Home / Ruttenber, E.M. Footprints of the Red Men: Indian Geographical Names in the Valley of Hudson's River, the Valley of the Mohawk, and on the Delaware. Published in the Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association, Vol. VI. 1906. / Passage

Footprints of the Red Men: Indian Geographical Names

Ruttenber, E.M. Footprints of the Red Men: Indian Geographical Names in the Valley of Hudson's River, the Valley of the Mohawk, and on the Delaware. Published in the Proceedings of the New York State Historical Association, Vol. VI. 1906. 319 words

In all dialects tbe most simple combina;tions appear in geographical names, w'hidh the late Dr. J. H. Trumbull resolved into three classes, viz. : " I. Those formed by the union of two elements, which we will call adjectival and substantival, or groundword, with or without a locative suffix, or post-position word meaning 'at,' 'in,' 'on,' 'near/ etc. [I use the terms 'adjectival' and ' substantival,' because no true adjectives or substantives enter into the composition of Algonquian names. The adjectival may be an adverb or a preposition ; the substantival element is often a verbal,

O INDIAN GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES.

which serves in composition as a generic name, but whidli cannot be used as an independent word -- the synthesis always retains the verbal form.] H. Those which have a single element, the substantival, or ground-word, with locative suffix. III. Those formed from verbs as participials or verbal nouns, denoting a place where the action of the verb is performed. Most of these latter, however," he adds, " may be shown by strict ana'iysis to belong to one of the two preceding classes, which compri.se at least nine-tenths of all Algonquian local names which have been preserved." For example, in Class I, Wapan-aki is a combination of Wapan, " the Orient," " the East," and aki, " Land, place or country," unlimited; with locative suffix {-ng, Del., -it, Mass.), "In the East Land or Country." JCif-ann-ing, Del., is a composition from Kitschi, " Chief, principal, greatest," hanne, " river," and ing locative, and reads, " A place at or on the largest river." The suffix -aki, -acki, -hacki, Del., meaning " Land, place, or country, unlimited,'' in Eastern orthographies -ohke, -auke -ague, -ke, -ki, etc., is changed to -karnik, or -kamike, Del., -kamuk or -komuk, Mass., in describing " Land or place limited," or enclosed, a particular place, as a field, garden, and also used for house, thicket, etc.