Part 8
Caniade-rioit is given as the name of Lake George, and "The tail of the lake" as the definition, "on account of its connection with Lake Champlain." (Spofford's Gazetteer.) Father Jogues, who gave to the lake the name "Lac de Saint Sacrament" (Lake of the Holy Sacrament), in 1645, wrote the Mohawk name, _Andiato-rocte_ (French notation), with the definition, "There where the lake shuts itself in," the reference being to the north end of the lake at the outlet. This definition is not far from a correct reading of the suffix _octe_ (_okte,_ Bruyas), meaning "end," or, in this connection, "Where the lake ends." _Caniade,_ a form of _Kaniatare,_ is an Iroquoian generic, meaning "lake." The lake never had a specific name. _Horicon,_ which some writers have endeavored to attach to it, does not belong to it. It is not Iroquoian, does not mean "north," nor does it mean "lake" or "silver water," [FN] The present name was conferred by Sir William Johnson, in honor of King George III, of England.
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[FN] _Horikans_ was written by De Laet, in 1624, as the name of an Indian tribe living at the head waters of the Connecticut. On an ancient map _Horicans_ is written in Lat. 41, east of the Narragansetts on the coast of New England. In the same latitude _Moricans_ is written west of the Connecticut, and _Horikans_ on the upper Connecticut in latitude 42. _Morhicans_ is the form on Carte Figurative of 1614-16, and _Mahicans_ by the Dutch on the Hudson. The several forms indicate that the tribe was the _Moricans_ or _Mourigans_ of the French, the _Maikans_ or _Mahikans_ of the Dutch and the _Mohegans_ of the English. It is certain that that tribe held the headwaters of the Connecticut as well as of the Hudson. The novelist, Cooper, gave life to De Laet's orthography in his "Last of the Mohegans."
Ticonderoga, familiar as the name of the historic fortress at Lake George, was written by Sir William Johnson, in 1756, _Tionderogue_ and _Ticonderoro,_ and in grant of lands in 1760, "near the fort at _Ticonderoga._" Gov. Golden wrote _Ticontarogen,_ and an Iroquoian sachem is credited with _Decariaderoga._ Interpretations are almost as numerous as orthographies. The most generally quoted is from Spofford's Gazetteer: "_Ticonderoga,_ from _Tsindrosie_, or _Cheonderoga,_ signifying 'brawling water,' and the French name, _Carillon,_ signifying 'a chime of bells,' were both suggested by the rapids upon the outlet of Lake George." The French name may have been so suggested, but neither _Tsindrosie_ or _Cheonderoga_ means "brawling water." The latter is probably an orthography of _Teonderoga._ Ticonderoga as now written, is from _Te_ or _Ti,_ "dual," two; _Kaniatare,_ "lake," and _-ogen,_ "intervallum, divisionem" (Bruyas), the combination meaning, literally, "Between two lakes." Horatio Hale wrote me of one of the forms: "_Dekariaderage,_ in modern orthography, _Tekaniataroken,_ from which Ticonderoga, means, simply, 'Between two lakes.' It is derived from _Tioken,_ 'between,' and _Kaniatara,_ 'lake.' Its composition illustrates a peculiar idiom of the Iroquoian language, _Tioken_ when combined with a noun, is split in two, so to speak, and the noun inserted. Thus in combining _Tioken_ with _Ononte,_ 'mountain,' we have _Ti-ononte-oken,_ 'Between two mountains,' which was the name of one of the Mohawk castles--sometimes written Theonondiogo. In like manner, _Kaniatare,_ 'lake,' thus compounded, yields _Te-kaniatare-oken,_ 'Between two lakes.' In the Huron dialect _Kaniatare_ is contracted to _Yontare_ or _Ontare,_ from which, with _io_ or _iyo,_ 'great,' we get _Ontario_ (pronounced Ontareeyo), 'Great lake' which, combined with _Tioken,_ becomes _Ti-onteroken,_ which would seem to be the original of Colden's _Tieronderoga._"
There is rarely an expression of humor in the use of Indian place-names, but we seem to have it in connection with Dekariaderoga, one of the forms of Ticonderoga quoted above, which is of record as having been applied to Joseph Chew, Secretary of Indian Affairs, at a conference with chiefs of the Six Nations. (Col. Hist. N. Y., viii, 501.) Said the sachem who addressed Secretary Chew, "We call you Dekariaderoga, the junction of two lakes of different qualities of water," presumably expressing thereby, in keeping with the entertainment usually served on such occasions, that the Secretary was in a condition between "water and firewater." Neither "junction" or "quality of water" are expressed in the composition, however; but perhaps are related meanings.
Caniade-riguarunte is given by Governor Pownal as the Iroquoian name of Lake Champlain, with the legend, "The Lake that is the gate of the country." (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii, 1190.) The lake was the route taken by the Algonquians of Canada in their forays against the Mohawks. Later, it became a link in the great highway of travel and commerce between New York and Quebec, via. Hudson's River, in which connection it was literally "The gate of the country." The legend is not an interpretation of the Iroquoian name, however. In the French missionary spelling the generic word for "lake" is _Kaniatare_ of which _Caniaderi_ is an English notation. The suffix _-guarûnte,_ in connection with _Caniaderi,_ gives to the combination the meaning, "A lake that is part of another lake." (J. B. N. Hewitt.) The suffix is readily confused with _Karonta,_ or _-garonta_ (Mohawk), meaning "tree," from which, probably, Fennimore Cooper's "Lake of the Woods." "Lake of the Iroquois," entered on early maps, does not mean that when Champlain visited it in 1609 it was owned by the Iroquois, but that it was the route from Quebec to the Iroquois country.
On Long Island.
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Matouwackey, Sewanhackey and Paumanackey, in varying orthographies, are names of record for Long Island, derived from _Meitauawack_ (_Metaûhock,_ Nar.), the name of the shell-fish from which the Indians made the shell-money in use among them, [FN-1] called by English _Peag,_ from _Wau-paaeek_ [FN-2] (Moh.), "white," and by the Dutch _Sewan_ or _Zeewan,_ [FN-3] from _Sewaûn_ (Moh.), _Sueki_ (Nar.), "black." This money was both white and black (so called), the latter the most rare and valuable. It was in use by the Europeans as a medium of trade with the Indians, as well as among themselves, by the Indians especially for the manufacture of their historic peace, tribute, treaty and war belts, called _Paumaunak_ (_Pau-pau-me-numwe,_ Mass.), "an offering." [FN-4] _Meitouowack,_ the material, _Waupoaeek_ and _Sewaûn,_ the colors; _Paumanack,_ the use, "an offering." The suffix of either term (_hock, hagki, hackee_) is generic for shell--correctly, "An ear-shaped shell." (Trumbull.) Substantially, by the corruption of the suffix to _hacki_ (Del.), "land" or place, the several terms, as applied to the island, have the meaning, "The shell island," or "Place of shells." De Laet wrote, in 1624: "At the entrance of this bay are situated several islands, or broken land, on which a nation of savages have their abode, who are called Matouwacks; they obtain a livelihood by fishing within the bay, whence the most easterly point of the land received the name of Fisher's Hook and also Cape de Bay." Van der Donck entered on his map, "t' Lange Eyland, alias, Matouwacks." "Situate on the island called by the Indians Sewanhacky." (Deed of 1636.) "Called in ye Indian tongue Suanhackey." (Deed of 1639.) Than these entries there is no claim that the island ever had a specific name, and that those quoted were from shells and their uses is clear. Generically the island was probably known to the Minsi and neighboring tribes as _Menatey,_ "The island," as stated by Dr. Trumbull; smaller islands being known as _Menatan,_ from which _Manathan_ and _Manhatan._ The occupants of the island were a distinct group of Algonquian stock, speaking on the east a dialect more or less of the Massachusetts type, and on the west that known as Monsey-Lenape, both types, however, being largely controlled by the Dutch and the English orthographies in which local notings appear. They were almost constantly at war with the Pequods and Narragansetts, but there is no evidence that they were ever conquered, and much less that they were conquered by the Iroquois, to whom they paid tribute for protection in later years, as they had to the Pequods and to the English; nor is there evidence that their intercourse with the river tribes immediately around them was other than friendly.
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[FN-1] "_Meteauhock,_ the Periwinkle of which they made their wampum." (Williams.) "Perhaps derived from _Mehtauog,_ 'Ear-shaped,' with the generic suffix _hock_ (_hogki, hackee_), 'shell.'" (Trumbull.)
[FN-2] _Wompompeag_ is another form quoted as Mohegan, from which _Wompum._ "_Wompom,_ which signifies white." (Roger Williams.)
[FN-3] _Seahwhoog,_ "they are scattered." (Eliot.) "From this word the Dutch traders gave the name of _Sewan,_ or _Zeawand,_ to all shell money; just as the English called all _Peag,_ or strung beads, by the name of the white, _Wampum._" (Trumbull.)
[FN-4] An interpretation of _Paumanack_ as indicating a people especially under tribute, is erroneous. The belts which they made were in universal use among the nations as an offering, the white belts denoting good, as peace, friendship, etc., the black, the reverse. The ruling sachem, or peace-chief, was the keeper and interpreter of the belts of his nation, and his place sometimes took its name from that fact. That several of the sachems did sign their names, or that their names were signed by some one for them, "Sachem of Pammananuck," proves nothing in regard to the application of that name to the island.
Wompenanit is of record as the name of "the utmost end eastward" of the Montauk Peninsula. The description reads: "From the utmost end of the neck eastward, called Wompenanit, to our utmost bound westward, called Napeake." (Deed of July 11, 1661.) In other papers Wompenonot and Wompenomon, corrupted orthographies. The meaning is "The utmost end eastward," _i. e._ from the east side of Napeake to the extreme end. The derivatives are Nar. _Wompan_ (from _Wompi,_ white, bright), "It is full daylight, bright day," hence the Orient, the East, the place of light, and _-anit,_ "To be more than," extending beyond the ordinary limit. The same word appears in _Wompanánd,_ "The Eastern God" (Williams), the deity of light. From _Wompi,_ also _Wapan_ in _Wapanachkik,_ "Those of the eastern region," now written _Abanaqui_ and _Abnaki,_ and confined to the remnant of a tribe in Maine. (See Wahamanesing,) Dr. Trumbull wrote: "_Anit,_ the subjunctive participle of a verb which signifies 'To be more than,' 'to surpass'"; with impersonal _M_ prefixed, _Manit,_ as in _Manitou,_ a name given by the Indians, writes Lahontan, "To all that passes their understanding"; hence interpreted by Europeans, "God." It has no such meaning in _Wompenanit,_ but defined a limit that was "more than," or the extreme limits of the island. No doubt, however, the Indians saw, as do visitors of to-day, at the utmost end of the Montauk Peninsula, in its breast of rock against which the ocean-waves dash with fearful force; its glittering sun-light and in its general features, a _Wompanánd,_ or Eastern God, that which was "more than ordinary, wonderful, surpassing," but those features are not referred to in _Wompenanit,_ except, perhaps, as represented by the glittering sun-light, the material emblem of the mystery of light--"where day-light appears."
Montauk, now so written--in early orthographies _Meantacut,_ _Meantacquit,_ etc.--was not the name of the peninsula to which it is now applied, but was extended to it by modern Europeans from a specific place. The extreme end was called by the Indians _Wompenanit,_ and the point, _Nâïag,_ "Corner, point or angle," from which Adriaen Block wrote, in 1614, _Nahicans,_ "People around the point," a later Dutch navigator adding (War Dep. Map) the topographical description, _Nartong,_ "A barren, ghastly tongue." The name has had several interpretations by Algonquian students, but without entire satisfaction even to themselves. Indeed, it may be said with truth, "It has been too much translated" to invite further study with the hope of a better result. The orthography usually quoted for interpretation appears first in South Hampton Records in an Indian deed of 1640, "_Manatacut,_ his X mark," the grantor being given the name of the place which he represented, as appears from the same records (1662), "Wyandanch, Meantacut sachem," or sachem of Meantac. The Indian deed reads: "The neck of land commonly known by the name of Meantacquit, . . . Unto the east side of Napeak, next unto Meantacut high lands." In other words the high lands bounded the place called Meantacqu, the suffix _-it_ or _-ut_ meaning "at" that place. The precise place referred to was then and is now a marsh on which is a growth of shrub pines, and cedars. Obviously, therefore, _Meantac_ or _Meantacqu,_ is an equivalent of Mass. _Manantac,_ "Spruce swamp," and of Del. _Menántac,_ "Spruce, cedar or pine swamp." (Zeisb.) The Abn. word _Mannaⁿdakôô,_ "cedar" (Mass. _-uɧtugh;_ Nar. _áwtuck_), seems to establish conclusively that _-ántak_ was the general generic suffix for all kinds of coniferous trees, and with the prefix _Men, Man, Me,_ etc., described small or dwarf coniferous trees usually found growing in swamps, and from which swamps took the name. [FN] There is nothing in the name or in its corruptions that means "point," "high lands," "place of observation," "fort," "fence," or "confluence"; it simply describes dwarf coniferous trees and the place which they marked. The swamp still exists, and the dwarf trees also at the specific east bound of the lands conveyed. (See Napeak.)
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[FN] The Indians had specific names for different kinds of trees. The generic general word was _Me'hittuk_ or _M'hittugk,_ Del., _M'tugh,_ Mass., which, as a suffix, was reduced to _-ittuk, -utugh, -tagh, -tack, -tacque,_ etc., frequently _ak,_ which is the radical. Howden writes in Cree: "_Atik_ is the termination for the names of trees, articles made of wood," etc. _Mash-antack-uk,_ Moh., was translated by Dr. Trumbull from _Mish-untugh-et,_ Mass., "Place of much wood." _Mannaⁿdakōō_ is quoted as the Abn. word for "cedar;" _Mishquáwtuck,_ Nar., "Red cedar." _Menántachk,_ "Swamp" (Len. Eng. Dic.), is explained by Rev. Anthony, "with trees meeting above." _Menautac,_ "Spruce, cedar or pine swamp" (Zeisb.), from the kind of trees growing in the swamp, but obviously _antac_ never described a swamp, or trees growing in swamps, without the prefix _Men, Man, Me,_ etc. _Keht-antak_ means a particularly large tree which probably served as a boundmark. It may be a question if the initial _a_ in _antak_ was not nasal, as in Abn., but there can be none in regard to the meaning of the suffix.
Napeak, East Hampton deed of 1648, generally written _Napeaka, Neppeage_ and _Napeague,_ and applied by Mather (Geological Survey) to a beach and a marsh, and in local records to the neck connecting Montauk Point with the main island, means "Water land," or "Land overflowed by water." The beach extends some five miles on the southeast coast of Long Island. The marsh spreads inland from the beach nearly across the neck where it meets Napeak Harbor on the north coast. It is supposed to have been, in prehistoric times, a water-course which separated the island from the point. Near the eastern limit are patches of stunted pines and cedars, and on its east side at the end of what are called the "Nominick hills," where was obviously located the boundmark of the East Hampton deed, "Stunted pines and cedars are a feature," wrote Dr. Tooker in answer to inquiry. (See Montauk.)
Quawnotiwock, is quoted in French's Gazetteer as the name of Great Pond; authority not cited. Prime (Hist. L. I.) wrote: "The Indian name of the pond is unknown." The pond is two miles long. It is situate where the Montauk Peninsula attains its greatest width, and is the largest body of fresh water on the island. It would be correctly described by _Quinne_ or _Quawnopaug,_ "Long pond," but certainly not by _Quawnotiwock,_ the animate plural suffix _-wock,_ showing that it belonged to the people--"People living on the Long River." [FN] (See Quantuck and Connecticut.)
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[FN] The suffix _-og, -ock, -uck,_ is, in the dialect here, a plural sign. Williams wrote _-oock, -uock, -wock,_ and Zeisberger wrote _-ak, -wak._ _Quinneh-tuk-wock,_ "People living on the Long River"--"a particular name amongst themselves." _Kutch-innû-wock,_ "Middle-aged men;" _Miss-innû-wock,_ "The many." _Lénno,_ "Man"; _Lénno-wak,_ "Men." (Zeisberger.) _Kuwe,_ "Pine"; _Cuweuch-ak,_ "pine wood, pine logs." Strictly, an animate plural. In the Chippeway dialect, Schoolcraft gives eight forms of the animate and eight forms of 'the inanimate plural. The Indians regarded many things as animates that Europeans do not.
Assup, given as the name of a neck of land--"A tree marked X hard by the northward side of a cove of meadow"--means "A cove." It is an equivalent of _Aucûp_ (Williams), "A little cove or creek." "_Aspatuck_ river" is also of record here, and probably takes that name from a hill or height in proximity. "Aspatuck hill," New Millford, Conn.
Shinnecock, now preserved as the name of an Indian village in the town of Southampton, on the east side of Shinnec'ock Bay, for many years in occupation by a remnant of the so called Shinnec'ock Indians who had taken on the habits and customs of European life, appears in its present form in Plymouth Records in 1637, in treaty association with the Massachusetts government. They claimed to be the "true owners of the eastern end of Long Island," but acknowledged the primacy of Wyandanch, sachem of the Montauks, who had been elected by other sachems as chief sachem or the "sachem of sachem" of the many clans. The name is probably from the root _Shin,_ or _Schind,_ "Spruce-pine" (Zeisb.); _Schindikeu,_ "Spruce-pine forest"; _Shinak-ing,_ "At the land of spruce-pines." (Brinton); _Schindak-ock,_ "Land or place of spruce-pines." There was an extended spruce-pine forest on that part of the island, a considerable portion of which remains in the district south of Peconic River in the town of Southampton. The present form of the name is pronounced Shinnec'ock.
Mochgonnekonck is written, in 1643, as the name of a place unlocated except in a general way. The record reads: "Whiteneymen, sachem of Mochgonnekonck, situate on Long Island." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiv, 60.) Whiteneymen, whose name is written Mayawetinnemin in treaty of 1645, and "Meantinnemen, alias Tapousagh, chief of Marsepinck and Rechawyck," in 1660 (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 58), was son of Mechowodt, sachem of Marsepingh, and probably succeeded his father as sachem of that clan. (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiv, 540.) His last possession was Cow Neck, in the present town of North Hampton, which was given to him by his father; it may have been the Mochgonnekonk of 1643. De Vries met him in conference in 1645, and notes him as a speaker of force, and as having only one eye. Brodhead wrote of him: "Kieft, therefore, by the advice of his council determined to engage some of the friendly Indians in the interest of the Dutch, and Whiteneymen, the sachem of Mochgonnecocks, on Long Island, was dispatched, with several of his warriors, 'to beat and destroy the hostile tribes.' The sachem's diplomacy, however, was better than his violence. In a few days he returned to Fort Amsterdam bearing friendly messages from the sachems along the Sound and Near Rockaway," and a formal treaty of peace soon followed. He was elected "sachem of sachems" by the sachems of the western clans on the island, about the time the jurisdiction of the island was divided between the English at New Haven and the Dutch at Manhattan, the former taking the eastern clans under Wyandanch, and as such appears in the treaties with the Dutch in 1645, '56--His record name is variously written--Tapousagh, Tackapousha, etc. It is frequently met in Long Island Records. _Mochgonneckonck_ the name of his sachemdom in 1643, has not been identified further than that he was the owner of Cow Neck, now called Manhasset (Manhas'et), Queens County, the largest neck or point of land on the coast.
Quaunontowunk, Quannotowonk, Konkhonganik and Konghonganoc, are forms of two distinct names applied respectively to the north and south ends of Fort Pond, as per deed for the tract known as "the Hither Woods purchase," which reads: "The name of the pond is Quaunontowunk on the north and Konkhonganik on the south." Dr. Tooker translated the former from _Quaneuntéow-unk,_ (Eliot), "Where the fence is," the reference being to a certain fence of lopped trees which existed on the north end of the pond, [FN-1] and the latter from _Kuhkunhunganash_ (Eliot), "bounds," "At the boundary place." The present name of the pond is from two Indian forts, one known as the Old Fort, on the west, and one known as the New Fort, on the east, the latter remaining in 1661, the former destroyed, the deed reading, "Where the Old Fort stood." Wyandanch, [F-2] "the sachem of Manatacut,"--later called "The great sachem of Montauk"--had his residence in the Old Fort. He was the first ruler of the Montauks known to the Dutch, his name appearing in 1637. (See Montauk.)
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[FN-1] The deed reads: "The north fence from the pond to the sea, shall be kept by the town; the south fence, to the sea, by the Indians." Presumably the fences were there when the land was sold.
[FN-2] Wyandach, or Wyandance, is said to have been the brother of Paggatacut, sachem of Manhas'set or Shelter Island, the chief sachem of fifteen sachemdoms. On the death of the latter, in 1651, Wyandanch became, by election, the successor of his brother and held the office until his death by poison in 1659.
Mastic, preserved as the name of a river and also as that of a village in Brookhaven, is of uncertain meaning. _Wampmissic,_ the name of another village, is supposed to have been the name of a swamp--Mass. _Wompaskit,_ "At or in the swamp, or marsh."
Poosepatuck, a place so called and now known as the Indian Reservation, back of Forge River at Mastick, probably means "On the other side," or "Beyond the river," from _Awossi,_ "Over, over there, on the other side, beyond," and _-tuck,_ "Tidal river."
Speonk, the name of a village in Southampton near East Bay, on an inlet of the ocean, to which flows through the village a small brook, has lost some of its letters. _Mas-sepe-onk_ would describe a place on a broad tidal river or estuary. In the same vicinity _Setuck_ is of record as the name of a place. It may also be from Mas-sepe-tuck. (See Southampton Records.) While the English settlers on eastern Long Island were careful to preserve Indian names, they were very careless in orthographies.
Poquatuck is quoted by Thompson (Hist. L. I.) as the name of Oyster Pond in the town of Southold. It is now claimed as the name of Orient, a village, peninsula or neck of land and harbor on the east side of the pond. Probably from _Pohqu'unantak,_ "Cleared of trees," a marshy neck which had been cleared or was naturally open. The same name is met in Brookhaven.
Cataconoche, given as the name of the Great Neck bounding Smithtown on the east, has been translated by Dr. Tooker from _Kehte-komuk,_ "Greatest field," later known as the Old Man's Field, or Old Field.