-ut_ (or asEliot wrote it in Genesis xv. 18, _Kehteihtukqut_) means 'on the greatriver. ' In the Plymouth Colony Records we find the forms'_Cauteeticutt_' and '_Coteticutt_, ' and elsewhere, _Kehtehticut_, --the latter, in 1698, as the name of a place on thegreat river, "between Taunton and Bridgewater. " Hence, 'Teghtacutt, ''Teightaquid, ' 'Tetiquet, ' &c. [15]

[Footnote 15: See Hist. Magazine, vol. Iii. P. 48. ]

(2). The other substantival component of river-names, -HANNE or -HAN(Abn. _-ts[oo]a[n]n_ or _-ta[n]n_; Mass. _-tchuan_;) denotes 'a rapidstream' or 'current;' primarily, 'flowing water. ' In the Massachusettsand Abnaki, it occurs in such compounds as _anu-tchuan_ (Abn. _ari'ts[oo]a[n]n_), 'it _over_-flows:' _kussi-tchuan_ (Abn. _kesi'ts[oo]a[n]n_), 'it _swift_ flows, ' &c. 

In Pennsylvania and Virginia, where the streams which rise in thehighlands flow down rapidly descending slopes, _-hanné_ is more commonthan _-tuk_ or _sepu_ in river names. _Keht-hanné_ (_kittan_, Zeisb. ;_kithanne_, Hkw. ) was a name given to the Delaware River as 'theprincipal or greatest stream' of that region: and by the westernDelawares, to the Ohio. [16] With the locative termination, _Kittanning_ (Penn. ) is a place 'on the greatest stream. ' TheSchuylkill was _Ganshow-hanné_, 'noisy stream;' the Lackawanna, _Lechau-hanné_, 'forked stream' or 'stream that forks:'[17] withaffix, _Lechauhannak_ or _Lechauwahannak_, 'at the river-fork, '--forwhich Hendrick Aupamut, a Muhhekan, wrote (with dialectic exchange of_n_ for Delaware _l_) '_Naukhuwwhnauk_, ' 'The Forks' of the Miami. [18]The same name is found in New England, disguised as Newichawanock, Nuchawanack, &c. , as near Berwick, Me. , 'at the fork' or confluence ofCocheco and Salmon Fall rivers, --the '_Neghechewanck_' of Wood's Map(1634). _Powhatan_, for _Pauat-hanne_, 'at the Falls on a rapidstream, ' has been previously noticed. 

[Footnote 16: Heckewelder, on Indian names, in Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. Vol. Iv. ]

[Footnote 17: Ibid. ]

[Footnote 18: Narrative, &c. , in Mem. Hist. Society of Pennsylvania, vol. Ii. P. 97. ]

_Alleghany_, or as some prefer to write it, Allegheny, --the Algonkinname of the Ohio River, but now restricted to one of itsbranches, --is probably (Delaware) _welhik-hanné_ or _[oo]lik-hanné_, 'the best (or, the fairest) river. ' _Welhik_ (as Zeisberger wroteit)[19] is the inanimate form of the adjectival, meaning 'best, ' 'mostbeautiful. ' In his Vocabulary, Zeisberger gave this synthesis, withslight change of orthography, as "_Wulach'neü_" [or_[oo]lakhanne[oo]_, as Eliot would have written it, ] with the freetranslation, "_a fine River_, without Falls. " The name was indeed morelikely to belong to rivers 'without falls' or other obstruction to thepassage of canoes, but its literal meaning is, as its compositionshows, "best rapid-stream, " or "finest rapid-stream;" "La BelleRiviere" of the French, and the _Oue-yo´_ or _O hee´ yo Gä-hun´-dä_, "good river" or "the beautiful river, " of the Senecas. [20] For thistranslation of the name we have very respectable authority, --that ofChristian Frederick Post, a Moravian of Pennsylvania, who livedseventeen years with the Muhhekan Indians and was twice married amongthem, and whose knowledge of the Indian languages enabled him torender important services to the colony, as a negotiator with theDelawares and Shawanese of the Ohio, in the French war. In his"Journal from Philadelphia to the Ohio" in 1758, [21] after mention ofthe 'Alleghenny' river, he says: "The _Ohio_, as it is called by theSennecas. _Alleghenny_ is the name of the same river in the Delawarelanguage. _Both words signify the fine_ or _fair river_. " La Metairie, the notary of La Salle's expedition, "calls the Ohio, the_Olighinsipou_, or _Aleghin_; evidently an Algonkin name, "--as Dr. Shea remarks. [22] Heckewelder says that the Delawares "still call theAllegany (Ohio) river, _Alligéwi Sipu_, "--"the river of the_Alligewi_" as he chooses to translate it. In one form, we have_wulik-hannésipu_, 'best rapid-stream long-river;' in the other, _wuliké-sipu_, 'best long-river. ' Heckewelder's derivation of thename, on the authority of a Delaware legend, from the mythic'Alligewi' or 'Talligewi, '--"a race of Indians said to have onceinhabited that country, " who, after great battles fought inpre-historic times, were driven from it by the all-conqueringDelawares, [23]--is of no value, unless supported by other testimony. The identification of _Alleghany_ with the Seneca "_De o´ na gä no_, cold water" [or, cold spring, [24]] proposed by a writer in the_Historical Magazine_ (vol. Iv. P. 184), though not apparent at firstsight, might deserve consideration if there were any reason forbelieving the name of the river to be of Iroquois origin, --if it wereprobable that an Iroquois name would have been adopted by Algonkinnations, --or, if the word for 'water' or 'spring' could be made, inany American language, the substantival component of a _river_ name. 

[Footnote 19: Grammar of the Lenni-Lenape, transl. By Duponceau, p. 43. "_Wulit_, good. " "_Welsit_ (masc. And fem. ), the best. " "Inanimate, _Welhik_, best. "]

[Footnote 20: Morgan's League of the Iroquois, p. 436. ]

[Footnote 21: Published in London, 1759, and re-printed in Appendix toProud's Hist. Of Penn. , vol. Ii. Pp. 65-132. ]

[Footnote 22: Shea's Early Voyages on the Mississippi, p. 75. 

La Metairie's '_Olighinsipou_' suggests another possible derivationwhich may be worth mention. The Indian name of the Alleghanies hasbeen said, --I do not now remember on whose authority, --to mean'Endless Mountains. ' 'Endless' cannot be more exactly expressed in anyAlgonkin language than by 'very long' or 'longest, '--in the Delaware, _Eluwi-guneu_. "The very long or longest river" would be _Eluwi-guneusipu_, or, if the words were compounded in one, _Eluwi-gunesipu_. ]

[Footnote 23: Paper on Indian names, _ut supra_, p. 367; HistoricalAccount, &c. , pp. 29-32. ]

[Footnote 24: Morgan's League of the Iroquois, pp. 466, 468. ]

From the river, the name appears to have been transferred by theEnglish to a range of the "Endless Mountains. "

3. NIPPE, NIPI (= _n'pi_; Narr. _nip_; Muhh. _nup_; Abn. And Chip. _nebi_; Del. _m'bi_;) and its diminutives, _nippisse_ and _nips_, wereemployed in compound names to denote WATER, generally, withoutcharacterizing it as 'swift flowing, ' 'wave moved, ' 'tidal, ' or'standing:' as, for example, in the name of a part of a river, wherethe stream widening with diminished current becomes lake-like, or of astretch of tide-water inland, forming a bay or cove at a river'smouth. By the northern Algonkins, it appears to have been used for'lake, ' as in the name of _Missi-nippi_ or _Missinabe_ lake ('greatwater'), and in that of Lake _Nippissing_, which has the locativeaffix, _nippis-ing_, 'at the small lake' north-east of the greaterLake Huron, which gave a name to the nation of 'Nipissings, ' or as theFrench called them, '_Nipissiriniens_, '--according to Charlevoix, thetrue Algonkins. 

_Quinnipiac_, regarded as the Indian name of New Haven, --also writtenQuinnypiock, Quinopiocke, Quillipiack, &c. , and by PresidentStiles[25] (on the authority of an Indian of East Haven)_Quinnepyooghq_, --is, probably, 'long water place, '_quinni-nippe-ohke_, or _quin-nipi-ohke_. _Kennebec_ would seem to beanother form of the same name, from the Abnaki, _k[oo]né-be-ki_, wereit not that Râle wrote, [26] as the name of the river, '_Aghenibékki_'--suggesting a different adjectival. But Biard, in the_Relation de la Nouvelle-France_ of 1611, has '_Kinibequi_, 'Champlain, _Quinebequy_, and Vimont, in 1640, '_Quinibequi_, ' so thatwe are justified in regarding the name as the probable equivalent of_Quinni-pi-ohke_. 

[Footnote 25: Ms. Itinerary. He was careful to preserve the Indianpronunciation of local names, and the form in which he gives this nameconvinces me that it is not, as I formerly supposed, the_quinnuppohke_ (or _quinuppeohke_) of Eliot, --meaning 'the surroundingcountry' or the 'land all about' the site of New Haven. ]

[Footnote 26: Dictionary, s. V. 'Noms. ']

_Win-nippe-sauki_ (Winnipiseogee) will be noticed hereafter. 

4. -PAUG, -POG, -BOG, (Abn. _-béga_ or _-bégat_; Del. _-pécat_;) aninseparable generic, denoting 'WATER AT REST, ' 'standing water, ' isthe substantival component of names of small lakes and ponds, throughout New England. [27] Some of the most common of these namesare, --

[Footnote 27: _Paug_ is regularly formed from _pe_ (Abn. _bi_), thebase of _nippe_, and may be translated more exactly by 'where wateris' or 'place of water. ']

_Massa-paug_, 'great pond, '--which appears in a great variety ofmodern forms, as Mashapaug, Mashpaug, Massapogue, Massapog, &c. Apond in Cranston, near Providence, R. I. ; another in Warwick, in thesame State; 'Alexander's Lake, ' in Killingly; 'Gardiner's Lake, ' inSalem, Bozrah and Montville; 'Tyler Pond, ' in Goshen; ponds in Sharon, Groton, and Lunenburg, Mass. , were each of them the 'Massapaug' or'great pond' of its vicinity. 

_Quinni-paug_, 'long pond. ' One in Killingly, gave a name to_Quinebaug_ River and the 'Quinebaug country. ' Endicott, in 1651, wrote this name 'Qunnubbágge' (3 Mass. Hist. Coll. , iv. 191). "Quinepoxet, " the name of a pond and small river in Princeton, Mass. , appears to be a corruption of the diminutive with the locative affix;_Quinni-paug-es-it_, 'at the little long pond. '

_Wongun-paug_, 'crooked (or bent) pond. ' There is one of the name inCoventry, Conn. Written, 'Wangunbog, ' 'Wungumbaug, ' &c. 

_Petuhkqui-paug_, 'round pond, ' now called 'Dumpling Pond, ' inGreenwich, Conn. , gave a name to a plain and brook in that town, and, occasionally, to the plantation settled there, sometimes written'Petuckquapock. '

_Nunni-paug_, 'fresh pond. ' One in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, gavea name (Nunnepoag) to an Indian village near it. Eliot wrote_nunnipog_, for 'fresh water, ' in James iii. 12. 

_Sonki-paug_ or _so[n]ki-paug_, 'cool pond. ' (_Sonkipog_, 'coldwater, ' Eliot. ) Egunk-sonkipaug, or 'the cool pond (spring) of Egunk'hill in Sterling, Conn. , is named in Chandler's Survey of the Mohegancountry, as one of the east bounds. 

_Pahke-paug_, 'clear pond' or 'pure water pond. ' This name occurs invarious forms, as 'Pahcupog, ' a pond near Westerly, R. I. ;[28]'Pauquepaug, ' transferred from a pond to a brook in Kent and NewMilford; 'Paquabaug, ' near Shepaug River, in Roxbury, &c. 'Pequabuck'river, in Bristol and Farmington, appears to derive its name from some'clear pond, '--perhaps the one between Bristol and Plymouth. 

[Footnote 28: A bound of Human Garret's land, one mile north-easterlyfrom Ninigret's old Fort. See _Conn. Col. Records_, ii. 314. ]

Another noun-generic that denotes 'lake' or 'fresh water at rest, ' isfound in many Abnaki, northern Algonkin and Chippewa names, but not, perhaps, in Massachusetts or Connecticut. This is the Algonkin_-g[)a]mi_, _-g[)o]mi_, or _-gummee_. _Kitchi-gami_ or'_Kechegummee_, ' the Chippewa name of Lake Superior, is 'the greatest, or chief lake. ' _Caucomgomoc_, in Maine, is the Abn. _kaäkou-gami-k_, 'at Big-Gull lake. ' _Temi-gami_, 'deep lake, ' discharges its watersinto Ottawa River, in Canada; _Kinou-gami_, now Kenocami, 'long lake, 'into the Saguenay, at Chicoutimi. 

There is a _Mitchi-gami_ or (as sometimes written) _machi-gummi_, 'large lake, ' in northern Wisconsin, and the river which flows from ithas received the same name, with the locative suffix, '_Machig[=a]mig_' (for _mitchi-gaming_). A branch of this river is nowcalled 'Fence River' from a _mitchihikan_ or _mitchikan_, a 'woodenfence' constructed near its banks, by the Indians, for catchingdeer. [29] Father Allouez describes, in the 'Relation' for 1670 (p. 96), a sort of 'fence' or weir which the Indians had built across FoxRiver, for taking sturgeon &c. , and which they called '_Mitihikan_;'and shortly after, he mentions the destruction, by the Iroquois, of avillage of Outagamis (Fox Indians) near his mission station, called_Machihigan-ing_, ['at the _mitchihikan_, or weir?'] on the 'Lake ofthe Illinois, ' now _Michigan_. Father Dablon, in the next year'sRelation, calls this lake '_Mitchiganons_. ' Perhaps there was someconfusion between the names of the 'weir' and the 'great lake, ' and'Michigan' appears to have been adopted as a kind of compromisebetween the two. If so, this modern form of the name is corrupt inmore senses than one. [30]

[Footnote 29: Foster and Whitney's Report on the Geology of LakeSuperior, &c. , Pt. II p. 400. ]

[Footnote 30: Râle gives Abn. _mitsegan_, 'fianté. ' Thoreau, fishingin a river in Maine, caught several sucker-like fishes, which hisAbnaki guide threw away, saying they were '_Michegan fish_, i. E. , softand stinking fish, good for nothing. '--_Maine Woods_, p. 210. ]

5. -AMAUG, denoting 'A FISHING PLACE' (Abn. _a[n]ma[n]gan_, 'on pêchelà, ') is derived from the root _âm_ or _âma_, signifying 'to take bythe mouth;' whence, _âm-aü_, 'he fishes with hook and line, ' and Del. _âman_, a fish-hook. _Wonkemaug_ for _wongun-amaug_, 'crookedfishing-place, ' between Warren and New Preston, in Litchfield county, is now 'Raumaug Lake. ' _Ouschank-amaug_, in East Windsor, was perhapsthe 'eel fishing-place. ' The lake in Worcester, _Quansigamaug_, _Quansigamug_, &c. , and now _Quinsigamond_, was 'the pickerelfishing-place, ' _qunnosuog-amaug_. 

6. ROCK. In composition, -PISK or -PSK (Abn. _pesk[oo]_; Cree, _-pisk_; Chip. _-bik_;) denotes _hard_ or _flint-like_ rock;[31]-OMPSK or O[N]BSK, and, by phonetic corruption, -MSK, (from _ompaé_, 'upright, ' and _-pisk_, ) a 'standing rock. ' As a substantivalcomponent of local names, _-ompsk_ and, with the locative affix, _-ompskut_, are found in such names as--

[Footnote 31: Primarily, that which 'breaks, ' 'cleaves, ' 'splits:'distinguishing the _harder_ rocks--such as were used for making spearand arrow heads, axes, chisels, corn-mortars, &c. , and for strikingfire, --from the _softer_, such as steatite (soap-stone) from whichpots and other vessels, pipe-bowls, &c. , were fashioned. ]

_Petukqui-ompskut_, corrupted to _Pettiquamscut_, 'at the round rock. 'Such a rock, on the east side of Narrow River, north-east from TowerHill Church in South Kingston, R. I. , was one of the bound marks of, and gave a name to, the "Pettiquamscut purchase" in the Narragansettcountry. 

_Wanashqui-ompskut_ (_wanashquompsqut_, Ezekiel xxvi. 14), 'at the topof the rock, ' or at 'the point of rock. ' _Wonnesquam_, _Annis Squam_, and _Squam_, near Cape Ann, are perhaps corrupt forms of the name ofsome 'rock summit' or 'point of rock' thereabouts. _Winnesquamsaukit_(for _wanashqui-ompsk-ohk-it_?) near Exeter Falls, N. H. , has beentransformed to _Swampscoate_ and _Squamscot_. The name of Swamscot orSwampscot, formerly part of Lynn, Mass. , has a different meaning. Itis from _m'squi-ompsk_, 'Red Rock' (the modern name), near the northend of Long Beach, which was perhaps "The clifte" mentioned as one ofthe bounds of Mr. Humfrey's Swampscot farm, laid out in 1638. [32]_M'squompskut_ means 'at the red rock. ' The sound of the initial _m_was easily lost to English ears. [33]

[Footnote 32: Mass. Records, i. 147, 226. ]

[Footnote 33: _Squantam_, the supposed name of an Algonkin deity, isonly a corrupt form of the verb _m'squantam_, = _musqui-antam_, 'he isangry, ' literally, 'he is _red_ (bloody-) minded. ']

_Penobscot_, a corruption of the Abnaki _pa[n]na[oo]a[n]bskek_, wasoriginally the name of a locality on the river so called by theEnglish. Mr. Moses Greenleaf, in a letter to Dr. Morse in 1823, wrote'_Pe noom´ ske ook_' as the Indian name of Old Town Falls, "whence theEnglish name of the River, which would have been better, _Penobscook_. " He gave, as the meaning of this name, "Rocky Falls. "The St. Francis Indians told Thoreau, that it means "Rocky River. "[34]'At the fall of the rock' or 'at the descending rock' is a more nearlyexact translation. The first syllable, _pen-_ (Abn. _pa[n]na_)represents a root meaning 'to fall from a height, '--as in_pa[n]n-tek[oo]_, 'fall of a river' or 'rapids;' _pena[n]-ki_, 'fallof land, ' the descent or downward slope of a mountain, &c. 

[Footnote 34: Maine Woods, pp. 145, 324. ]

_Keht-ompskqut_, or 'Ketumpscut' as it was formerly written, [35]--'atthe greatest rock, '--is corrupted to _Catumb_, the name of a reef offthe west end of Fisher's Island. 

[Footnote 35: Pres. Stiles's Itinerary, 1761. ]

_Tomheganomset_[36]--corrupted finally to 'Higganum, ' the name of abrook and parish in the north-east part of Haddam, --appears to havebeen, originally, the designation of a locality from which the Indiansprocured stone suitable for making axes, --_tomhegun-ompsk-ut_, 'at thetomahawk rock. ' In 'Higganompos, ' as the name was sometimes written, without the locative affix, we have less difficulty in recognizing thesubstantival _-ompsk_. 

[Footnote 36: Conn. Col. Records, i. 434. ]

QUSSUK, another word for 'rock' or 'stone, ' used by Eliot and RogerWilliams, is not often--perhaps never found in local names. _Hassun_or _Assun_ (Chip. _assin´_; Del. _achsin_;) appears in New Englandnames only as an adjectival (_assuné_, _assini_, 'stony'), but farthernorth, it occasionally occurs as the substantival component of suchnames as _Mistassinni_, 'the Great Stone, ' which gives its name to alake in British America, to a tribe of Indians, and to a river thatflows into St. John's Lake. [37]

[Footnote 37: Hind's Exploration of Labrador, vol. Ii. Pp. 147, 148. ]

7. WADCHU (in composition, -ADCHU) means, always, 'mountain' or'hill. ' In _Wachuset_, we have it, with the locative affix _-set_, 'near' or 'in the vicinity of the mountain, '--a name which has beentransferred to the mountain itself. With the adjectival _massa_, 'great, ' is formed _mass-adchu-set_, 'near the great mountain, ' or'great hill country, '--now, _Massachusetts_. 

'_Kunckquachu_' and '_Quunkwattchu_, ' mentioned in the deeds of Hadleypurchase, in 1658, [38] are forms of _qunu[n]kqu-adchu_, 'highmountain, '--afterwards belittled as 'Mount Toby. '

[Footnote 38: History of Hadley, 21, 22, 114. ]

'_Kearsarge_, ' the modern name of two well-known mountains in NewHampshire, disguises _k[oo]wass-adchu_, 'pine mountain. ' On Holland'sMap, published in 1784, the southern Kearsarge (in Merrimack county)is marked "Kyarsarga Mountain; by the Indians, _Cowissewaschook_. "[39]In this form, --which the termination _ok_ (for _ohke_, _auke_, 'land, ') shows to belong to the _region_, not exclusively to themountain itself, --the analysis becomes more easy. The meaning of theadjectival is perhaps not quite certain. _K[oo]wa_ (Abn. _k[oo]é_) 'apine tree, ' with its diminutive, _k[oo]wasse_, is a derivative, --froma root which means 'sharp, ' 'pointed. ' It is _possible_, that in thissynthesis, the root preserves its primary signification, and that'Kearsarge' is the 'pointed' or 'peaked mountain. '

[Footnote 39: W. F. Goodwin, in Historical Magazine, ix. 28. ]

_Mauch Chunk_ (Penn. ) is from Del. _machk_, 'bear' and _wachtschunk_, 'at, or on, the mountain, '--according to Heckewelder, who writes'_Machkschúnk_, ' or the Delaware name of 'the bear's mountain. '

In the Abnaki and some other Algonkin dialects, the substantivalcomponent of mountain names is -ÁDENÉ, --an inseparable noun-generic. _Katahdin_ (pronounced _Ktaadn_ by the Indians of Maine), Abn. _Ket-ádené_, 'the greatest (or chief) mountain, ' is the equivalent of'_Kittatinny_, ' the name of a ridge of the Alleghanies, in New Jerseyand Pennsylvania. 

8. -KOMUK or KOMAKO (Del. _-kamik_, _-kamiké_; Abn. _-kamighe_; Cree, _-gómmik_; Powhatan, _-comaco_;) cannot be exactly translated by anyone English word. It denotes 'place, ' in the sense of _enclosed_, _limited_ or _appropriated_ space. As a component of local names, itmeans, generally, 'an enclosure, ' natural or artificial; such as ahouse or other building, a village, a planted field, a thicket orplace surrounded by trees, &c. The place of residence of the Sachem, which (says Roger Williams) was "far different from other houses[wigwams], both in capacity, and in the fineness and quality of theirmats, " was called _sachimâ-komuk_, or, as Edward Winslow wrote it, '_sachimo comaco_, '--the Sachem-house. _Werowocomoco_, _Weramocomoco_, &c. In Virginia, was the 'Werowance's house, ' and the name appears onSmith's map, at a place "upon the river Pamauncke [now York River], where the great King [Powhatan] was resident. "

_Kuppi-komuk_, 'closed place, ' 'secure enclosure, ' was the name of aPequot fastness in a swamp, in Groton, Conn. Roger Williams wrote thisname "Cuppacommock, " and understood its meaning to be "a refuge, orhiding place. " Eliot has _kuppóhkomuk_ for a planted 'grove, ' in Deut. Xvi. 21, and for a landing-place or safe harbor, Acts xxvii. 40. 

_Nashaue-komuk_, 'half-way house, ' was at what is now Chilmark, onMartha's Vineyard, where there was a village of praying Indians[40] in1698, and earlier. 

[Footnote 40: About half-way from Tisbury to Gay Head. ]

The Abnaki _keta-kamig[oo]_ means, according to Râle, 'the mainland, '--literally, 'greatest place;' _teteba-kamighé_, 'level place, 'a plain; _pépam-kamighek_, 'the _all_ land, ' 'l'univers. '

_Néssa[oo]a-kamíghé_, meaning 'double place' or '_second_ place, ' wasthe name of the Abnaki village of St. Francis de Sales, on the St. Lawrence, [41]--to which the mission was removed about 1700, from its_first_ station established near the Falls of the Chaudière in1683. [42]

[Footnote 41: Râle, s. V. VILLAGE. ]

[Footnote 42: Shea's Hist. Of Catholic Missions, 142, 145. ]

9. Of two words meaning _Island_, MUNNOHAN or, rejecting theformative, MUNNOH (Abn. _menahan_; Del. _menatey_; Chip. _minís_, adiminutive, ) is the more common, but is rarely, if ever, found incomposition. The 'Grand _Menan_, ' opposite Passammaquoddy Bay, retainsthe Abnaki name. Long Island was _Menatey_ or _Manati_, '_the_Island, '--to the Delawares, Minsi and other neighboring tribes. Anysmaller island was _menatan_ (Mass. _munnohhan_), the _indefinite_form, or _menates_ (Mass. _munnises_, _manisses_), the _diminutive_. Campanius mentions one '_Manathaan_, ' Coopers' Island (now CherryIsland) near Fort Christina, in the Delaware, [43] and "_Manataanung_or _Manaates_, a place settled by the Dutch, who built there a cleverlittle town, which went on increasing every day, "--now called NewYork. (The termination in _-ung_ is the locative affix. ) New YorkIsland was sometimes spoken of as '_the_ island'--'Manaté, ''Manhatte;' sometimes as '_an_ island'--Manathan, Menatan, '_Manhatan_;' more accurately, as 'the _small_ island'--Manhaates, Manattes, and 'the Manados' of the Dutch. The Island Indianscollectively, were called _Manhattans_; those of the small island, '_Manhatesen_. ' "They deeply mistake, " as Gov. Stuyvesant's agentsdeclared, in 1659, [44] "who interpret the general name of_Manhattans_, unto the particular town built upon a _little Island_;because it signified the whole country and province. "

[Footnote 43: Description of New Sweden, b. Ii. C. 8. (Duponceau'stranslation. )]

[Footnote 44: N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections, iii. 375. ]

_Manisses_ or Monasses, as Block Island was called, is another formof the diminutive, --from _munnoh_; and _Manhasset_, otherwise written, Munhansick, a name of Shelter Island, is the same diminutive with thelocative affix, _munna-es-et_. So is 'Manusses' or 'Mennewies, ' anisland near Rye, N. Y. , --now written (with the southern form of thelocative, ) _Manussing_. 

_Montauk_ Point, formerly Montauket, Montacut, and by Roger Williams, _Munnawtawkit_, is probably from _manati_, _auke_, and _-it_ locative;'in the Island country, ' or 'country of the Islanders. '

The other name of 'Island, ' in Algonkin languages, is AHQUEDNE orOCQUIDNE; with the locative; _ahquednet_, as in Acts xxvii. 16. (Compare, Cree, _ákootin_, "it suspends, is _sit_-uate, e. G. An islandin the water, " from _âkoo_, a verbal root "expressive of a state ofrest. " Howse's Grammar, p. 152. Micmac, _agwitk_, "it is in thewater;" whence, _Ep-agwit_, "it lies [sits?] in the water, "[45] theIndian name of Prince Edward's Island. ) This appears to have beenrestricted in its application, to islands lying near the main land orspoken of _with reference_ to the main land. Roger Williams learnedfrom the Narragansetts to call Rhode Island, _Aquiday_, Aquednet, &c. , '_the_ Island' or 'at the Island, ' and a "little island in the mouthof the Bay, " was _Aquedenesick_, [46] or Aquidneset, i. E. 'at the smallisland. '

[Footnote 45: Dawson's Acadian Geology, App. P. 673. ]

[Footnote 46: 4th Mass. Hist. Collections, vi. 267. ]

_Chippaquiddick_, the modern name of an island divided by a narrowstrait from Martha's Vineyard, is from _cheppi-aquidne_, 'separatedisland. '

Abnaki names ending in _-ka[n]tti_, or _-kontee_ (Mass. _-kontu_;Etchemin or Maliseet, _-kodiah_, _-quoddy_; Micmac, _-ka[n]di_, or_-aikadee_;) may be placed with those of the first class, though thistermination, representing a substantival component, is really only thelocative affix of nouns in the _indefinite plural_. Exact location wasdenoted by affixing, to inanimate nouns-singular, _-et_, _-it_ or_-ut_; proximity, or something _less_ than exact location, by _-set_, (interposing _s_, the characteristic of diminutives and derogatives)between the noun and affix. _Plural_ nouns, representing a _definitenumber_ of individuals, or a number which might be regarded _as_definite, received _-ettu_, _-ittu_, or _-uttu_, in the locative: butif the number was _indefinite_, or many individuals were spoken ofcollectively, the affix was _-kontu_, denoting 'where many are, ' or'place of abundance. ' For example, _wadchu_, mountain; _wadchu-ut_, to, on, or at the mountain; _wadchu-set_, near the mountain;_wadchuuttu_ (or _-ehtu_), in or among _certain mountains_, known orindicated (as in Eliot's version of Numbers xxxiii. 47, 48);_wadchué-kontu_, among mountains, where there are a great manymountains, for 'in the hill country, ' Joshua xiii. 6. So, _nippe-kontu_, 'in the waters, ' i. E. In _many_ waters, or 'where thereis much water, ' Deut. Iv. 18; v. 8. In Deuteronomy xi. 11, theconversion to a verb of a noun which had previously received thisaffix, shows that the idea of _abundance_ or of _multitude_ isassociated with it: "_ohke wadchuuhkontu[oo]_, " i. E. _wadechué-kontu-[oo]_, "the land is a land of hills, " that is, whereare _many_ hills, or where hills are _plenty_. 

This form of verb was rarely used by Eliot and is not alluded to inhis Grammar. It appears to have been less common in the Massachusettsthan in most of the other Algonkin languages. In the Chippewa, an'abundance verb, ' as Baraga[47] calls it, may be formed from any noun, by adding _-ka_ or _-[)i]ka_ for the indicative present: in the Cree, by adding _-skow_ or _-ooskow_. In the Abnaki, _-ka_ or _-k[oo]_, or_-ik[oo]_, forms similar verbs, and verbals. The final _'tti_ of_ka[n]tti_, represents the impersonal _a'tté_, _eto_, 'there belongsto it, ' 'there is there, ' _il y a_. (Abn. _meskik[oo]i'ka[n]tti_, 'where there is abundance of grass, ' is the equivalent of the Micmac"_m'skeegoo-aicadee_, a meadow. "[48])

[Footnote 47: Otchipwe Grammar, pp. 87, 412. ]

[Footnote 48: Mr. Rand's Micmac Vocabulary, in Schoolcraft'sCollections, vol. V. P. 579. ]

Among Abnaki place-names having this form, the following deservenotice:--

_A[n]mes[oo]k-ka[n]tti_, 'where there is plenty of _alewives_ or_herrings_;' from Abn. _a[n]ms[oo]ak_ (Narr. _aumsûog_; Mass. _ômmissuog_, cotton;) literally, 'small fishes, ' but appropriated tofish of the herring tribe, including alewives and menhaden orbony-fish. Râle gives this as the name of one of the Abnaki villageson or near the river 'Aghenibekki. ' It is the same, probably, as the'Meesee Contee' or 'Meesucontee, ' at Farmington Falls, on Sandy River, Me. [49] With the suffix of 'place' or 'land, ' it has been written_Amessagunticook_ and _Amasaquanteg_. 

[Footnote 49: Coll. Me. Hist. Society, iv. 31, 105. ]

'_Amoscoggin_, ' 'Ammarescoggen, ' &c. , and the '_Aumoughcawgen_' ofCapt. John Smith, names given to the Kennebec or its main westernbranch, the Androscoggin, [50]--appear to have belonged, originally, to'fishing places' on the river, from Abn. _a[n]m's[oo]a-khíge_, or_a[n]m's[oo]a-ka[n]gan_. 'Amoskeag, ' at the falls of the Merrimack, has the same meaning, probably; _a[n]m's[oo]a-khíge_ (Mass. _ômmissakkeag_), a 'fishing-place for alewives. ' It certainly does_not_ mean 'beavers, ' or 'pond or marsh' of beavers, --as Mr. Schoolcraft supposed it to mean. [51]

[Footnote 50: The statement that the Androscoggin received its presentname in compliment to Edmond Andros, about 1684, is erroneous. Thisform of the name appears as early as 1639, in the release by ThomasPurchase to the Governor of Massachusetts, --correctly printed (fromthe original draft in the handwriting of Thomas Lechford) in Mass. Records, vol. I. P. 272. ]

[Footnote 51: Information respecting the Indian Tribes, &c. , vol. Iii. P. 526. ]

_Madamiscomtis_ or _Mattammiscontis_, the name of a tributary of thePenobscot and of a town in Lincoln county, Me. , was translated by Mr. Greenleaf, in 1823, "Young Alewive stream;" but it appears torepresent _met-a[n]ms[oo]ak-ka[n]tti_, 'a place where there _has been_(but is not now) plenty of alewives, ' or to which they no longerresort. Compare Râle's _met-a[n]m[oo]ak_, "les poissons ont faitesleurs oeufs; ils s'en sont allés; il n'y en a plus. "

_Cobbosseecontee_ river, in the south part of Kennebec county, isnamed from a place near "the mouth of the stream, where it adjoinethitself to Kennebec river, "[52] and 'where there was plenty ofsturgeons, '--_kabassak-ka[n]tti_. 

[Footnote 52: Depositions in Coll. Me. Histor. Society, iv. 113. ]

'_Peskadamioukkanti_' is given by Charlevoix, as the Indian name of"the river of the Etchemins, " that is, the St. Croix, --a name which isnow corrupted to _Passamaquoddy_; but this latter form of the name isprobably derived from the _Etchemin_, while Charlevoix wrote the_Abnaki_ form. The Rev. Elijah Kellogg, in 1828, [53] gave, as themeaning of 'Passamaquoddie, ' 'pollock fish, ' and the Rev. Mr. Randtranslates 'Pestumoo-kwoddy' by 'pollock ground. '[54] Cotton'svocabulary gives '_pâkonnótam_' for 'haddock. ' Perhaps_peskadami[oo]k_, like _a[n]ms[oo]ak_, belonged to more than onespecies of fish. 

[Footnote 53: 3 Mass. Hist. Coll. , iii. 181. ]

[Footnote 54: Dawson's Acadian Geology, 2d ed. , (London, 1868), pp. 3, 8. ]

Of Etchemin and Micmac words having a similar termination, we findamong others, --

_Shubenacadie_ (_Chebenacardie_ on Charlevoix' map, and _Shebenacadia_on Jeffry's map of 1775). One of the principal rivers of Nova Scotia, was so named because '_sipen-ak_ were plenty there. ' Professor Dawsonwas informed by an "ancient Micmac patriarch, " that "_Shuben_ or_Sgabun_ means ground-nuts or Indian potatoes, " and by the Rev. Mr. Rand, of Hantsport, N. S. , that "_segubbun_ is a ground-nut, and_Segubbuna-kaddy_ is the place or region of ground-nuts, " &c. [55] Itis not quite certain that _shuben_ and _segubbun_ denote the sameesculent root. The Abnaki name of the wild potato or ground-nut was_pen_, pl. _penak_ (Chip. _opin-[=i]g_; Del. _obben-ak_); '_sipen_, 'which is obviously the equivalent of _sheben_, Râle describes as"blanches, plus grosses que des _penak_:" and _sheep'n-ak_ is themodern Abnaki (Penobscot) name for the bulbous roots of the YellowLily (_Lilium Canadense_). Thoreau's Indian guide in the 'Maine Woods'told him that these bulbs "were good for soup, that is to cook withmeat to thicken it, "--and taught him how to prepare them. [56] Josselynmentions such "a water-lily, with yellow flowers, " of which "theIndians eat the roots" boiled. [57]

[Footnote 55: Acadian Geology, pp. 1, 3. ]

[Footnote 56: Maine Woods, pp. 194, 284, 326. ]

[Footnote 57: Voyages, p. 44. ]

"_Segoonuma-kaddy_, place of _gaspereaux_; Gaspereau or AlewifeRiver, " "_Boonamoo-kwoddy_, Tom Cod ground, " and "_Kata-kaddy_, eel-ground, "--are given by Professor Dawson, on Mr. Rand's authority. _Segoonumak_ is the equivalent of Mass. And Narr. _sequanamâuquock_, 'spring (or early summer) fish, ' by R. Williams translated 'bream. 'And _boonamoo_, --the _ponamo_ of Charlevoix (i. 127), who confoundedit with some 'species of dog-fish (chien de mer), '--is the_ap[oo]na[n]-mes[oo]_ of Rasles and _papônaumsu_, 'winter fish, ' ofRoger Williams, 'which some call frost-fish, '--_Morrhua pruinosa_. 

The frequent occurrence of this termination in Micmac, Etchemin andAbnaki local names gives probability to the conjecture, that it cameto be regarded as a general name for the region which these tribesinhabited, --'L'arcadia, ' 'l'Accadie, ' and 'la Cadie, ' of earlygeographers and voyagers. Dr. Kohl has not found this name on anyearlier map than that published by Girolamo Ruscelli in 1561. [58] Thatit is of Indian origin there is hardly room for doubt, and of two orthree possible derivations, that from the terminal _-kâdi_, _-kodiah_, or _-ka[n]tti_, is on the whole preferable. But this termination, inthe sense of 'place of abundance' or in that of 'ground, land, orplace, ' cannot be used _separately_, as an independent word, in anyone of the languages which have been mentioned; and it is singularthat, in two or three instances, only this termination should havebeen preserved after the first and more important component of thename was lost. 

[Footnote 58: See Coll. Me. Hist. Society, 2d Ser. , vol. I. P. 234. ]

There are two Abnaki words which are not unlike _-ka[n]tti_ in sound, one or both of which may perhaps be found in some local names: (1)_ka[oo]di_, 'where he sleeps, ' a _lodging place_ of men or animals;and (2) _ak[oo]daï[oo]i_, in composition or as a prefix, _ak[oo]dé_, 'against the current, ' up-stream; as in _ned-ak[oo]té'hémen_, 'I go upstream, ' and _[oo]derak[oo]da[n]na[n]_, 'the fish go up stream. ' Somesuch synthesis may have given names to fishing-places on tidal rivers, and I am more inclined to regard the name of 'Tracadie' or 'Tracody'as a corruption of _[oo]derak[oo]da[n]_, than to derive it (withProfessor Dawson[59] and the Rev. Mr. Rand) from "_Tulluk-kaddy_;probably, place of residence; dwelling place, "--or rather (for thetermination requires this), where residences or dwellings are_plenty_, --where there is _abundance_ of dwelling place. There is aTracadie in Nova Scotia, another (_Tregaté_, of Champlain) on thecoast of New Brunswick, a Tracody or Tracady Bay in Prince Edward'sIsland, and a Tracadigash Point in Chaleur Bay. 

[Footnote 59: Acadian Geology, l. C. ]

Thevet, in _La Cosmographie universelle_, [60] gives an account of hisvisit in 1556, to "one of the finest rivers in the whole world whichwe call _Norumbegue_, and the aborigines _Agoncy_, "--now PenobscotBay. In 'Agoncy' we have, I conjecture, another form of the Abnaki_-ka[n]tti_, and an equivalent of 'Acadie. '

[Footnote 60: Cited by Dr. Kohl, in Coll. Me. Hist. Society, N. S. , i. 416. ]

 * * * * *

II. Names formed from a single ground-word or substantival, --with orwithout a locative or other suffix. 

To this class belong some names already noticed in connection withcompound names to which they are related; such as, _Wachu-set_, 'nearthe mountain;' _Menahan_ (_Menan_), _Manati_, _Manathaan_, 'island;'_Manataan-ung_, _Aquedn-et_, 'on the island, ' &c. Of the many whichmight be added to these, the limits of this paper permit me to mentiononly a few. 

1. NÂÏAG, 'a corner, angle, or point. ' This is a verbal, formed from_nâ-i_, 'it is angular, ' 'it _corners_. ' Eliot wrote "_yaue naiyagwetu_" for the "four corners of a house, " Job i. 19. Sometimes, _nâi_receives, instead of the formative _-ag_, the locative affix (_nâï-it_or _nâï-ut_); sometimes it is used as an adjectival prefixed to_auke_, 'land. ' One or another of these forms serves as the name of agreat number of river and sea-coast 'points. ' In Connecticut, we finda '_Nayaug_' at the southern extremity of Mason's Island in MysticBay, and '_Noank_' (formerly written, _Naweag_, _Naiwayonk_, _Noïank_, &c. ) at the west point of Mystic River's mouth, in Groton; _Noag_ or_Noyaug_, in Glastenbury, &c. In Rhode Island, _Nayatt_ or _Nayot_point in Barrington, on Providence Bay, and _Nahiganset_ orNarragansett, 'the country about the Point. '[61] On Long Island, _Nyack_ on Peconick Bay, Southampton, [62] and another at the west endof the Island, opposite Coney Island. There is also a _Nyack_ on thewest side of the Tappan Sea, in New Jersey. 

[Footnote 61: See _Narragansett Club Publications_, vol. I. P. 22(note 6). ]

[Footnote 62: On Block's Map, 1616, the "Nahicans" are marked on theeasternmost point of Long Island. ]

2. WONKUN, 'bended, ' 'a bend, ' was sometimes used without affix. TheAbnaki equivalent is _[oo]a[n]ghíghen_, 'courbe, ' 'croché' (Râle). There was a _Wongun_, on the Connecticut, between Glastenbury andWethersfield, and another, more considerable, a few miles below, inMiddletown. _Wonki_ is found in compound names, as an adjectival; asin _Wonki-tuk_, 'bent river, ' on the Quinebaug, between Plainfield andCanterbury, --written by early recorders, 'Wongattuck, ' 'Wanungatuck, '&c. , and at last transferred from its proper place to a _hill_ and_brook_ west of the river, where it is disguised as _Nunkertunk_. TheGreat Bend between Hadley and Hatfield, Mass. , was called_Kuppo-wonkun-ohk_, 'close bend place, ' or 'place shut-in by a bend. 'A tract of meadow west of this bend was called, in 1660, 'Cappowonganick, ' and 'Capawonk, ' and still retains, I believe, thelatter name. [63] _Wnogquetookoke_, the Indian name of Stockbridge, Mass. , as written by Dr. Edwards in the Muhhecan dialect, describes "abend-of-the-river place. "

[Footnote 63: Judd's History of Hadley, 115, 116, 117. ]

Another Abnaki word meaning 'curved, ''crooked, '--_pika[n]ghén_--occurs in the name _Pika[n]ghenahik_, now'Crooked Island, ' in Penobscot River. [64]

[Footnote 64: Mr. Moses Greenleaf, in 1823, wrote this name, _Bakungunahik_. ]

3. HÓCQUAUN (UHQUÔN, Eliot), 'hook-shaped, ' 'a hook, '--is the base of_Hoccanum_, the name of a tract of land and the stream which boundsit, in East Hartford, and of other Hoccanums, in Hadley and inYarmouth, Mass. Heckewelder[65] wrote "_Okhúcquan, Woâkhúcquoan_ or(short) _Húcquan_, " for the modern 'Occoquan, ' the name of a river inVirginia, and remarked: "All these names signify _a hook_. " Campaniushas '_hóckung_' for 'a hook. '

[Footnote 65: On Indian names, in Trans. Am. Phil. Society, N. S. , vol. Iv. , p. 377. ]

_Hackensack_ may have had its name from the _húcquan-sauk_, 'hookmouth, ' by which the waters of Newark Bay find their way, aroundBergen Point, by the Kill van Cul, to New York Bay. 

3. [Transcriber's Note: sic] SÓHK or SAUK, a root that denotes'pouring out, ' is the base of many local names for 'the outlet' or'discharge' of a river or lake. The Abnaki forms, _sa[n]g[oo]k_, 'sortie de la rivière (seu) la source, ' and _sa[n]ghede'teg[oo]é_ [=Mass. _saukituk_, ] gave names to _Saco_ in Maine, to the river whichhas its outflow at that place, and to _Sagadahock_ (_sa[n]ghede'aki_), 'land at the mouth' of Kennebeck river. 

_Saucon_, the name of a creek and township in Northampton county, Penn. , "denotes (says Heckewelder[66]) the outlet of a smaller streaminto a larger one, "--which restricts the denotation too narrowly. Thename means "the outlet, "--and nothing more. Another _Soh´coon_, or(with the locative) _Saukunk_, "at the mouth" of the Big Beaver, onthe Ohio, --now in the township of Beaver, Penn. , --was a well knownrendezvous of Indian war parties. [67]

[Footnote 66: Ibid. P. 357. ]

[Footnote 67: Paper on Indian Names, ut supra, p. 366; and 3 Mass. Historical Collections, vi. 145. [Compare, the Iroquois _Swa-deh´_ and_Oswa´-go_ (modern _Oswego_), which has the same meaning as Alg. _sauki_, --"flowing out. "--_Morgan's League of the Iroquois_. ]]

_Saganaum_, _Sagana_, now _Saginaw_[68] Bay, on Lake Huron, receivedits name from the mouth of the river which flows through it to thelake. 

[Footnote 68: _Saguinam_, Charlevoix, i. 501; iii. 279. ]

The _Mississagas_ were people of the _missi-sauk_, _missi-sague_, or(with locative) _missi-sak-ing_, [69] that is 'great outlet. ' In thelast half of the seventeenth century they were seated on the banks ofa river which is described as flowing into Lake Huron some twenty orthirty leagues south of the Sault Ste. Marie (the same river probablythat is now known as the Mississauga, emptying into Manitou Bay, ) andnearly opposite the Straits of Mississauga on the South side of theBay, between Manitoulin and Cockburn Islands. So little is knownhowever of the history and migrations of this people, that it isperhaps impossible now to identify the 'great outlet' from which theyfirst had their name. 

[Footnote 69: _Relations des Jésuites_, 1658, p. 22; 1648, p. 62;1671, pp. 25, 31. ]

The _Saguenay_ (Sagnay, Sagné, Saghuny, etc. ), the great tributary ofthe St. Lawrence, was so called either from the well-knowntrading-place at its mouth, the annual resort of the Montagnars andall the eastern tribes, [70] or more probably from the 'GrandDischarge'[71] of its main stream from Lake St. John and its strongcurrent to and past the rapids at Chicoutimi, and thence on to the St. Lawrence. [72] Near Lake St. John and the Grand Discharge was anotherrendezvous of the scattered tribes. The missionary Saint-Simon in 1671described this place as one at which "all the nations inhabiting thecountry between the two seas (towards the east and north) assembled tobarter their furs. " Hind's Exploration of Labrador, ii. 23. 

[Footnote 70: Charlevoix, Nouv. France, iii. 65; Gallatin's Synopsis, p. 24. ]

[Footnote 71: This name is still retained. ]

[Footnote 72: When first discovered the Saguenay was not regarded as ariver, but as a strait or passage by which the waters of some northernsea flowed to the St. Lawrence. But on a French map of 1543, the 'R. De Sagnay' and the country of 'Sagnay' are laid down. See Maine Hist. Soc. Collections, 2d Series, vol. I. , pp. 331, 354. Charlevoix gives_Pitchitaouichetz_, as the Indian name of the River. ]

In composition with _-tuk_, 'river' or 'tidal stream, ' _sauki_(adjectival) gave names to '_Soakatuck_, ' now Saugatuck, the mouth ofa river in Fairfield county, Conn. ; to '_Sawahquatock_, ' or'_Sawkatuck-et_, ' at the outlet of Long Pond or mouth of HerringRiver, in Harwich, Mass. ; and perhaps to _Massaugatucket_, (_missi-saukituk-ut_?), in Marshfield, Mass. , and in South Kingston, R. I. , --a name which, in both places, has been shortened toSaquatucket. 

'_Winnipiseogee_' (pronounced _Win´ ni pe sauk´ e_, ) is compounded of_winni_, _nippe_, and _sauki_, 'good-water discharge, ' and the namemust have belonged originally to the _outlet_ by which the waters ofthe lake pass to the Merrimack, rather than to the lake itself. Winnepesauke, Wenepesioco and (with the locative) Winnipesiockett, areamong the early forms of the name. The translation of this synthesisby 'the Smile of the Great Spirit' is sheer nonsense. Another, firstproposed by the late Judge Potter of New Hampshire, in his History ofManchester (p. 27), [73]--'the beautiful water of the high place, '--isdemonstrably wrong. It assumes that _is_ or _es_ represents _kees_, meaning 'high;' to which assumption there are two objections: first, that there is no evidence that such a word as _kees_, meaning 'high, 'is found in any Algonkin language, and secondly, that if there be sucha word, it must retain its significant root, in any synthesis of whichit makes part, --in other words, that _kees_ could not drop its initial_k_ and preserve its meaning. I was at first inclined to accept themore probable translation proposed by 'S. F. S. ' [S. F. Streeter?] inthe Historical Magazine for August, 1857, [74]--"the land of the placidor beautiful lake;" but, in the dialects of New England, _nippisse_ or_nips_, a diminutive of _nippe_, 'water, ' is never used for _paug_, 'lake' or 'standing water;'[75] and if it were sometimes so used, theextent of Lake Winnepiseogee forbids it to be classed with the 'smalllakes' or 'ponds, ' to which, only, the _diminutive_ is appropriate. 

[Footnote 73: And in the _Historical Magazine_, vol. I. P. 246. ]

[Footnote 74: Vol. I. P. 246. ]

[Footnote 75: See pp. 14, 15. ]

4. NASHAUÉ (Chip. _nássawaiï_ and _ashawiwi_), 'mid-way, ' or'between, ' and with _ohke_ or _auk_ added, 'the land between' or 'thehalf-way place, '--was the name of several localities. The tract onwhich Lancaster, in Worcester county (Mass. ) was settled, was'between' the branches of the river, and so it was called '_Nashaway_'or '_Nashawake_' (_nashaué-ohke_); and this name was afterwardstransferred from the territory to the river itself. There was another_Nashaway_ in Connecticut, between Quinnebaug and Five-Mile Rivers inWindham county, and here, too, the mutilated name of the_nashaue-ohke_ was transferred, as _Ashawog_ or _Assawog_, to theFive-Mile River. _Natchaug_ in the same county, the name of theeastern branch of Shetucket river, belonged originally to the tract'between' the eastern and western branches; and the Shetucket itselfborrows a name (_nashaue-tuk-ut_) from its place 'between' Yantic andQuinebaug rivers. A neck of land (now in Griswold, Conn. ) "betweenPachaug River and a brook that comes into it from the south, " one ofthe Muhhekan east boundaries, was called sometimes, _Shawwunk_, 'atthe place between, '--sometimes _Shawwâmug_ (_nashaué-amaug_), 'thefishing-place between' the rivers, or the 'half-wayfishing-place. '[76]

[Footnote 76: Chandler's Survey and Map of the Mohegan country, 1705. Compare the Chip. _ashawiwi-sitagon_, "a place from which water runstwo ways, " a dividing ridge or portage _between_ river courses. Owen'sGeological Survey of Wisconsin, etc. , p. 312. ]

5. ASHIM, is once used by Eliot (Cant. Iv. 12) for 'fountain. ' Itdenoted a _spring_ or brook from which water was obtained fordrinking. In the Abnaki, _asiem nebi_, 'il puise de l'eau;' and_ned-a'sihibe_, 'je puise de l'eau, _fonti vel fluvio_. ' (Rasles. )

_Winne-ashim-ut_, 'at the good spring, ' near Romney Marsh, is nowChelsea, Mass. The name appears in deeds and records as Winnisimmet, Winisemit, Winnet Semet, etc. The author of the 'New English Canaan'informs us (book 2, ch. 8), that "At _Weenasemute_ is a water, thevirtue whereof is, to cure barrennesse. The place taketh his name ofthat fountaine, which signifieth _quick spring_, or _quickningspring_. Probatum. "

_Ashimuit_ or _Shumuit_, an Indian village near the line betweenSandwich and Falmouth, Mass. , --_Shaume_, a neck and river in Sandwich(the _Chawum_ of Capt. John Smith?), --_Shimmoah_, an Indian village onNantucket, --may all have derived their names from springs resorted toby the natives, as was suggested by the Rev. Samuel Deane in a paperin _Mass. Hist. Collections_, 2d Series, vol. X. Pp. 173, 174. 

6. MATTAPPAN, a participle of _mattappu_ (Chip. _namátabi_), 'he sitsdown, ' denotes a 'sitting-down place, ' or, as generally employed inlocal names, _the end of a portage_ between two rivers or from one armof the sea to another, --where the canoe was launched again and itsbearers re-embarked. Râle translates the Abnaki equivalent, _mata[n]be_, by 'il va au bord de l'eau, --a la grève pours'embarquer, ' and _meta[n]béniganik_, by 'au bout de delà du portage. '

_Mattapan-ock_, afterwards shortened to _Mattapan_, that part ofDorchester Neck (South Boston) where "the west country people were setdown" in 1630, [77] may have been so called because it was the end of acarrying place from South Bay to Dorchester Bay, across the narrowestpart of the peninsula, or--as seems highly probable--because it wasthe temporary 'sitting-down place' of the new comers. Elsewhere, wefind the name evidently associated with _portage_. 

[Footnote 77: Blake's Annals of Dorchester, p. 9; Winthrop's Journal, vol. I. P. 28. ]

On Smith's Map of Virginia, one '_Mattapanient_' appears as the nameof the northern fork (now the _Mattápony_) of Pamaunk (York) River;another (_Mattpanient_) near the head waters of the Pawtuxunt; and athird on the 'Chickahamania' not far above its confluence withPowhatan (James) River. 

_Mattapoiset_, on an inlet of Buzzard's Bay, in Rochester, Mass. , --another Mattapoiset or 'Mattapuyst, ' now Gardner's Neck, inSwanzea, --and 'Mattapeaset' or 'Mattabesic, ' on the great bend of theConnecticut (now Middletown), derived their names from the same word, probably. 

On a map of Lake Superior, made by Jesuit missionaries and publishedin Paris in 1672, the stream which is marked on modern maps as'Rivière aux Traines' or 'Train River, ' is named 'R. _Mataban_. ' Thesmall lake from which it flows is the 'end of portage' between thewaters of Lake Michigan and those of Lake Superior. 

7. CHABENUK, 'a bound mark'; literally, 'that which separates ordivides. ' A hill in Griswold, Conn. , which was anciently one of theMuhhekan east bound-marks, was called _Chabinu[n]k_, 'Atchaubennuck, 'and 'Chabunnuck. ' The village of praying Indians in Dudley (nowWebster?) Mass. , was named _Chabanakongkomuk_ (Eliot, 1668, ) or_-ongkomum_, and the Great Pond still retains, it is said, the name ofChaubenagungamaug (_chabenukong-amaug_?), "the boundaryfishing-place. " This pond was a bound mark between the Nipmucks andthe Muhhekans, and was resorted to by Indians of both nations. 

 * * * * *

III. Participials and verbals employed as place-names may generally, as was before remarked, be referred to one or the other of the twopreceding classes. The distinction between noun and verb is lessclearly marked in Indian grammar than in English. The name_Mushauwomuk_ (corrupted to _Shawmut_) may be regarded as aparticiple from the verb _mushau[oo]m_ (Narr. _mishoonhom_) 'he goesby boat, '--or as a noun, meaning 'a ferry, '--or as a name of the firstclass, compounded of the adjectival _mush[oo]-n_, 'boat or canoe, ' and_wom[oo]-uk_, habitual or customary _going_, i. E. , 'where there isgoing-by-boat. '

The analysis of names of this class is not easy. In most cases, itsresults must be regarded as merely provisional. Without some cluesupplied by history or tradition and without accurate knowledge of thelocality to which the name belongs, or _is supposed_ to belong, onecan never be certain of having found the right key to the synthesis, however well it may seem to fit the lock. Experience Mayhew writingfrom Chilmark on Martha's Vineyard, in 1722, gives the Indian name ofthe place where he was living as _Nimpanickhickanuh_. If he had notadded the information that the name "signifies in English, _The placeof thunder clefts_, " and that it was so called "because there was oncea tree there split in pieces by the thunder, " it is not likely thatany one in this generation would have discovered its precisemeaning, --though it might have been conjectured that _neimpau_, or_nimbau_, 'thunder, ' made a part of it. 

_Quilútámende_ was (Heckewelder tells us[78]) the Delaware name of aplace on the Susquehanna, in Pennsylvania, where, as the Indians say, "in their wars with the Five Nations, they fell by surprise upon theirenemies. The word or name of this place is therefore, _Where we cameunawares upon them_, &c. " Without the tradition, the meaning of thename would not have been guessed, --or, if guessed, would not have beenconfidently accepted. 

[Footnote 78: On Indian Names, in _Trans. Am. Philos. Society_, N. S. Iv. 361. ]

The difficulty of analyzing such names is greatly increased by thefact that they come to us in corrupt forms. The same name may befound, in early records, written in a dozen different ways, and somethree or four of these may admit of as many different translations. Indian grammatical synthesis was _exact_. Every consonant and everyvowel had its office and its place. Not one could be dropped ortransposed, nor could one be added, without _change of meaning_. Nowmost of the Indian local names were first written by men who carednothing for their meaning and knew nothing of the languages to whichthey belonged. Of the few who had learned to speak one or more ofthese languages, no two adopted the same way of writing them, and noone--John Eliot excepted--appears to have been at all careful to writethe same word twice alike. In the seventeenth century men tookconsiderable liberties with the spelling of their own surnames andvery large liberty with English polysyllables--especially with localnames. Scribes who contrived to find five or six ways of writing'Hartford' or 'Wethersfield, ' were not likely to preserve uniformityin their dealings with Indian names. A few letters more or less wereof no great consequence, but, generally, the writers tried to keep onthe safe side, by putting in as many as they could find room for;prefixing a _c_ to every _k_, doubling every _w_ and _g_, and tackingon a superfluous final _e_, for good measure. 

In some instances, what is supposed to be an Indian place-name is infact a _personal_ name, borrowed from some sachem or chief who livedon or claimed to own the territory. Names of this class are likely togive trouble to translators. I was puzzled for a long time by'_Mianus_, ' the name of a stream between Stamford and Greenwich, --tillI remembered that _Mayano_, an Indian warrior (who was killed by Capt. Patrick in 1643) had lived hereabouts; and on searching the Greenwichrecords, I found the stream was first mentioned as _Moyannoes_ and_Mehanno's_ creek, and that it bounded 'Moyannoe's neck' of land. _Moosup_ river, which flows westerly through Plainfield into theQuinebaug and which has given names to a post-office and factoryvillage, was formerly _Moosup's_ river, --Moosup or _Maussup_ being oneof the aliases of a Narragansett sachem who is better known, in thehistory of Philip's war, as Pessacus. Heckewelder[79] restores'Pymatuning, ' the name of a place in Pennsylvania, to the Del. '_Pihmtónink_, ' meaning, "the dwelling place of the man with thecrooked mouth, or the crooked man's dwelling place, " and adds, that he"knew the man perfectly well, " who gave this name to the locality. 

[Footnote 79: On Indian Names (_ut supra_), p. 365. ]

Some of the examples which have been given, --such as _Higganum_, _Nunkertunk_, _Shawmut_, _Swamscot_ and _Titicut_, --show how thedifficulties of analysis have been increased by phonetic corruption, sometimes to such a degree as hardly to leave a trace of the original. Another and not less striking example is presented by _Snipsic_, themodern name of a pond between Ellington and Tolland. If we had notaccess to Chandler's Survey of the Mohegan Country, made in 1705, whowould suppose that 'Snipsic' was the surviving representative of_Moshenupsuck_, 'great-pond brook' or (literally) 'great-pond outlet, 'at the south end of _Moshenups_ or _Mashenips_ 'great pond?' Theterritories of three nations, the Muhhekans, Nipmucks and RiverIndians, ran together at this point. 

'_Nameroake_, ' '_Namareck_' or '_Namelake_, ' in East Windsor, wastransformed to _May-luck_, giving to a brook a name which 'tradition'derives from the 'luck' of a party of emigrants who came in 'May' tothe Connecticut. [80] The original name appears to have been theequivalent of 'Nameaug' or 'Nameoke' (New London), and to mean 'thefishing place, '--_n'amaug_ or _nama-ohke_. 

[Footnote 80: Stiles's History of Ancient Windsor, p. 111. ]

But none of these names exhibits a more curious transformation thanthat of '_Bagadoose_' or '_Bigaduce_, ' a peninsula on the east side ofPenobscot Bay, now Castine, Me. Williamson's History of Maine (ii. 572) states on the authority of Col. J. Wardwell of Penobscot, in1820, that this point bore the name of a former resident, a Frenchman, one 'Major Biguyduce. ' Afterwards, the historian was informed that'_Marche bagyduce_' was an Indian word meaning 'no good cove. ' Mr. Joseph Williamson, in a paper in the Maine Historical Society'sCollections (vol. Vi. P. 107) identifies this name with the_Matchebiguatus_ of Edward Winslow's quitclaim to Massachusetts in1644, [81] and correctly translates the prefix _matche_ by 'bad, ' butadds: "What _Biguatus_ means, I do not know. " Purchas mentions'_Chebegnadose_, ' as an Indian town on the 'Apananawapeske' orPenobscot. [82] Râle gives, as the name of the place on "the riverwhere M. De Gastin [Castine] is, " _Matsibig[oo]ad[oo]ssek_, and on hisauthority we may accept this form as nearly representing the original. The analysis now becomes more easy. _Matsi-a[n]baga[oo]at-ek_, means'at the bad-shelter place, --bad _covert_ or cove;' and_matsi-a[n]baga[oo]at[oo]s-ek_ the diminutive, 'at the smallbad-shelter place. ' About two miles and a half above the mouth of theKenebec was a place called by the Indians '_Abagadusset_' or'_Abequaduset_'--the same name without the prefix--meaning 'at thecove, or place of shelter. '

[Footnote 81: Printed in note to Savage's Winthrop's Journal, ii. 180. ]

[Footnote 82: See Thornton's Ancient Pemaquid, in Maine Hist. Collections, v. 156. ]

 * * * * *

The adjectivals employed in the composition of Algonkin names are verynumerous, and hardly admit of classification. Noun, adjective, adverbor even an active verb may, with slight change of form, serve as aprefix. But, as was before remarked, every prefix, strictlyconsidered, is an adverb or must be construed as an adverb, --thesynthesis which serves as a name having generally the verb form. Someof the most common of these prefixes have been mentioned on precedingpages. A few others, whose meanings are less obvious and have beensometimes mistaken by translators, may deserve more particular notice. 

1. POHQUI, POHQUAE´; Narr. _pâuqui_; Abn. _p[oo]'k[oo]ié_; 'open, ''clear' (primarily, 'broken'). In composition with _ohke_, 'land, ' orformed as a verbal in _-aug_, it denotes 'cleared land' or 'an openplace:' as in the names variously written 'Pahquioque, ' 'Paquiaug;''Pyquaag;' 'Poquaig, ' 'Payquaoge, ' &c. , in Danbury and Wethersfield, and in Athol, Mass. 

2. PAHKE (Abn. _pa[n]g[oo]i_, ) 'clear, ' 'pure'. Found with _paug_, 'standing water' or 'pond, ' in such names as 'Pahcupog, ' 'Paquabaug, '&c. See page 16. 

3. PÂGUAN-AÜ, 'he destroys, ' 'he slaughters' (Narr. _paúquana_, 'thereis a slaughter') in composition with _ohke_ denotes 'place ofslaughter' or 'of destruction, ' and commemorates some sanguinaryvictory or disastrous defeat. This is _probably_ the meaning of nearlyall the names written 'Poquannoc, ' 'Pequannoc, ' 'Pauganuck, ' &c. , ofplaces in Bridgeport (Stratfield), Windsor and Groton, Conn. , and of atown in New Jersey. Some of these, however, may possibly be derivedfrom _paukunni_ and _ohke_, 'dark place. '

4. PEMI (Abn. _pemai-[oo]i_; Del. _pimé-u_; Cree, _peemé_;) denotesdeviation from a straight line; 'sloping, ' 'aslant, ' 'twisted. 'PUMMEECHE (Cree, _pimich_; Chip. _pemiji_; Abn. _pemetsi_;)'crosswise; traverse. ' Eliot wrote '_pummeeche may_' for 'cross-way, 'Obad. 14; and _pumetshin_ (literally, 'it crosses') for 'a cross, ' asin _up-pumetshin-eum_, 'his cross, ' Luke xiv. 27. _Pemiji-gome_ or_Pemiji-guma_, 'cross water, ' is the Chippewa name for a lake whoselongest diameter crosses the general course of the river which flowsthrough it, --which stretches _across_, not _with_ the stream. There issuch a lake in Minnesota, near the sources of the Mississippi, justbelow the junction of the two primary forks of that river; another('Pemijigome') in the chain of small lakes which are the northernsources of the Manidowish (and Chippewa) River in Wisconsin, and stillanother near the Lacs des Flambeaux, the source of Flambeau River, anaffluent of the Manidowish. 

The same prefix or its equivalent occurs in the name of a lake inMaine, near the source of the Alligash branch of St. John's River. Mr. Greenleaf, in a list of Indian names made in 1823, [83] gave this as"BAAM´CHE_nun´gamo_ or _Ah_P´MOOJEE`_negmook_. " Thoreau[84] wasinformed by his Penobscot guide, that the name "means 'Lake that iscrossed;' because the usual course lies across, not along it. " Thereis another "Cross Lake, " in Aroostook county, near the head of FishRiver. We seem to recognize, and with less difficulty, the same prefixin _Pemigewasset_, but the full composition of that name is not clear. 

[Footnote 83: Report of American Society for Promoting Civilization ofthe Indian Tribes, p. 52. ]

[Footnote 84: Maine Woods, 232. ]

PEMI- denotes, not a _crossing of_ but _deviation from_ a straightline, whether vertical or horizontal. In place-names it may generallybe translated by 'sloping' or 'aslant;' sometimes by 'awry' or'tortuous. ' _Pemadené_, which Râle gives as the Abnaki word for'mountain, ' denotes a _sloping_ mountain-side (_pemi-adené_), indistinction from one that is steep or precipitous. '_Pemetiq_, ' theIndian name of Mount Desert Island, as written by Father Biard in1611, is the Abnaki _peme'teki_, 'sloping land. ' _Pemaquid_ appears tobe another form of the word which Râle wrote '_Pemaa[n]kke_, ' meaning(with the locative suffix) 'at the place where the land slopes;' where"le terre penche; est en talus. "[85] _Pymatuning_, in Pennsylvania, isexplained by Heckewelder, as "the dwelling place of the man with thecrooked mouth; _Pihmtónink_" (from _pimeu_ and _'t[oo]n_). 

[Footnote 85: Abnaki Dictionary, s. V. PENCHER. Compare, p. 545, "_bimk[oo]é_, il penche naturellement la tête sur un côte. "]

WANASHQUE, ANASQUI, 'at the extremity of, ' 'at the end;' Abn. _[oo]anask[oo]i[oo]i_, 'au bout;' Cree, _wánnusk[oo]tch_; Chip. _ishkuè_, _eshqua_. See (pp. 18, 19, ) _Wanashqu-ompsk-ut_, _Wonnesquam_, [86] _Winnesquamsaukit_, _Squamscot_. _Wonasquatucket_, asmall river which divides North Providence and Johnston, R. I. , retainsthe name which belonged to the point at which it enters an arm ofNarragansett Bay (or Providence River), 'at the end of thetidal-river. ' A stream in Rochester, Mass. , which empties into thehead of an inlet from Buzzard's Bay, received the same name. _Ishquagoma_, on the upper Embarras River, Minnesota, is the 'endlake, ' the extreme point to which canoes go up that stream. 

[Footnote 86: _Wonnesquam_ (as should have been mentioned on the pagereferred to) may possibly represent the Abnaki_[oo]anask[oo]a[n]a[n]mi[oo]i_ or _-mek_ 'at the end of the peninsula'('au bout de la presqu'ile. ' Râle). ]

Names of _fishes_ supply the adjectival components of many place-nameson the sea-coast of New England, on the lakes, and alongriver-courses. The difficulty of analyzing such names is the greaterbecause the same species of fish was known by different names todifferent tribes. The more common substantivals are _-amaug_, 'fishingplace; _-tuk_ or _sipu_, 'river;' _ohke_, 'place;' Abn. _-ka[n]tti_, 'place of abundance;' and _-keag_, _-keke_, Abn. _-khigé_, whichappears to denote a peculiar _mode of fishing_, --perhaps, by a_weir_;[87] possibly, a _spearing-place_. 

[Footnote 87: Schoolcraft derives the name of the _Namakagun_ fork ofthe St. Croix river, Wisc. , from Chip. "_namai_, sturgeon, and_kagun_, a yoke or weir. "]

From the generic _namaus_ (_namohs_, El. ; Abn. _namés_; Del. _namees_;) 'a fish'--but probably, one of the _smaller_ sort, for theform is a diminutive, --come such names as _Nameoke_ or _Nameaug_ (NewLondon), for _namau-ohke_, 'fish country;' _Namasket_ or _Namasseket_(on Taunton River, in Middleborough, Mass. ) 'at the fish place, ' afavorite resort of the Indians of that region; _Namaskeak_, nowAmoskeag, on the Merrimack, and _Nam'skeket_ or _Skeekeet_, inWellfleet, Mass. 

_M'squammaug_ (Abn. _mesk[oo]amék[oo]_), 'red fish, ' i. E. Salmon, gavenames to several localities. _Misquamacuck_ or _Squamicut_, nowWesterly, R. I. , was 'a salmon place' of the Narragansetts. The initial_m_ often disappears; and sometimes, so much of the rest of the namegoes with it, that we can only guess at the original synthesis. '_Gonic_, ' a post office and railroad station, near Dover, N. H. , onthe Cocheco river, was once '_Squammagonic_, '--and probably, asalmon-fishing place. 

_Kaúposh_ (Abn. _kabassé_, plu. _kabassak_), 'sturgeon, ' is acomponent of the name _Cobbosseecontee_, in Maine (page 26, ante), 'where sturgeons are plenty;' and _Cobscook_, an arm of PassamaquoddyBay, Pembroke, Me. , perhaps stands for _kabassakhigé_, 'sturgeon-catching place. '

_Aumsuog_ or _Ommissuog_ (Abn. _a[n]ms[oo]ak_), 'smallfish, '--especially alewives and herrings, --is a component of the nameof the Abnaki village on the Kennebec, _A[n]mes[oo]k-ka[n]tti_; of_Mattammiscontis_, a tributary of the Kennebec (see p. 25, ante), and_probably_, of _Amoscoggin_ and _Amoskeag_. 

_Qunnôsu_ (pl. _-suog;_ Abn. _k[oo]n[oo]sé;_ Old Alg. _kino[n]jé_;Chip. _keno´zha_;) is found in the name of _Kenosha_, a town andcounty in Wisconsin; perhaps, in _Kenjua_ or _Kenzua_ creek andtownship, in Warren county, Pa. _Quinshepaug_ or _Quonshapauge_, inMendon, Mass. , seems to denote a 'pickerel pond' (_qunnosu-paug_). _Maskinongé_, i. E. _massa-kino[n]jé_, 'great pike' or maskelunge, names a river and lake in Canada. 

_Pescatum_, said to mean 'pollock, ' occurs as an adjectival in_Peskadamioukka[n]tti_, the modern _Passamaquoddy_ (p. 26). 

_Naha[n]m[oo]_, the Abnaki name of the 'eel, ' is found in"_Nehumkeag_, the English of which is _Eel Land_, . .. A stream orbrook that empties itself into Kennebec River, " not far fromCobbissecontee. [88] This brook was sometimes called by the English, _Nehumkee_. The Indian name of Salem, Mass. , was _Nehumkeke_ or_Naümkeag_, and a place on the Merrimac, near the mouth of ConcordRiver (now in Lowell, I believe, ) had the same name, --written, _Naamkeak_. 

[Footnote 88: Col. William Lithgow's deposition, 1767, --in New EnglandHistorical and General Register, xxiv. 24. ]

 * * * * *

In view of the illustrations which have been given, we repeat what wasstated in the beginning of this paper, that Indian place-names are not_proper names_, that is unmeaning marks, but significant_appellatives_, each conveying a _description_ of the locality towhich it belongs. In those parts of the country where Indian languagesare still spoken, the analysis of such names is comparatively easy. Chippewa, Cree, or (in another family) Sioux-Dakota geographical namesmay generally be translated with as little difficulty as other wordsor syntheses in the same languages. In New England, and especially inour part of New England, the case is different. We can hardly expectto ascertain the meaning of all the names which have come down to usfrom dead languages of aboriginal tribes. Some of the obstacles toaccurate analysis have been pointed out. Nearly every geographicalname has been mutilated or has suffered change. It would indeed bestrange if Indian polysyntheses, with their frequent gutturals andnasals, adopted from unwritten languages and by those who wereignorant of their meanings, had been exempted from the phonetic changeto which all language is subject, as a result of the universaldisposition "to put more facile in the stead of more difficult soundsor combination of sounds, and to get rid altogether of what isunnecessary in the words we use. "[89] What Professor Haldeman calls_otosis_, 'that error of the ear by which words are perverted to amore familiar form, '[90] has effected some curious transformations. _Swatara_, [91] the name of a stream in Pennsylvania, becomes 'SweetArrow;' the _Potopaco_ of John Smith's map (_p[oo]tuppâg_, a bay orcove; Eliot, ) on a bend of the Potomac, is naturalized as 'PortTobacco. ' _Nama'auke_, 'the place of fish' in East Windsor, passesthrough _Namerack_ and _Namalake_ to the modern 'May Luck. '_Moskitu-auke_, 'grass land, ' in Scituate, R. I. , gives the name of'Mosquito Hawk' to the brook which crosses it. [92]

[Footnote 89: Whitney's Language and the Study of Language, p. 69. --"Ein natürliches Volksgefühl, oft auch der Volkswitz, den nichtmehr verstandenen Namen neu umprägte und mit anderen lebenden Wörternin Verbindung setzte. " Dr. J. Bender, _Die deutschen Ortsnamen_ (2teAusg. ) p. 2. ]

[Footnote 90: Haldeman's Analytic Orthography, §279, and "Etymology asa means of Education, " in Pennsylvania School Journal for October, 1868. ]

[Footnote 91: "Swatawro, " on Sayer and Bennett's Map, 1775. ]

[Footnote 92: "Whiskey Jack, " the name by which the Canada Jay(Perisoreus Canadensis) is best known to the lumbermen and hunters ofMaine and Canada, is the Montagnais _Ouishcatcha[n]_ (Cree, _Ouiskeshauneesh_), which has passed perhaps through the transitionalforms of 'Ouiske Jean' and 'Whiskey Johnny. ' The Shagbark Hickorynuts, in the dialect of the Abnakis called _s'k[oo]skada´mennar_, literally, 'nuts to be cracked with the teeth, ' are the'Kuskatominies' and 'Kisky Thomas' nuts of descendants of the Dutchcolonists of New Jersey and New York. A contraction of the _plural_form of a Massachusetts noun-generic, --_asquash_, denoting 'thingswhich are eaten green, or without cooking, ' was adopted as the name ofa garden vegetable, --with conscious reference, perhaps, to the oldEnglish word _squash_, meaning 'something soft or immature. ' Sometimesetymology overreaches itself, by regarding an aboriginal name as thecorrupt form of a foreign one. Thus the _maskalongé_ or 'greatlong-nose' of the St. Lawrence (see p. 43) has been reputed of Frenchextraction, --_masque elongé_: and _sagackomi_, the northern name of aplant used as a substitute for or to mix with tobacco, --especially, ofthe Bearberry, _Arctostaphylos uva-ursi_, --is resolved into_sac-à-commis_, "on account of the Hudson's Bay officers carrying itin bags for smoking, " as Sir John Richardson believed (ArcticSearching Expedition, ii. 303). It was left for the ingenuity of aWestminster Reviewer to discover that _barbecue_ (denoting, in thelanguage of the Indians of Guiana, a wooden frame or grille on whichall kinds of flesh and fish were dry-roasted, or cured in smoke, )might be a corruption of the French _barbe à queue_, i. E. 'from snoutto tail;' a suggestion which appears to have found favor withlexicographers. ]

In Connecticut and Rhode Island special causes operated to corrupt andtransform almost beyond possibility of recognition, many of the Indianplace names. Five different dialects at least were spoken betweenNarragansett Bay and the Housatonic River, at the time of the firstcoming of the English. In early deeds and conveyances in the colonialand in local records, we find the same river, lake, tract of land orbound-mark named sometimes in the Muhhekan, sometimes in theNarragansett, or Niantic, or Nipmuck, or Connecticut valley, orQuinnipiac (Quiripee) dialect. The adopted name is often_extra-limitary_ to the tribe by which it was given. Often, it is amixture of, or a sort of compromise between, two dialects; halfMuhhekan, half Narragansett or Nipmuck. In the form in which it comesto us, we can only guess from what language or languages it has beencorrupted. 

The analysis of those names even whose composition appears to be mostobvious must be accepted as _provisional_ merely. The recovery of alost syllable or of a lost guttural or nasal, the correction of afalse accent even, may give to the synthesis another and hithertounsuspected meaning. It would be surprising if some of thetranslations which have been hazarded in this paper do not prove to bewide of their mark. Even English etymology is not reckoned among theexact sciences yet, --and in Algonkin, there is the additionaldisadvantage of having no Sanskrit verbs "to go, " to fall back on as alast resort. 

Recent manifestations of an increasing interest in Indian onomatology, or at least of awakened curiosity to discover the meanings of Indiannames, may perhaps justify the writer in offering, at the close ofthis paper, a few suggestions, as to the method of analysis whichappears most likely to give correct results, and as to the tests bywhich to judge of the _probability_ that a supposed translation of anyname is the true one. 

1. The earliest recorded form of the name should be sought for, andevery variation from it should be noted. These should be taken so faras possible from original manuscripts, not from printed copies. 

2. Where the difference of forms is considerable, knowledge of thecharacter and opportunities of the writer may sometimes determine thepreference of one form to others, as probably the most accurate. AMassachusetts or Connecticut name written by John Eliot or ExperienceMayhew--or by the famous interpreter, Thomas Stanton--may safely beassumed to represent the original combination of sounds more exactlythan the form given it by some town-recorder, ignorant of the Indianlanguage and who perhaps did not always write or spell his owncorrectly. 

3. The name should be considered with some reference to thetopographical features of the region to which it belongs. These maysometimes determine the true meaning when the analysis is doubtful, ormay suggest the meaning which would otherwise have been unsuspectedunder the modern form. 

4. Remembering that every letter or sound had its value, --if, in theanalysis of a name, it becomes necessary to get rid of a troublesomeconsonant or vowel by assuming it to have been introduced 'for thesake of euphony, '--it is probable that the interpretation so arrivedat is _not_ the right one. 

5. The components of every place-name--or to speak more generally, theelements of every Indian synthesis are _significant roots_, not mere_fractions of words_ arbitrarily selected for new combinations. Therehas been no more prolific source of error in dealings with theetymology and the grammatical structure of the American languages thanthat one-sided view of the truth which was given by Duponceau[93] inthe statement that "one or more syllables of each simple word aregenerally chosen and combined together, in one compound locution, often leaving out the harsh consonants for the sake of euphony, "--andrepeated by Heckewelder, [94] when he wrote, that "in the Delaware andother American languages, parts or parcels of different words, sometimes a single sound or letter, are compounded together in anartificial manner so as to avoid the meeting of harsh or disagreeablesounds, " &c. The "single sound or letter" the "one or more syllables, "were chosen not as "part or parcel" of a word but because of their_inherent significance_. The Delaware "_Pilape_, a youth, " is_not_--as Heckewelder and Duponceau represented it to be[95]--"formedfrom _pilsit_, chaste, innocent, and _lenape_, a man, " but from PIL-(Mass. _pen-_, Abn. _pir-_, ) strange, novel, _unused_ (and hence)pure, --and -A[N]PE (Mass. _-omp_, Abn. _a[n]bé_) a male, _vir_. It istrue that the same roots are found in the two words PIL-_sit_ (aparticiple of the verb-adjective _pil-esu_, 'he is pure, ') and_len_-A[N]PE, 'common man:' but the statement that "one or moresyllables" are _taken from_ these words to form _Pilape_ is inaccurateand misleading. It might with as much truth be said that the Englishword _boyhood_ is formed from selected syllables of boy-ish andman-hood; or that purity 'compounds together in an artificial manner'fractions of _pur_ify and qual_ity_. 

[Footnote 93: Correspondence of Duponceau and Heckewelder, in Trans. Historical and Literary Committee of Am. Philos. Society, p. 403. ]

[Footnote 94: Ibid. , p. 406. ]

[Footnote 95: Preface to Duponceau's translation of Zeisberger'sGrammar, p. 21. On Duponceau's authority, Dr. Pickering accepted thisanalysis and gave it currency by repeating it, in his admirable paperon "Indian Languages, " in the Encyclopædia Americana, vol. Vi. ]

We meet with similar analyses in almost every published list of Indiannames. Some examples have been given in the preceding pages of thispaper, --as in the interpretation of 'Winnipisiogee' (p. 32) by 'thebeautiful water of the high place, ' _s_ or _[=e]s_ being regarded asthe fractional representative of '_kees_, high. ' _Pemigewasset_ hasbeen translated by 'crooked place of pines' and 'crooked mountain pineplace, '--as if _k[oo]-a_, 'a pine, ' or its plural _k[oo]-ash_, coulddispense in composition with its significant base, _k[oo]_, and appearby a grammatical formative only. 

6. No interpretation of a place-name is correct which makes _badgrammar_ of the original. The apparatus of Indian synthesis wascumbersome and perhaps inelegant, but it was nicely adjusted to itswork. The grammatical relations of words were never lost sight of. Theseveral components of a name had their established order, notdependent upon the will or skill of the composer. When we read modernadvertisements of "cheap gentlemen's traveling bags" or "steel-facedcarpenters' claw hammers, " we may construe such phrases with alatitude which was not permitted to the Algonkins. If 'Connecticut'means--as some have supposed it to mean--'long deer place, ' it denotesa place where _long deer_ abounded; if 'Piscataqua' was named 'greatdeer river, ' it was because the deer found _in_ that river were ofremarkable size. 'Coaquanock' or, as Heckewelder wrote it, 'Cuwequenaku, ' the site of Philadelphia, may mean 'pine long-place'but cannot mean 'long pine-place' or 'grove of long pine trees. ' If'Pemigewasset' is compounded of words signifying 'crooked, ' 'pines, 'and 'place, ' it denotes 'a place of crooked pines, '--not 'crookedplace of pines. '

Again--every Indian name is _complete within itself_. A mereadjectival or qualificative cannot serve independently, leaving thereal ground-word to be supplied by the hearer. River names mustcontain some element which denotes 'river;' names of lakes or pondssomething which stands for 'lake' or 'pond. ' The Indians had not ourfashion of speech which permits Hudson's River to be called 'theHudson, ' drops the word 'lake' from 'Champlain' or 'Erie, ' and makes"the Alleghanies" a geographical name. This difference must not belost sight of, in analysis or translation. _Agawam_ or _Auguan_ (aname given to several localities in New England where there are lowflat meadows or marshes, ) cannot be the equivalent of the Abnaki_ag[oo]a[n]n_, which means 'a smoke-dried fish, '[96]--though_ag[oo]a[n]na-ki_ or something like it (if such a name should befound), might mean 'smoked-fish place. ' _Chickahominy_ does not standfor 'great corn, ' nor _Pawcatuck_ for 'much or many deer;'[97] becauseneither 'corn' nor 'deer' designates _place_ or implies fixedlocation, and therefore neither can be made the ground-word of aplace-name. _Androscoggin_ or _Amoscoggin_ is not from the Abnaki'_amaskohegan_, fish-spearing, '[98] for a similar reason (andmoreover, because the termination _-h[=e]gan_ denotes always an_instrument_, never an _action_ or a _place_; it may belong to 'afish-spear, ' but not to 'fish spearing' nor to the locality 'wherefish are speared. ')

[Footnote 96: It was so interpreted in the Historical Magazine forMay, 1865 (p. 90). ]

[Footnote 97: Ibid. To this interpretation of _Pawcatuck_ there is themore obvious objection that a prefix signifying 'much or many' shouldbe followed not by _ahtuk_ or _attuk_, 'a deer, ' but by the plural_ahtukquog_. ]

[Footnote 98: Etymological Vocabulary of Geographical Names, appendedto the last edition of Webster's Dictionary (1864). It may be properto remark in this connection, that the writer's responsibility for thecorrectness of translations given in that vocabulary does not extendbeyond his own contributions to it. ]

7. The locative post-position, _-et_, _-it_ or _-ut_, [99] means _in_, _at_ or _on_, --not 'land' or 'place. ' It locates, not the object tothe name of which it is affixed, but _something else_ as related tothat object, --which must be of such a nature that location can bepredicated of it. _Animate nouns_, that is, names of animate objectscannot receive this affix. 'At the rock' (_ompsk-ut_), 'at themountain' (_wadchu-ut_), or 'in the country' (_ohk-it_, _auk-it_), isintelligible, in Indian or English; 'at the deer, ' 'at the bear, ' or'at the sturgeons, ' would be nonsense in any language. When animatenouns occur in place-names, they receive the formative of verbals, orserve as adjectival prefixes to some localizing ground-word ornoun-generic. 

[Footnote 99: Abnaki and Cree, _-k_ or _-g_, --Delaware and Chippewa, _-ng_; or _-[n]g_, --with a connecting vowel. ]

8. Finally, --in the analysis of geographical names, differences of_language_ and _dialect_ must not be disregarded. In determining theprimary meaning of roots, great assistance may be had by thecomparison of derivatives in nearly related languages of the samestock. But in American languages, the diversity of dialects is evenmore remarkable than the identity and constancy of roots. Every tribe, almost every village had its peculiarities of speech. Namesetymologically identical might have widely different meanings in twolanguages, or even in two nations speaking substantially the samelanguage. The eastern Algonkin generic name for 'fish' (_nâma-us_, Del. _namai-s_) is restricted by northern and western tribes to asingle species, the sturgeon (Chip. _namai´_, ) as _the_ fish, parexcellence. _Attuk_, in Massachusetts was the common fallow-deer, --inCanada and the north-west the caribou or reindeer. The Abnaki Indiancalled his _dog_ (_atié_) by a name which the Chippewa gives his_horse_ (_oti-un_; _n'di_, my horse). [100] The most commonnoun-generic of river names in New England (_-tuk_, 'tidal river')occurs rarely in those of Pennsylvania and Virginia, where it isreplaced by _-hanne_ ('rapid stream'), and is unknown to westernAlgonkin tribes whose streams are undisturbed by tides. The analysisof a geographical name must be sought in the language spoken by thename-givers. The correct translation of a Connecticut or Narragansettname is not likely to be attained by searching for its severalcomponents in a Chippewa vocabulary; or of the name of a locality nearHudson's River, by deriving its prefix from an Abnaki adverb and itsground-word from a Chippewa participle, --as was actually done in arecently published list of Indian names. 

[Footnote 100: Both words have the same meaning, --that of 'a domesticanimal, ' or literally, 'animate property;' 'he who _belongs_ tome. ']

INDIAN NAMES. 

Abagadusset, Abequaduset, 39

Abnaki, 7

-ACADIE, 26, 27

_Acawme-_, 10

Accomack, 10

-ADCHU, -ACHU, 20

-ADENÉ, 21

Agamenticus, 10

Agoncy, 28

AHQUEDNE, 23

_Akoode-_, 28

Alleghany, 12

-AMAUG, 18

Amessagunticook, 25

Amoskeag, 25

_Anasqui-_, 41

Androscoggin, 25

Anmesookkantti, 25, 42

Annis-squam, 18

Aquednet, -nesit, 23

_Ashawi-_, 33

Ashawog, 33

ASHIM, 34

Ashimuit, 34

_Assini-_, 20

-AÛKE, 6

Baamcheenunganoo, 40

Bagadoose, 38

-BIK, 18

_Boonamoo-_, 27

Capawonk, 29

Cappowonganick, 29

Catumb, 19

Caucomgomoc, 17

Chabanakongkomuk, 35

CHABENUK, 35

Chawonock, 7

Chebegnadose, 39

Chippaquiddick, 23

Cobbosseecontee, 26, 42

Cobbscook, 42

-COMACO, 21

Connecticut, 8

Cuppacommock, 21

_-Ehtu_, _-ettu_, 23, 24

_Eshqua-_, 41

-GAMI, 17

Ganshow-hanne, 12

Gonic, 42

Hackensack, 30

-HAN, -HANNE, 8, 12

_Hassuni-_, 19

Higganum, 19

-HITTUCK, 8

Hoccanum, 30

HOCQUAUN, 30

Ishquagoma, 41

_Kabassé-_, 42

-KAMIGHÉ, 21

-KAOODI, 28

-KANTTI, 22

Katahdin, 21

_Kauposh-_, 42

Kearsarge, 20

_Keht-_, _kit-_, 12, 19, 21

Kehtetukqut, 12

Kennebec, 15

Kenjua, 43

Kenosha, 43

Ketumpscut, 19

-KI, 6

Kinougami, 17

Kiskatamenakook, 7

Kittanning, 12

Kittatinny, 21

Kitchigami, 17

Kitchi-sipi, 7

-KOMUK, 21

-KONTU, 23

Kunckquachu, 20

_Kuppo-_, 21, 29

Lackawanna, 12

Lenapewi-hittuck, 8

Machigamig, 17

Manati, 22

Manhasset, 23

Manhatan, 22

Manisses, 22

Manussing, 23

_Massa-_, _Masha-_, 15

Massachusetts, 20

Massapaug, 15

Massaugatucket, 32

Mashenips, 38

Maskinonjé, 43

Mattabeset, 35

Mattammiscontis, 25

Mattapan, -ient, 34

Mattapony, 35

Mattapoiset, 35

Matchebiguatus, 39

Mauch-chunk, 20

MENAN, 22

Mennewies, 23

Meesucontee, 25

Mianus, 37

Michigan, 17

Missinippi, 15

Missisaking, 31

Mississippi, 7

Misquamacuck, 42

Mistassini, 20

Miste-shipu, 7

Mitchigami, 17

Mohicannittuck, 8

Montauk, 23

Moosup, 37

Moshenupsuck, 38

-MSK (for -OMPSK), 18

Munhansick, 23

MUNNOH-HAN, 22

Mushauwomuk, 5, 35

Mystic, 8

NÂ[=I]AG, 29

Namasket, 42

Nameaug, 38

Namelake, 38

Narragansett, 29

Nashauekomuk, 21

NASHAUÉ, 21, 33

Nashua, Nashaway, 33

Natchaug, 33

Na[=u]mkeag, 43

Nayatt, Nayot, 29

_Nessaooa-_, 22

Newichawanock, 12

Nimpanickhickanuh, 37

NIPPE, NEBI, 14

Nippissing, 15

Noank, 29

_Nó[=e]u-_, 11

Norwottock, 11

Noyaug, 29

_Nunni-_, 16

Nunnepoag, 16

Nunkertunk, 29

Nyack, 29

Occoquan, 30

_Ogkome-_, 10

OGQUIDNE, 23

Ohio, 13

-OHKE, -OKE, 6

Okhúcquan, 30

Olighin-sipoú, 13

-OMPSK, 18

Oswego, 31

Ouschankamaug, 18

Pacatock, 8

_Paguan-_, 40

_Pahke-_, 16, 40

Pahquioque, 39

Paquabaug, 16, 40

Paquiaug, 39

Pascoag, 11

Pasquotank, 11

Passamaquoddy, 26, 43

Patuxet, -ent, 9

-PAUG, 15

_Pauqui-_, 39

Pauquepaug, 16

Pauat-, 9

Pautuck, 9

Pawating, 9

Pawcatuck, 8

Pawtucket, 8, 9

Pemadené, 41

_Pemi-_, 40

Pemaquid, 41

Pemetiq, 41

Pemigewasset, 41

_Pemiji-_, 40

Pemijigomé, 40

_Pen-_, 19

Penobscot, 19

Pequabuck, 16

Pequannoc, 40

_Pescatum-_, 26, 43

_Peske-_, 10

Pesquamscot, 11

Pettiquamscut, 18

Petuckquapock, 16

_Petukqui-_, 16, 18

Pikanghenahik, 30

_Pimé-_, 40

-PISK, -PSK, 18

Piscataqua, -quog, 11

Piscataway, -aquis, 11

Poaetquessing, 9

_Pohqui-_, 39

_Ponamo-_, 27

Poquannoc, 40

Poutaxat, 9

Powhatan, 10

Pymatuning, 38, 41

Pyquaag, 39

_Pummeecke-_, 40

Quansigamaug, 18

Quilutamende, 36

_Quinni-_, 8, 15

Quinnihticut, 8

Quinebaug, 16

Quinepoxet, 16

Quinnipiac, 15

-QUODDY, -KANTTI, 26, 27

Quonshapang, 43

Qussuk, 16

Quunkwadchu, 20

Saco, 30

Sagadahock, 30

Saganaw, 31

Saguenay, 31

Saquatucket, 32

Saugatuck, 32

Saukunk, 31

Segoonumakaddy, 27

Segubbunakaddy, 26

SEPU, SEIP, SIPI, 7

Shaume, 34

Shawmut, 36

Shawwunk, 33

Shubenacadie, 26

Shumuit, 34

Sicaiook, Suckiaug, 7

Soakatuck, 32

_Sonki-_, 16

Sonkipaug, 16

Sowanohke, 7

Squam, 18

Squamacut, 42

Squammagonic, 42

Squamscot, 18

_Sucki-_, 7

Swamscot, 18

-TCHUAN, 12

Temigami, 17

Tetiquet, Titicut, 11

Tomheganomset, 19

Tracady, -die, 28

-TUK, 8

UHQUÔN, 30

WADCHU, 20

Wampanoags, 6

_Wanashqué-_, 18, 41

Wangunbog, 16

Wapanachki, 7

Werowocomoco, 21

Winnepesaukee, 32, 33

Winnesquamsaukit, 18

Winnisimmit, 34

Wnogquetookoke, 30

Wonasquatucket, 41

WONKUN, WONGUN, 29

Wongattuck, 29

Wonkemaug, 18

Wongunpaug, 16

Wonnesquam, 18

Wuskowhánanaukit, 7