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. 315 words

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. The Eastern post-position locatives are -it, -et, -at, -uf; the Delaware, -ng, -nk, with connecting vowel -ing -ink, -ong, -onk, -ung, -unk, etc. The meaning of this class of suffixes is the same ; they locate a place or object that is at, in, or on some other place or object, the name of Which is prefixed, as in Delaware Hitgunk, " On or to a tree ;" Utenink, " In the town ;" Wachtschunk, " On the mountain." In some cases the locative takes the verbal form indicating place or country, Williams wrote " Sachimaiionck, a Kingdom or Monarchy." Dr. Schoolcraft wrote: "From Ojibwai (Chippeway) is formed Ojib-wainong, ' Place of the Chippeways ; Monominikaun-ing' ' In the place of wild rice,' " Dr. Brinton wrote " IValum-ink, ' The place of paint.' " The letter s, preceding the locative, changes the meaning of the latter to near, or something less than at or on.