New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-12-30
NATIVE WORDS
A Dictionary of Local Indian
Names.

THE INDIAN -PLACE-NAMES ON LONG
ISLAND AND ISLANDS ADJACENT
With Their Probable Significance By
William Wallace. Tooker,. Algonkinist.
Edited with an Introduction, by Alex
ander +. Chamberlain, Phi. D.. assist
ant professor of anthropOlogy, Clark
University Published for the John Ter
main Memorial Library, Sag Harbor,
n. y, Svo., PIP. xvii, 3l4. G.. =. Put
MANS Sons.
This list Of 486 place names together
with two brief vocabularies complied In
the eighteenth century, is all that re-
mains to us of the language of the AL
gonquins as it was spoken on Long ISL
and. The more important one Of these
two vocabularles, consisting Of about
162 words including the numerals, was
| obtained by Joseph jefferson, James
Madison and General Floyd in 1871, at
! Pusspatuck, in the town Of Brookhaven.
7 The second, Of seventy-flve worls only,
/ is the work Of John Lyon Gardiner, the
seventh proprietor Of GARDENERS Island
| 019S), and is in the Montauk dialect.
Pusspatuck, by the way. Is not included
| in Mr.. lockers list.
Not the least interesting feature Of
this book-and it will interest even
those Indifferent toward It's subject
are its examples Of the various strange
ways Of the Dutchman and the Anglo
Saxon with an Indian place name. Some
they corrupted, others they truncated,
and still others they manufactured by
corrupting words original in their own
language:
The third division of place names inves-
| tigated by the author consists of those that
are not Algonkian, although believed TO be
such by the majority of the Inhabitants of
| those hamlets retaining the name. This
division includes "Syosset." which is of
which is English; 'Hoggenoch," an error of
an engrosser CHog's Neck'O; "Oquenock'
from oak NeckD; and "Ligonee" which
belongs 10 the realm Of English folklore.
Some of the Indian names on Long
Island, Mr. Tooker informs us, are dupli-
Gated in Virginia, Maryland, New Jer-
sey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and
Massachusetts,. Long Island, moreover,
has TWO Connecticut" rivers, neither OF
which borrowed its name from the
larger and better known stream; and It
also possesses one Mississippi" the
name OF which. historically antedates
that Of the greater Western stream.
Mr.. Tooker includes in his list a
place named "Tersarge" as Of Algonquin
origin, quoting as his authority a Dutch
settler, Cornelissen, who stated that a
tract of land he wished to survey was
so called by the Indians. But" adds
Mr.. TOoker, "the name, etymology, etc.
are very uncertain" To the present re-
viewer, who knows nothing Of Algon-
Ter in this word points Enthusiastically
to its Dutch origin and meaning, ter"
or ten according TO the gender of the
word TO which IT is prefxed, occurring
often in Dutch place and family names
as "rerneuze" and Ten Brock" made
famous by Diedrich Knickerbocker. The
same remark applies TO the Dutch prefix
COP" all three denoting residence at,
and often also possession Of, a place, like
the German 'zu."
The compier's preliminary remarks"
and Professor Chamberlain's introduce
ton give the book decided pathological
interest, while photography is added
for the guidance Of those DESTROYS OF
looking further into really interesting
subject. Mr. Tooker is further to be
thanked for list Of suggested Indian
names for country places. yachts, etc.
According TO Professor Chamberlain,
American English is indebted TO the Al
gonquin language for some two hundred
words in past and present use. among
them "Tammany," which has circled the
civilized world, and our old friend, the
"mugwump."
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