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
[FN] See Saratoga. _Ti-oneenda-howe_ was applied by the Mohawks to the
Hoosick, and _Ti-ononda-howe_ to the Batten Kill as positive boundmarks,
the former from its hemlock-clad hills (_onenda_), and the latter from
its conical hills (_ononda_). The late Horatio Hale wrote me:
"_Ti-ononda-howe_ is evidently a compound term involving the word
_ononda_ (or _ononta_), 'hill or mountain.' _Ti-oneenda-howe,_ in like
manner, includes the word _onenda_ (or _onenta_), 'hemlock.' There may
have been certain notable hills or hemlocks which as landmarks gave
names to the streams or located them. The final syllables _howe,_ are
uncertain." (See Di-ononda-howe.)
Cossayuna, said to be from the Mohawk dialect and to signify "Lake of
the pines," is quoted as the name of a lake in the town of Argyle,
Washington County. The translation is correct, substantially, but the
name is Algonquian--a corruption of _Coossa,_ "Pine," [FN] and _Gummee,_
"Lake," or standing water. The terms are from the Ojibway dialect, and
were probably introduced by Dr. Schoolcraft.
* * * * *
[FN] It is of record that "the borders of Hudson's River above Albany,
and the Mohawk River at Schenectady," were known, in 1710, as "the best
places for pines of all sorts, both for numbers and largeness of trees."
(Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii, 656.) Mass. _Kowas-'ktugh,_ "pine tree." The
name is met in many orthographies.
Anaquassacook, the name of a patent in Washington County, and also of a
village and of a stream of water, was, primarily, the name of a
boundmark. The locative has not been ascertained. _Anakausuk-ook,_ "At
the end of a course," or as far the brook.
Podunk, a brook so called in the town of Fort Ann, Washington County,
is met in several other places. (See Potunk, L. I.) Its meaning has not
been ascertained.
Quatackquaohe, entered on Pownal's map as the name of a tract of land on
the south side of a stream, has explanation in the accompanying entry,
"Waterquechey, or Quatackquaohe." Waterquechey (English) means "Moist
boggy ground," indicating that _Quatackquaohe_ is an equivalent of
_Petuckquiohke,_ Mass., "Round-land place," _i. e._ elevated hassocks
of earth, roots, etc. The explanation by Gov. Pownal may supply a key
to the translation of other names now interpreted indefinitely.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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