The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-09-06
MANHATTAN OR MoNATUN?

Specification and acceptance to-day,
Manhattan, now the name of the chief
borough of Greater New York. Even
this name Is OF disputed meaning and
historical application. John +. Wat
son, in his ANNALS and Occurrences Of
New York City and State in the Olden
Time" says that Manhattan Is q
revealing name, importing the place
where we all got drunk" This refers
of course to Hudson's visit in 1909,
when he gave the Indians wine and
aque VITAE and, probably as a result,
ended by buying the whole island for
the sum Of sixty guilders, s24. GER
tainly a thrifty transaction wen in
those early days. considering that the
island was then said to be $4,000
morghen large" or, as later estimated
allowing for land to be made from the
rivers, about $4,000 acres. Yet we read
that in 1929 three pence a foot was
given for land on the west side of
Broadway nea the Battery" which,
proportionally, was perhaps even a
better real estate bargain at that time
than the bargain price Of an earlier
day.
But while Broadway and It's Great
White Way ever yet may Justify the
revelling si%gniication of the Indian
name for the island, according to the
usual tradition, ~Schoolcraft and others
have shown that applying the name
Manhattan with the preceding signifi-
cation to the island 10 a sheer in
ference Of philology." and that as a
historical fact the place where they
all got drunk" was some location
further up the river, probably at Kin
derhook. which, as a reviewer OF Wat
sons annals observed in 1s47, is "a
registering and jolly region down to
this day But, merely in the inter-
ests of ~phllology and historical accu-
racy, 1t may be mentioned that Rob-
ert Juet, the mate of Hudson's Half
Moon, in his journal or logbook OF
that voyage does not call the island
Manhattan but refers to "the river
that is called Mannahatta." Heche-
welder, a Moravian missionary among
the Indians. affirmed that the Mon
seys. a Delaware tribe, called the ISL
and Sao-pha-wachking, or "the place
Of stringing wampum." or. as It might
w NO-tdy NiV PioNN VI ildh
ing money, and the appropriateness OF
that name applies even to-day, when
New York has become the money mar
ket OF the world, and. as shown by the
recent report of the Bureau of For
eign and Domestic Commerce, as q
port leads all rivals for the last fiscal
year with more than half Of the en-
tire export trade OF the United States
credited TO 1t. To be exact, the fig
ures show a total trade for the
United states OF s4.443. 600, 900, OF
which New York's share was $2.l25.-
000. 900. Whether as the Indians or
the white mans place OF making
money New York still stands first.
But there are excellent reasons for
believing that the word Manhattan
does not deserve the flavor OF In
toxication that tradition assigns &c
its name. The New York Historical
Society proceedings for 1914 show tina,
the Algonquin word for intox!catior
is ke-wush-ku-a-bee, a name which
is more g~loriously descriptive, In
sound, at least. of intoxication thar
Manhattan. while other authorities
maintain Manhattan a the name ap
piled by the Indians to the island long
before the white man came and conse.
quently before they had learned the
wondrous properties OF the "fre
water" made known to them by the
jovial Hendrix Hudson and the crew OF
the Half Moon.
There is still another contestant for
honors as the Indian name of the isl
and Hudson discovered. A reviewer
Of Watson's Annals" in the LiterdrL
World "a valuable literary repository
Of New York in the late '40s Of the
past century, gives this account of the
proper name OF the island now known
as Manhattan:
The proper aboriginal mann OF TIM
island was Mon-a-tun. sometimes Mona
iun-uk. Mon. or man. Is the radix of th'
adjective bad carrying the various mean
ings OF violent, dangerous. when applied
in compound. Ah.tun Is a generic tern
for channel or stream or running water
uk denotes plurality, The meaning theI
Il, place OF the had, whirling torrent
The natives OF the island called them
selves Mon-a-tuns that Is 10 say, "Peo
pie OF the Whirlpool" abiding to thu
most remarkable thing in their neishbor
hood. the great whirlpool at Hell Gate.
From this cou II would seem
that New Workers should be called
Monatunites rather than Manhattan.
ties. Manhattan, however, has sur
yived the other names and 1t may
therefore be regarded as another cast
Of the survival OF the fttest. Time
and blasting operations have taker
away most OF the terrors Of Hell Gate
and II the United States Government
and the city do their part in blasting
away the remaining reef of rocks sooI
there will be nothing left OF the terror:
OF He'll Gate except its name. Tn,
New Workers OF to-day and much les!
the New Workers OF the future canno
properly be called the people Of tn
whirlpool" and for hat reason, II FOL
no other, they will not regret tina
Manhattan as a name survived Mona
tun. on the other hand Broadway ha,
added TO the traditional revealing sig
n!fication of Manhattan, and perhaps
on the whole, hat Is still the hes
name for what Is now the chief Dor
ough of Greater New York. Should
however, hat occasional proposal L
erect a State out of what is nov
known as Greater New York ever b'
carried into effect, there is a name al
. ready coined for il, the old Indiar
name OF Monatun.