Author of "History of the Indian Tribes of Hudson's River." "Indian place-names are not proper names, that is unmeaning words, but significant appellatives each conveying a description of the locality to which it belongs."— Trumbull. PUBLISHED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE New York State Historical Association. Copyrighted by the NEW YORK STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. 1906....

The locatives of the Indian geographical names which have been handed down as the names of boundmarks or of places or tribes, are properly a subject of study on the part of all who would be familiar with the aboriginal geography of a district or a state. In many cases these names were quite as designative of geographical centers as are the names of the towns, villages and cities which have been substituted for them. In some cases they have been wisely retained, while the specific places to which

Muhheakun'nuk, "The great waters or sea, which are constantly in motion, either ebbing or flowing," was written by Chief Hendrick Aupaumut, in his history of the Muhheakun'nuk nation, as the name of Hudson's River, in the Stockbridge dialect, and its meaning. The first word, Muhheakun, was the national name of the people occupying both banks of the river from Roelof Jansen's Kill, a few miles south of Catskill, on the east side of the river, north and east with limit not known, and the second -n

Neversink, now so written as the name of the hills on the south side of the lower or Raritan Bay, is written Neuversin by Van der Donck, Neyswesinck by Van Tienhoven, Newasons by Ogilby, 1671, and more generally in early records Naver, Neuver, Newe, and Naoshink. The original was no doubt the Lenape Newas-ink, "At the point, comer, or promontory." The root Ne (English Nâï ), means, "To come to a point," "To form a point," or, as rendered by Dr. Trumbull, "A corner, angle or point," Nâïag. Dr. Sc

Mohawk, the river so called—properly "the Mohawk's River," or river of the Mohawks—rises near the centre of the State and reaches the Hudson at Cohoes Falls. Its name preserves that by which the most eastern nation of the Iroquoian confederacy, the Six Nations, is generally known in history—the Maquaas of the early Dutch. The nation, however, did not give that name to the stream except in the sense of occupation as the seat of their possessions; to them it was the O-hyoⁿhi-yo'ge, "Large, chief o

Keht-hanne, Heckewelder— Kittan, Zeisberger—"The principal or greatest stream," i. e. of the country through which it passes, was the generic name of the Delaware River, and Lenapewihittuck, "The river or stream of the Lenape," its specific name, more especially referring to the stream where its waters are affected by tidal currents. In the Minisink country it was known as Minisinks River, or "River of the Minisinks." At the Lehigh junction the main stream was called the East Branch and the Lehi

A work of the character of that which is herewith presented to you would be eminently remarkable if it was found to be entirely free from typographical and clerical errors. No apology is made for such as you may find, the rule being regarded as a good one that the discoverer of an error is competent to make the necessary correction. Whatever you may find that is erroneous, especially in the topographical features of places, please have the kindness to forward to the compiler and enable him to co