Footprints of the Red Men: Indian geographical names in the valley of Hudson's river, the valley of the Mohawk, and on the Delaware: their location and the probable meaning of some of them.Ruttenber, Edward Manning
History
Footprints of the Red Men: Indian geographical names in the valley of Hudson's river, the valley of the Mohawk, and on the Delaware: their location and the probable meaning of some of them.
Ruttenber, Edward Manning
Indians of North America -- New York (State); Names, Geographical -- New York (State); Names, Indian -- North America
Jersey families. It has been inferred that their designation as
"Wappings" classed them as immigrants from the clans on the east side of
the Hudson. Obviously, however, the term described them as of the most
eastern family of the Minsis or Minisinks, which they were.
* * * * *
[FN-1] _Pomoteneyu,_ "There are towns." (Zeisb.) Pompotowwut-Muhheakan-neau,
was the name of the capital town of the Mahicans.
[FN-2] So recognized in the treaty of Easton.
[FN-3] The territory in which the Pomptons claimed an interest included
northern New Jersey as bounded on the north by a line drawn from
Cochecton, Sullivan County, to the mouth of Tappan Creek on the Hudson,
thence south to Sandy Hook, thence west to the Delaware, and thence
north to Cochecton, lat. 41 deg. 40 min., as appears by treaty deed in
Smith's hist, of New Jersey.
Ramapo, now so written and applied to a village and a town in Rockland
County, and also to a valley, a stream of water and adjacent hills, is
written Ramepog in N. Y. Records, 1695; Ramepogh, 1711, and Ramapog in
1775. In New Jersey Records the orthographies are Ramopock, Romopock and
Remopuck, and on Smith's map Ramopough. The earliest description of the
locative of the name appears in N. Y. Records, 1695: "A certain tract of
land in Orange County called Ramepogh, being upon Pompton Creek, about
twenty miles above ye mouth of said creek where it falls into Pequanneck
River, being a piece of low land lying at ye forks on ye west side of ye
creek, and going down the said creek for ye space of six or seven miles
to a small run running into said creek out of a small lake, several
pieces of land lying on both sides of said creek, computed in all about
ninety or one hundred acres, _with upland adjoining_ thereto to ye
quantity of twelve hundred acres." In other words: "A piece of low land
lying at the forks of said river, about twenty miles above the mouth of
the stream where it falls into the Pequannock, with upland adjoining."
The Pompton, so called then, is now the Ramapo, and the place described
in the deed has been known as Remapuck, Romapuck, Ramopuck, Ramapock,
Pemerpuck, and Ramapo, since the era of first settlement. The somewhat
poetic interpretation of the name, "Many ponds," is without warrant, nor
does the name belong to a "Round pond," or to the stream, now the Ramapo
except by extension to it. Apparently, by dialectic exchange of initials
L and R, _Reme, Rama,_ or _Romo_ becomes _Lamó_ from _Lomówo_ (Zeisb.),
"Downward, slanting, oblique," and _-pogh, -puck,_ etc., is a compression
of _-apughk_ (_-puchk_, German notation), meaning--"Rock."
_Lamów-ápuchk,_ by contraction and pronunciation, _Ramápuck,_ meaning
"Slanting rock," an equivalent of _Pimápuchk,_ met in the district in
Pemerpock, in 1674, denoting "Place or country of the slanting rock."
[FN] Ramapo River is supposed to have its head in Round Pond, in the
northwest part of the town of Monroe, Orange County. It also received
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account