[1] Mill's Logic, B. I. ch. viii.

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

[3] These terms, though not strictly appropriate to Indian synthesis, 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 equivalents of FÖrstemann's "Bestimmungswort" and "Grundwort," (Die deutschen Ortsnamen. Nordhausen, 1863, pp. 26-107, 109-174). In Indian names, the "Bestimmungswort" sometimes corresponds to the English adjective—sometimes to a noun substantive—but is more generally an adverb.

[4] It has not been thought advisable to attempt the reduction of words or names taken from different languages to a uniform orthography. When no authorities are named, it may be understood that the Massachusetts words are taken from Eliot's translation of the Bible, or from his Indian Grammar; the Narragansett, from Roger Williams's Indian Key, and his published letters; the Abnaki, from the Dictionary of RÂle (Rasles), edited by Dr. Pickering; the Delaware, from Zeisberger's Vocabulary and his Grammar; the Chippewa, from Schoolcraft (Sch.), Baraga's Dictionary and Grammar (B.), and the Spelling Books published by the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions; and the Cree, from Howse's Grammar 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 ou of RÂle and the Jesuit missionaries, and for the ω of Campanius. A small ⁿ placed above the line, shows that the vowel which it follows is nasal,—and replaces the Ñ employed for the same purpose by RÂle, and the short line or dash placed 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 for short o, as in not.

[5] Doc. Hist. of New York (4to), vol. iii. p. 656.

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

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

[8] Heckewelder's Historical account, &c., p. 33. He was mistaken in translating "the word hittuck," by "a rapid stream."

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

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

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

[12] Descrip. of New Sweden, b. ii. ch. 1, 2; Proud's Hist. of Pennsylvania, ii. 252.

[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:' or James River.

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

[15] See Hist. Magazine, vol. iii. p. 48.

[16] Heckewelder, on Indian names, in Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. vol. iv.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Narrative, &c., in Mem. Hist. Society of Pennsylvania, vol. ii. p. 97.

[19] Grammar of the Lenni-Lenape, transl. by Duponceau, p. 43. "Wulit, good." "Welsit (masc. and fem.), the best." "Inanimate, Welhik, best."

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

[21] Published in London, 1759, and re-printed in Appendix to Proud's Hist. of Penn., vol. ii. pp. 65-132.

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

La Metairie's 'Olighinsipou' suggests another possible derivation which may be worth mention. The Indian name of the Alleghanies has been said,—I do not now remember on whose authority,—to mean 'Endless Mountains.' 'Endless' cannot be more exactly expressed in any Algonkin language than by 'very long' or 'longest,'—in the Delaware, Eluwi-guneu. "The very long or longest river" would be Eluwi-guneu sipu, or, if the words were compounded in one, Eluwi-gunesipu.

[23] Paper on Indian names, ut supra, p. 367; Historical Account, &c., pp. 29-32.

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

[25] Ms. Itinerary. He was careful to preserve the Indian pronunciation of local names, and the form in which he gives this name convinces me that it is not, as I formerly supposed, the quinnuppohke (or quinuppeohke) of Eliot,—meaning 'the surrounding country' or the 'land all about' the site of New Haven.

[26] Dictionary, s.v. 'Noms.'

[27] Paug is regularly formed from pe (Abn. bi), the base of nippe, and may be translated more exactly by 'where water is' or 'place of water.'

[28] A bound of Human Garret's land, one mile north-easterly from Ninigret's old Fort. See Conn. Col. Records, ii. 314.

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

[30] RÂle gives Abn. mitsegan, 'fiantÉ.' Thoreau, fishing in a river in Maine, caught several sucker-like fishes, which his Abnaki guide threw away, saying they were 'Michegan fish, i.e., soft and stinking fish, good for nothing.'—Maine Woods, p. 210.

[31] Primarily, that which 'breaks,' 'cleaves,' 'splits:' distinguishing the harder rocks—such as were used for making spear and arrow heads, axes, chisels, corn-mortars, &c., and for striking fire,—from the softer, such as steatite (soap-stone) from which pots and other vessels, pipe-bowls, &c., were fashioned.

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

[33] Squantam, the supposed name of an Algonkin deity, is only a corrupt form of the verb m'squantam, = musqui-antam, 'he is angry,' literally, 'he is red (bloody-) minded.'

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

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

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

[37] Hind's Exploration of Labrador, vol. ii. pp. 147, 148.

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

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

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

[41] RÂle, s.v. Village.

[42] Shea's Hist. of Catholic Missions, 142, 145.

[43] Description of New Sweden, b. ii. c. 8. (Duponceau's translation.)

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

[45] Dawson's Acadian Geology, App. p. 673.

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

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

[48] Mr. Rand's Micmac Vocabulary, in Schoolcraft's Collections, vol. v. p. 579.

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

[50] The statement that the Androscoggin received its present name in compliment to Edmond Andros, about 1684, is erroneous. This form of the name appears as early as 1639, in the release by Thomas Purchase to the Governor of Massachusetts,—correctly printed (from the original draft in the handwriting of Thomas Lechford) in Mass. Records, vol. i. p. 272.

[51] Information respecting the Indian Tribes, &c., vol. iii. p. 526.

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

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

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

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

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

[57] Voyages, p. 44.

[58] See Coll. Me. Hist. Society, 2d Ser., vol. i. p. 234.

[59] Acadian Geology, l.c.

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

[61] See Narragansett Club Publications, vol. i. p. 22 (note 6).

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

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

[64] Mr. Moses Greenleaf, in 1823, wrote this name, Bakungunahik.

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

[66] Ibid. p. 357.

[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.]

[68] Saguinam, Charlevoix, i. 501; iii. 279.

[69] Relations des JÉsuites, 1658, p. 22; 1648, p. 62; 1671, pp. 25, 31.

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

[71] This name is still retained.

[72] When first discovered the Saguenay was not regarded as a river, but as a strait or passage by which the waters of some northern sea 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.

[73] And in the Historical Magazine, vol. i. p. 246.

[74] Vol. i. p. 246.

[75] See pp. 14, 15.

[76] Chandler's Survey and Map of the Mohegan country, 1705. Compare the Chip. ashawiwi-sitagon, "a place from which water runs two ways," a dividing ridge or portage between river courses. Owen's Geological Survey of Wisconsin, etc., p. 312.

[77] Blake's Annals of Dorchester, p. 9; Winthrop's Journal, vol. i. p. 28.

[78] On Indian Names, in Trans. Am. Philos. Society, N.S. iv. 361.

[79] On Indian Names (ut supra), p. 365.

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

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

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

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

[84] Maine Woods, 232.

[85] Abnaki Dictionary, s.v. Pencher. Compare, p. 545, "bimk[oo]É, il penche naturellement la tÊte sur un cÔte."

[86] Wonnesquam (as should have been mentioned on the page referred to) may possibly represent the Abnaki [oo]anask[oo]aⁿaⁿmi[oo]i or -mek 'at the end of the peninsula' ('au bout de la presqu'ile.' RÂle).

[87] Schoolcraft derives the name of the Namakagun fork of the St. Croix river, Wisc., from Chip. "namai, sturgeon, and kagun, a yoke or weir."

[88] Col. William Lithgow's deposition, 1767,—in New England Historical and General Register, xxiv. 24.

[89] Whitney's Language and the Study of Language, p. 69.—"Ein natÜrliches VolksgefÜhl, oft auch der Volkswitz, den nicht mehr verstandenen Namen neu umprÄgte und mit anderen lebenden WÖrtern in Verbindung setzte." Dr. J. Bender, Die deutschen Ortsnamen (2te Ausg.) p. 2.

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

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

[92] "Whiskey Jack," the name by which the Canada Jay (Perisoreus Canadensis) is best known to the lumbermen and hunters of Maine and Canada, is the Montagnais Ouishcatchaⁿ (Cree, Ouiskeshauneesh), which has passed perhaps through the transitional forms of 'Ouiske Jean' and 'Whiskey Johnny.' The Shagbark Hickory nuts, 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 Dutch colonists of New Jersey and New York. A contraction of the plural form of a Massachusetts noun-generic,—asquash, denoting 'things which are eaten green, or without cooking,' was adopted as the name of a garden vegetable,—with conscious reference, perhaps, to the old English word squash, meaning 'something soft or immature.' Sometimes etymology overreaches itself, by regarding an aboriginal name as the corrupt form of a foreign one. Thus the maskalongÉ or 'great long-nose' of the St. Lawrence (see p. 43) has been reputed of French extraction,—masque elongÉ: and sagackomi, the northern name of a plant used as a substitute for or to mix with tobacco,—especially, of the Bearberry, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi,—is resolved into sac-À-commis, "on account of the Hudson's Bay officers carrying it in bags for smoking," as Sir John Richardson believed (Arctic Searching Expedition, ii. 303). It was left for the ingenuity of a Westminster Reviewer to discover that barbecue (denoting, in the language of the Indians of Guiana, a wooden frame or grille on which all 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 snout to tail;' a suggestion which appears to have found favor with lexicographers.

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

[94] Ibid., p. 406.

[95] Preface to Duponceau's translation of Zeisberger's Grammar, p. 21. On Duponceau's authority, Dr. Pickering accepted this analysis and gave it currency by repeating it, in his admirable paper on "Indian Languages," in the EncyclopÆdia Americana, vol. vi.

[96] It was so interpreted in the Historical Magazine for May, 1865 (p. 90).

[97] Ibid. To this interpretation of Pawcatuck there is the more obvious objection that a prefix signifying 'much or many' should be followed not by ahtuk or attuk, 'a deer,' but by the plural ahtukquog.

[98] Etymological Vocabulary of Geographical Names, appended to the last edition of Webster's Dictionary (1864). It may be proper to remark in this connection, that the writer's responsibility for the correctness of translations given in that vocabulary does not extend beyond his own contributions to it.

[99] Abnaki and Cree, -k or -g,—Delaware and Chippewa, -ng; or -ⁿg,—with a connecting vowel.

[100] Both words have the same meaning,—that of 'a domestic animal,' or literally, 'animate property;' 'he who belongs to me.'