The Savannah morning news., 1902-09-01
ORIGIN Of NAMES OF PLACES.
Many Instances of Intelligent Dis
elimination in the United States.

From the New York Post.
The bulletin of the Geological Sur
vey, prepared by Henry Gannett. en-
the origin of many of the names of
places in the United States is an i'm
portant contribution to geographic
knowledge. Its circulation will doubt
less go far to awaken interest in mat
tiers of local history. tradition and
folklore, and so stimulate greater dis
elimination in the selection of new
names as occasion arise. There are
too. many Mt. Peasants and River
sides, High streets and Lovers lanes,
and not enough names which are dis
tinctive and informing. Perhaps the
best idea of the contents OF the bulle
tin may be conveyed by quoting some
of it's paragraphs:
Absecom, bay and town in Atlantic
county, New Jersey-The name Is de-
rived from the Indian words wabisse.
swan" and ong, "a place." and was
given because of the numbers of
swans which resorted there.
Adirondack, mountains In New York
and village in Warren county of the
same state-Indian word compounded
from doran, "a people who eat bark,
and dak, trees" with the French par
ticle ia" prefxed.
Alaska, territory of the United States
An Indian word meaning great
country" continent" great land"
Anthony's Nose, promotory on the
Hudson river, New York-Said by Irv-
ing to have been named so in refer
ence to Anthony Van Corlears nose;
Losing says, Anthony de Hooges,
secretary of Rensselaerwick, had an
enormous nose, and the promotory was
named in honor of that feature"
Appomattox, river and county in Vir
gipia-An Indian word, meaning "a to-
bacco plant country"
Bad Lands, term applied to a region
in South Dakota--It is said that the
old French voyageurs described the re-
gion as "mauvaise terres pour traver-
SER" meaning that It was a difficult
country to travel through; from this
the term has been carelessly shortened
and translated into the present misno-
rner.
Brooklyn, City in New York-Cor-
ruption of the Dutch name of Breuck-
ellen, from a village in the province of
Utrecht, Holland. The name signifies
broken up land, or marshy land.
Buncombe. County in North Carroll
ma, and several places in the Southern
States-Named for Col. Edward Bun
cornbe of the Continental Army
Catskill. creek. mountains. and town
in Greene county, New York-The
mountains were called Katsbergs By
the Dutch. from the number of wild
cats found in them. and the creek.
which flows from the mountains. Kat
ersldli. "tomcats' creek"
Chicago, city and river in Illinois
The origin Of the word is from the In
dian, being a derivation by elision ana
French annexation from the word Chi
kaug-ong. Col. Samuel A. Starrow
used the name in letter 10 Gen. ia
cob Brown in 1916, as follows: THE
river Chicago (or IN the English, wild
Onion River)." Schoolcraft in 1920 said.
IT'S banks stated to pro-
duce abundantly the Wild
species % cepa or leek" Bishop Bar
aga gives; From chiag, or Slkag.
skunk. a kind Of wildcat" John Tur-
ner defines skunk as she-gahg: onion.
sbe-gaD-ga- WINNIE. skunk weed"
When the word first appeared the
country was inhabited BY tribe 81
Niamls. in whose dialect fhe word for
skunk was "ae~ka ~kWaw." IL N said
that the wildcat or skunk, vas named
from fhe plant
Cemmunip8w, village 10 Eefgen
county. New Jersey Named Tor The
original srsRtse. Aiehsei FagN, a.