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VI 
 
 THE EARLIEST MAP OF MANHATTAN ISLAND 
 
THE 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE NAME 
 MANHATTAN 
 
 With Historical and Ethnological Notes 
 
 BY 
 WILLIAM WALLACE TOOKER 
 
 WITH MAP 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 FRANCIS P. HARPER 
 1901 
 
 OF TH 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
\m 
 -> ^^ 
 
 ~i / VlA**** 
 
 **&& 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1901, 
 
 BY 
 FRANCIS P. HARPER. 
 
TO 
 HERBERT FOSTER GUNNISON 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE 
 
 WHOSE UNWAVERING INTEREST IN MY WORK 
 LED TO ITS CONTINUANCE 
 
 THESE ALGONQUIAN SERIES 
 
 ARE 
 
 RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE advent of civilization in the 
 seventeenth century found that por 
 tion of our country, from which 
 these studies in nomenclature have 
 been derived, inhabited by various 
 tribes of the great Algonquian * 
 family f a family whose territorial 
 
 * Algonquian ; contracted from Algo- 
 mequin, an Algonkin word, signifying 
 " Those on the other side of the river," 
 /. <?.,St. Lawrence. Trumbull. 
 
 f There are many linguistic families in 
 North America [58], and in a number of 
 
 9 
 
 
 ^ 
 
IO Introduction. 
 
 possessions were greater and whose 
 descendants are to-day far more nu 
 merous than that of any other North 
 American linguistic stock.* There 
 is great probability, from evidence 
 
 these there are many tribes speaking di 
 verse languages. It is important, there 
 fore, that some form should be given to the 
 family name by which it may be distin 
 guished from the name of a single tribe or 
 language. In many cases some one lan 
 guage, rather than a stock, has been taken 
 as the type and its name given to the en 
 tire family; so that the use of a language 
 and that of the stock are identical. This 
 is inconvenient and leads to confusion. 
 For such reason it has been decided to 
 give each family name the termination in 
 an or ian. " J. W. Powell, Seventh Ann. 
 Report Bureau of Ethnology. 
 
 * Their numbers now approximate one 
 hundred thousand, of whom a little more 
 than sixth-tenths reside in Canada. 
 
Introduction. 1 1 
 
 gradually accumulating, that the 
 builders of the famous earthworks 
 and mounds of the Ohio valley, and 
 of other mounds in localities trend 
 ing to the northwest as far as the 
 prairies of Wisconsin, were people 
 of the same stock. If this possibility 
 proves on further research to be an as 
 sured fact, it should be an additional 
 reason for studying all minutiae relat 
 ing to this justly celebrated family. 
 
 The various clans of these people 
 speak to us to-day in appellations 
 which they bestowed upon moun 
 tains, lakes, rivers, headlands, and 
 other natural features of our land, 
 extending from the snow-clad peaks 
 of the Rockies, in the far northwest, 
 
1 2 Introduction. 
 
 to the icy cliffs of bleak Labrador 
 on the east, and stretching south 
 ward as far as the fragrant pines of 
 the balmy Carolinas. These names 
 are abundantly strewn over the 
 whole of this vast area. A few 
 clusters from this vineyard have 
 been garnered here and there for 
 the purposes of study, but as yet 
 the harvest awaits the gleaner. 
 Their analysis will bring light to 
 bear on many intricate problems, 
 unravel the myths of tradition, add 
 to our knowledge of the early his 
 tory of many localities, and give us 
 an insight into the psychology of 
 the aboriginal mind often unobtain 
 able in any other way. 
 
Introduction. 13 
 
 The attention of many societies, 
 historical and scientific, is being 
 daily called to the question of our 
 Amerindian names.* Their signi 
 fications are being daily sought after 
 by the historian, by the student, by 
 the lawmaker, and by the summer- 
 cottager, each for varying intents. 
 Furthermore, the ancient Indian 
 names of localities are being resur- 
 
 * " Amerind, Ameridian, Amerindic, an 
 arbitrary compound of the leading syllables 
 of the frequently used phrase American 
 Indian, now adopted by the Bureau of 
 Ethnology, to designate the native Ameri 
 can tribes" (American Anthropologist, N. 
 S., vol. i. p. 502). The publisher of this 
 series thought best not to use this com 
 pound as, not being generally known or 
 adopted, it might create some confusion. 
 
14 Introduction. 
 
 rected from their hidden folds in 
 the quaint and faded script of the 
 past, where they have laid neglected 
 for generation after generation, and 
 are once again bestowed where they 
 originated centuries ago. 
 
 Therefore, as will be observed, it is 
 not merely the desire to satisfy a brief 
 curiosity that impels us to the consid 
 eration of the real meaning and true 
 origin of these significant terms, but 
 a far more desirable and enlightened 
 aim ; although curiosity, as the em 
 bryo of active intelligence, inves 
 tigation, and thought, sometimes 
 leads to unexpected results in all 
 channels of scientific exploration. 
 
 As our late distinguished ethnolo- 
 
Introduction. 1 5 
 
 gist, Dr. Daniel G. Brinton, once re 
 marked : * " Certainly it would be 
 a most legitimate anxiety which 
 should direct itself to the preserva 
 tion of the correct form and precise 
 meaning of these names as pecu 
 liarly national designations. One 
 would think that this alone would 
 not fail to excite something more 
 than a languid curiosity in Ameri 
 can linguistics, at least in our insti 
 tutions of learning and societies for 
 historical research." 
 
 With these aims in view, the pres 
 ent series of Algonquian studies have 
 been assembled, revised, and with 
 additional notes are submitted, as a 
 * Essays of an Americanist, p. 309. 
 
1 6 Introduction. 
 
 slight addition to the synonyms of 
 the Algonquian family and bibli 
 ography of American history. 
 
 WM. WALLACE TOOKER. 
 
 SAG HARBOR, N. Y., 
 
 August i, 1900. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME 
 MANHATTAN.* 
 
 |T seems quite apropos at 
 the present time, now the 
 Greater New York has 
 become an assured certainty, and as 
 the term Manhattan has been chosen 
 
 * This essay was read before Section H 
 (Anthropology), American Association for 
 the Advancement of Science, at Buffalo, in 
 1896, by Prof. W. J. McGee, of the Bureau 
 of Ethnology, in the absence of the author, 
 and printed in the Brooklyn Eagle 
 Almanac for 1897. It has been revised and 
 enlarged. 
 
 17 
 
1 8 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 to designate the first and principal 
 borough of this great civic consolida 
 tion, that a full connotation of the 
 name should be presented, especially 
 as it has been occasionally applied 
 to the lesser New York, and is now 
 the title of many of its corporations ; 
 and, furthermore, at an early period 
 was by the Dutch claimed to 
 describe the whole province. In 
 proof of this last assumption, the 
 following appears in Heermann s 
 Journal of the Dutch Embassy 
 to Maryland in the year 1659.* 
 " And hereabouts we gave him to 
 understand that Manhattans, signi 
 fied the whole country, having pre- 
 * Col. Hist. N. Y., vol. ii. p. 92. 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan, ig 
 
 served the ancient name of the 
 Indian nations among whom the 
 Dutch first settled." This quota 
 tion bears witness that the Dutch 
 made use of the term identically 
 the same as the English did the 
 names Massachusetts and Connecti 
 cut, without any consideration what 
 ever for its limited topographical 
 application as understood by those 
 who bestowed it, and thus by adop 
 tion it became in the words of an 
 eminent ethnologistf a mere distin 
 guishing mark, destitute of its origi 
 nal self-interpreting faculty which 
 it possessed in its own language. 
 
 *Trumbull, Names in Connecticut, In 
 troduction, p, iii. 
 
2O The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 So many problems geographical, 
 historical, and anthropological en 
 ter into the discussion as to its origin 
 and meaning that a complete colla 
 tion of contributing data bearing 
 upon these points would necessarily 
 carry the subject to a much greater 
 length than the limits of the present 
 paper would warrant, or its title 
 might seem to indicate. 
 
 Moreover, the fact appears, 
 whether designating an island, 
 people, or province, the name is so 
 interwoven into the history of the 
 Dutch settlement of New York, that 
 it is impossible to consider the deri 
 vation of the first without advert 
 ing in a greater degree to the latter. 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 2 1 
 
 Again, as some of the questions 
 involved require careful examination 
 of the early maps and an accurate 
 study of their relation to the date of 
 settlement, also a critical scrutiny of 
 those which may be cartographical 
 perversions, and therefore untrust 
 worthy as an authority, it behooves 
 us to be very cautious in accepting 
 conclusions based upon a source 
 that more than possibly had a motive 
 for distorting facts. 
 
 Not only is the origin of the name 
 so encompassed, but the derivations 
 offered for it in later times are so 
 numerous and so doubtful that it 
 would seem almost superfluous to 
 add another to the already long list 
 
22 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 unless something convincing can be 
 offered in its favor, for I know of 
 no name of aboriginal bestowal that 
 has had more conjectural significa 
 tions and derivations assigned to it 
 than this same simple name, Man 
 hattan. 
 
 Many prominent ethnologists and 
 historians have had a part in sug 
 gesting these derivations, and their 
 opinions will be carefully noted and 
 considered, as far as possible in their 
 chronological order. Therefore, it 
 is not only the derivation and ety 
 mology of the name that is to be 
 considered, but also so much of its 
 subsequent history as is necessary 
 to trace its evolution from its primi- 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 23 
 
 tive tongue into the alien Dutch 
 and English, where it has been a 
 part for the greater portion of three 
 centuries. The early documents or 
 records, so far as my research has 
 extended, fail to give a clew to a 
 possible meaning, but, with the 
 maps, render considerable aid to the 
 investigator, by means of which a 
 correct insight may be acquired as 
 to the first application of the name. 
 
 Rev. John Heckewelder, the well- 
 known Moravian missionary, who 
 devoted the greater part of his life 
 to Christianizing the Delaware 
 Indians in Pennsylvania and Ohio, 
 was the first to offer an etymology 
 for the name. In his History, Man- 
 
24 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 ners, and Customs of the Indian 
 Nations, etc., 1817,* he speaks of 
 " The current account given by the 
 Delawares and Mohegans of the 
 scenes which took place when they 
 were first made to taste spirituous 
 liquors by the Dutch who landed on 
 New York Island. . . They called 
 it Manahachtanienk, which in the 
 Delaware language, means the island 
 where we all became intoxicated. 
 We have corrupted this name into 
 Manhattan, but not so as to destroy 
 its meaning or conceal its origin. 
 The last syllable which we have left 
 out is only a termination implying 
 
 * Memoirs Hist. Soc. of Pa., vol. xii. p. 
 262, 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 25 
 
 locality, and in this word signifies 
 as much as where we/ There are 
 few Indian traditions so well sup 
 ported as this." Heckewelder 
 qualifies this later, as quoted by 
 George Folsom in the Collections 
 of the New York Historical Society * 
 by saying " The Delawares call 
 this place (New York Island) Manna- 
 hat tanink, or Mannahachtanink, to 
 this day. They have frequently 
 told me that it derived its name 
 from this general intoxication, and 
 that the word comprehended the 
 same as to say The island or 
 place of general intoxication. The 
 Mahicanni (otherwise called Mohig- 
 *New series, vol. i. p. 73. 
 
26 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 gans by the English, and Mahican- 
 ders by the Low Dutch) call this 
 place by the same name as the 
 Delawares do : yet think it is owing 
 or given in consequence of a kind of 
 wood which grew there, and of which 
 the Indians used to make their bows 
 and arrows. This word the latter 
 (Mohicanni) call gawaak! 
 
 Rev. A. S. Anthony, a native 
 Delaware Indian, residing in Canada, 
 a few years since gave the Mohegan 
 derivation to the late Dr. D. G. 
 Brinton,* who says : " The name 
 for the compound instrument, l bow 
 and arrow, is Manhtaht, the first * a 
 being nasal, and from this word, 
 * Essays of an Americanist, p. 183. 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 27 
 
 Mr. Anthony states, is derived the 
 name Manhattan, properly Mana- 
 hahtank, l the place where they 
 gather wood to make bows. 
 
 The fact that individuals of two 
 cognate tribes, using precisely the 
 same pronunciation, derive the 
 word differently is enough in itself 
 to throw a decided doubt on both 
 derivations. The Delaware ety 
 mology proves that an Indian can 
 not always be depended upon for 
 the truth of his ancestral traditions, 
 nor for the correctness of his own 
 interpretations of what we may call 
 archaic terms. Both the tradition 
 and interpretation in this instance 
 are entirely supposititious, for the 
 
28 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 reason that the name designated 
 the locality long before the Dutch 
 had begun a settlement or had even 
 landed upon the island ; and, so far 
 as drunkenness is concerned, Van 
 der Donck wrote in 1656,* " In the 
 Indian languages, which are rich and 
 expressive, they have no word to 
 express drunkenness. Drunken men 
 they call fools." Therefore all 
 aboriginal words indicating this 
 fault of the human family are 
 necessarily in their application sub 
 sequent to the settlement of the 
 country, and had such been the 
 origin of Manhattan, Van der 
 
 * Description of New Netherland, in Coll. 
 N. Y. Hist. Soc., vol. i. p. 192. 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 29 
 
 Donck would surely have men 
 tioned it.* 
 
 It must be recollected, when con 
 sidering both etymologies, that nei 
 ther the Delawares nor Mohegans 
 gave the name to the island, f and 
 when explained to Heckewelder, the 
 term had been in use for nearly two 
 centuries, and was, therefore, archaic 
 and beyond their time. The Mo- 
 
 *In the various Algonquian dialects 
 occur several descriptive terms to express 
 drunkenness or a drunken man ; but all are 
 undoubtedly subsequent to the settlement 
 of the country, like other terms which grew 
 out of new conditions and ideas. 
 
 f The Manhattans, while akin to both 
 tribes, were geographically, as well as 
 linguistically, intermediate between the 
 Delawares and Mohegans. 
 
30 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 began etymology must also be re 
 garded, when compared with the 
 early forms, as being for many 
 reasons fully as faulty and unaccept 
 able as the Delaware, and the fact 
 that Mr. Anthony believed in it, to 
 the exclusion of the " drunk " deriva 
 tion of his ancestors, shows that he 
 had either seen Heckewelder s two 
 etymologies in print previously, or 
 else had learned it from some 
 Mohegan.* 
 
 * The Mohegan derivation of their own 
 tribal name shows how little we can de 
 pend upon their interpretation of their 
 ancient terms, and of how little worth are 
 most of their traditions. Captain Hendrik 
 Aupaumut, a chief of that Nation who died 
 after 1829 (Ruttenber, Indians of the Hud 
 son River, p. 325), said (Mass. Hist. Soc. 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 3 1 
 
 Judge Egbert Benson s reference 
 to the town of Manhattans, the town 
 of the Manhatoes, the townsmen of 
 Manhattans, in his Memoir on 
 
 Coll., vol. ix. p. 101) : "The etymology of 
 the word Muhheakunnuk, according to 
 the original signification, is great waters 
 or sea which are constantly in motion either 
 ebbing or flowing. Our forefathers as 
 serted that they were emigrants from 
 west-by-north of another country ; that 
 they passed over great waters, where this 
 and the other country are nearly connected, 
 called Ukhkokpeck ; it signifies snake 
 water or water where snakes are abun 
 dant ; and that they lived by side of a great 
 water or sea, from whence they derive the 
 name of Muhheakunnuk nation. Muh- 
 heakunneyuk is a plural number. As they 
 were coming from the west they found 
 many great waters, but none of them flow 
 ing and ebbing like Muhheakunnuk until 
 they came to Hudson s River ; then they 
 
32 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 Indian and Dutch Names, read be 
 fore the Historical Society of the 
 State of New York, in 1817, can 
 hardly be called an interpretation, 
 
 said one to another, this is like Mnhhea- 
 kunnuk our nativity." The late Dr. D. G. 
 Brinton (Lenape and their Legends, p. 20) 
 accepts this fully, and says they "dwelt 
 on the tide water of the Hudson, and from 
 this their name was derived. Dr. Trumbull, 
 indeed, following Schoolcraft, thinks they 
 took theirtribalname from Maingan, a wolf, 
 and Mohganick =. Chip. Maniganikan, 
 a country of wolves. . . The compound 
 is Machaak, great, hickan, tide, and 
 ik, animate plural termination. " The 
 early maps, as well as the early forms of 
 the name, most decidedly contradict this 
 assertion, and fully confirm the wolf deri 
 vation beyond a shadow of question. On 
 the Carte Figurative, of 1616, they are 
 called Mahicans (= Cree, Mahigan, "a 
 wolf ") ; and those to the eastward Mor- 
 
The Origin, of the Name Manhattan. 33 
 
 as it is simply a quotation from 
 some of the old documents. But 
 his reference to a " Manhattan 
 town," as will be noticed, hints at 
 
 hicans. The latter " were called the 
 Pequttoog the destroyers, by the Narra- 
 gansetts ; they were a branch of the Mo- 
 hegan nation, which migrating eastward 
 from the Hudson Valley had occupied the 
 territory on both sides of Mistick River, 
 and extended their conquests over the 
 greater part of eastern Connecticut " 
 (Trumbull, R. W. Key, quoted from 
 Church s Philip s War, Ed. by Dexter). 
 This and other authorities which might be 
 quoted show the accepted identity of the 
 two branches of the nation. 
 
 Champlain, on his map of 1632 (Doc. Hist. 
 N. Y., vol. iii.),lays down the southern part 
 of New England, extending from the Hud 
 son to Narragansett Bay, as the Habita 
 tion Sauvages Mamganatigouoit. This 
 legend really settles and explains the 
 
34 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 another etymology, which will be 
 quoted later on. 
 
 Henry R. Schoolcraft, in his 
 Comments, Philological and His- 
 
 whole matter, for allowing for the French 
 pronunciation of the northern dialects, by 
 Champlain, it signifies, The dwelling-place 
 of the savages of the wolf s head family , 
 or totem. Otchipwe Maingan, " a wolf," 
 -tigou {^tt gwdn}, "a head," -oit (=oht, 
 -ote,-ode), "family," "totem," or "belong 
 ing." This derivation is still later and 
 further confirmed on Creuxius Map of 
 1660 (Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, pp. 
 184-5), where their country is Latinized 
 as belonging to the Natio Luporii, "Na 
 tion of the Wolf," same as that belong 
 ing to the Eries is Latinized as Natio 
 Felium, "Nation of the Cat." In all the 
 early French documents they are invari 
 ably called the Loups, "Wolfs," where the 
 English called them the Mohegans. They 
 were probably called the Nation of the 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 35 
 
 torical, on the Aboriginal Names 
 and Geographical Terminology of 
 the State of New York, read 
 before the New York Historical 
 Society in 1844,* says: "The In 
 dians called the island Mon-a-ton, 
 
 wolf, or, Nation of the wolfs head totem, 
 because they were characterized by wear 
 ing or using a wolf s head as a tribal 
 emblem or badge. One of the Sasquesah- 
 anoughs, described by Captain John 
 Smith in 1608, wore " a wolfs head hanging 
 in a chain for a Jewell," and, for aught we 
 know to the contrary, he may have been a 
 Mohegan, then on a visit to the Sasques- 
 ahanoughs. Schoolcraft came very near 
 to it, when he said: " Mohegan was a 
 phrase to denote an enchanted wolf, or a 
 wolf of supernatural power. This was the 
 badge of arms of the tribe, rather than the 
 name of the tribe itself." (See Note on the 
 Black Mmquas^) 
 *Proc. N. Y. Hist. Soc., 1844, p. 95. 
 
36 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 dropping the local inflection uk. 
 The word is variously written by ear 
 ly writers, the name as pronounced 
 to me in 1827, by Metoxon, a Mo- 
 hegan chief, is Mon-ah-tan-uk, a 
 phrase which is descriptive of the 
 whirlpool of Hellgate. Mon, or man, 
 as here written, is the radix of the 
 adjective bad, carrying as it does, in 
 its multiplied forms, the various 
 meanings of violent, dangerous, etc.; 
 when applied in compounds, ah-tun 
 is a generic term for channel, or 
 stream of running water ; uk de 
 notes locality, and also plurality. 
 When the tribe had thus denoted 
 this passage, which is confessedly 
 the most striking and characteristic 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 37 
 
 geographical feature of the region, 
 they called the island near it, to 
 imply the anglicised term Man-hat- 
 tan, and themselves Mona-tuns, that 
 is to say people of the whirlpool/ " 
 Schoolcraft refers to Heckewelder s 
 " drunk " etymology as being " sheer 
 inference, unsupported by philol 
 ogy." His own derivation is even 
 worse than Heckewelder s and in 
 no way can be sustained by the 
 early forms of the name, no matter 
 how pronounced by a Mohegan 
 chief of this century.* 
 
 The Indians were so exact in their 
 
 * Here we might suppose that " Me- 
 toxon " would have given Schoolcraft the 
 so-called boiv and arrow derivation of his 
 ancestors, if it were the true one. 
 
38 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 application of a name to a place 
 that it is perhaps needless to ob 
 serve that this atone proves School- 
 craft s error. Schoolcraft had a very 
 fair knowledge of the Chippeway 
 dialect, but when he applied, as he 
 frequently did, Chippeway elemen 
 tary syllables to the interpretation 
 of the Algonquian names in the 
 East, without sufficient study of the 
 Eastern dialects, he most miserably 
 failed in nearly every instance. 
 
 Rev. C. H. Wheeler s Etymologi 
 cal Vocabulary of Modern Geograph 
 ical Names, contributed to Web 
 ster s Unabridged Dictionary for 
 1864, and editions following, has 
 " Manhattan (Ind. Munnohatari) l the 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 39 
 
 town on the island. At one time 
 I regarded this as one of the best 
 etymologies so far suggested, espe 
 cially as the early records, as quoted 
 by Judge Benson, to which reference 
 has been made, spoke of the " town 
 of the Manhattans/ etc., but an 
 earlier form of the word lately dis 
 covered has convinced me that this 
 etymology, as far as its terminal 
 atan is concerned, is a mistake like 
 the others. 
 
 A writer in the Historical Maga 
 zine for 1866 (vol. i. p. 89) suggests 
 that : " the name was a generic term 
 designating not only the occupants 
 of the island now called Manhattan, 
 but of Long Island, and the main- 
 
40 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 land north of Manhattan. The term 
 Manhattan indicates this, being ap 
 parently from Menohhunnety which 
 in Eliot s Bible is given as the equiv 
 alent of islands, or as applied to the 
 people, the people of the islands. " 
 This meaning of the name has been 
 frequently quoted by other writers, 
 and while the island part is correct, 
 the application to the neighboring 
 country is too extended to be accept 
 able. 
 
 Rev. N. W. Jones, in his Indian 
 Bulletin for 1867, translates Manhat 
 tan as " rapids," erroneously offering 
 as an equivalent the Abnaki Merii- 
 tan y which is a misquotation for 
 Mennitann, "it is rapid," an inter- 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 41 
 
 pretation similar to Schoolcraft s, 
 but from different elements. 
 
 The late J. Hammond Trumbull, 
 in his Composition of Indian Geo 
 graphical Names, 1870 (p. 22), re 
 marks : " New York Island was 
 sometimes spoken of as the island 
 Manate, Manhatte ; sometimes as 
 an island Manathan, Menatan, 
 Manhattan; more accurately as * the 
 small island Manhaates, Manattes, 
 and the Manados, of the Dutch. 
 The island Indians collectively were 
 called Manhattens ; those of the 
 small island Manhatesen. They 
 deeply mistake, as Governor Stuy- 
 vesant s agents declared in 1659, who 
 interpret the general name of Man- 
 
42 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 hattans into the particular town 
 built upon a little island ; because it 
 signified the whole country and 
 province. " This suggestion of Dr. 
 Trumbull, and others previous to 
 him, that the name denoted " an 
 island " or " a little island," would 
 seem to bring the subject to a 
 finality ; but while it is agreed that 
 the element indicating an island 
 is embodied in the name, it is evi 
 dent that something remains undis 
 covered and unaccounted for in its 
 termination. The general use of the 
 term by the Dutch, of which Dr. 
 Trumbull gives us another quotation 
 from the records, has already been 
 referred to an application, as before 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 43 
 
 remarked, having nothing whatever 
 to do with the Indians use of the 
 term, or his understanding of it. In 
 fact, if the Dutch records hint at 
 anything, it is that the term means 
 " a little town on an island," or " a 
 town on a little island." 
 
 Mr. Bernard Fernow,* basing his 
 remarks upon the so-called Carte 
 Figurative of 1816, which may be 
 one of the cartographical perver 
 sions of later time, suggests the 
 origin of the Indian names there 
 upon from Spanish sources. He 
 says : " That it is hard to believe 
 they were not first applied by the 
 
 * Narrative and Critical History of Amer 
 ica, 1884 > v l- iv P. 434- 
 
44 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 Spaniards and afterward repeated 
 by the Indians to the before-men 
 tioned Dutch prisoners among the 
 Mohawks.* We find one tribe 
 called Capitanasses, while in col 
 loquial Spanish Capitanazo means a 
 great warrior ; another whom the 
 Dutch later knew as Black Minquas, 
 is designated by the name Gachos, 
 the Spanish word Gacho being ap 
 plied to black cattle. Still another 
 
 * For certain reasons these Cartes Fig- 
 uratives seem to have been drawn later 
 than their supposed dates, and subsequent 
 to the documents to which they were found 
 attached. The originals seem to have 
 been two rough drafts according to the 
 Dutch legend, written on the map assigned 
 to 1614 by Mr. Brodhead. Col. Hist. N. Y., 
 vol. i. 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 45 
 
 is called Canoomakers; l canoe being 
 a word of the Indian tongue of 
 South America, the North American 
 Indian could only have learned it 
 from the Spaniards, and in turn 
 have taught its meaning to the 
 Dutch. Even the Indian name 
 given to the island upon which the 
 city of New York now stands, spelled 
 on the earliest maps Monados, Man- 
 ados, Manatees, and said to mean a 
 place of drunkenness, points to a 
 Spanish origin from the colloquially 
 used noun Monas, drunkenness, Mon 
 ados, drunken men." * 
 
 * Mr. Fernow follows with some more 
 seeming correspondences (Narrative and 
 Critical History of America, vol. iv. p. 434). 
 He remarks: " The names of places given 
 
46 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 This resemblance of Indian words 
 to those of Latin tongues has 
 been often the subject of discussion 
 and comparison. Such accidental 
 
 in their corruption by the Dutch, in a grant 
 covering part of Albany Co. Semesseerse, 
 Spanish semencera, land sown with 
 seed ; Negogance, place for trade/ Span 
 ish negocia, trade. In a note to a previ 
 ous page [430] he derives the Iroquoian term 
 Tawalsontha, a heap of dead men s 
 bones (?) from the French Tas de jonchets, 
 having same expression, and this time 
 assigns the two Algonquian words to the 
 French, which is possibly a slip of the pen, 
 although it really makes no difference. Mr. 
 Fernow, while a learned historiographer, 
 was completely deluded by these false re 
 semblances, which really have no founda 
 tion. It is time they were exhibited in 
 their true light before they are quoted 
 further by historians and others (as they 
 have been) who know no better. 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 47 
 
 similarities can be traced in many 
 names of various linguistic stocks of 
 America, but they will amount to 
 nothing whatever in the end, because 
 
 In the first place, the above grant did 
 not cover any part of the present Albany 
 Co., as Mr. Fernow states, but a portion of 
 Rensselaer Co., on the opposite side of the 
 river. On the original grant to Killian 
 Van Rensselaer (Col. Hist. N. Y., vol. xiv. 
 p. i, dated Aug. 6, 1630) it is stated, 
 " there came by accident several Indians 
 [named] proprietors of their respective par 
 cel of land, to a place where Jan Jansen 
 Meyns camped with some men to cut tim 
 ber for the ship." This land, it further 
 recites, " belonged to the said Naswanemit, 
 in particular called Gesmesseeck" (=Ges- 
 mess-es-ieK)> i. e., "land where trees (or tim 
 ber) were cut." Semcsseerse, as Mr. Fernow 
 writes it, was an error of some copyist in 
 1672 (Col. Hist. N. Y., vol.i. p. 44), and again 
 abbreviated as Semesseeck in 1675 (Ibid., 
 
48 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 they are all adventitious. For ex 
 ample, we might just as well claim 
 that the likeness of the Narragansett 
 and Long Island, homes, " an old 
 man," * to the Latin, homo, would 
 
 vol. iii. pp. 549, 560). The grant further 
 recites " away north to Negagonse" or vice 
 versa, " from said fort to a little south of 
 Moenemmes Castle "; and as the record of 
 1674 states, " Whereabouts the aforesaid 
 Fort Orange was formerly built." Did this 
 refer to an old Fort Orange ? The term 
 neg-agon-se refers to something " old 
 or ancient, first in order, passed by," 
 Mass. Neg-agon-es-et " to the old (thing)." 
 Compare Abnaki negannsak oo, " bois viettx, 
 mort" ; NegannU " chose anct enne" , Mic- 
 miac nkdnegdn, " an old house." Not an 
 element in either name to indicate "plant 
 ing," "sowing," or "trading," but some 
 thing else decidedly more interesting in 
 throwing light on the early days. 
 *This name Homes, " an old man " (R. 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 40, 
 
 indicate the ancient Romans as 
 the first visitors to our continent ; 
 or that it might have been a survi 
 val or a reminder of Verazzano s 
 Voyage of 1624. 
 
 The names to which Mr. Fernow 
 refers can, probably, all be identi 
 fied, and it will not be necessary to 
 search a Spanish dictionary for them. 
 Van der Donck informs us that the 
 Black Minquas were not so called 
 
 Williams Key, chap, v.) now designates 
 two localities : Holmes Hill, at North Sea, 
 Southampton, L. I. (" Homes hill," 1691 and 
 1703), and Holmes Hole, Martha s Vine 
 yard, Mass. Gov. Mayhew wrote (Deed, 
 1642): "as far as the easternmost chop of 
 Hawses Hole." A record of 1681 " Ponit 
 an Indian Sachem of Nobnocket alias 
 holmes his hole." 
 
50 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 on account of their color, but be 
 cause they wore a black badge on 
 their breast.* The word canoe had 
 been adopted into the English 
 language, and was in common use 
 long anterior to the supposed date of 
 the Carte Figurative. Hariot made 
 use of it in 1585,1 as did also Cap 
 tain John Smith in 16084 The word 
 CanoomakerSy as displayed on the 
 Chart, seems to bespeak an English 
 
 * He says (Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc., N. S., 
 vol. i. p. 209) : "The beavers are mostly 
 taken far inland, there being very few of 
 them near the settlement, particularly by 
 the Black Minquas, who are thus named 
 because they wear a black badge on their 
 breast, and not because they are really 
 black." 
 
 f Narrative, etc., p. 34. 
 
 \ Arber s Smith, p. 14. 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan, c i 
 
 origin, rather than either Spanish or 
 Dutch. Finally, it is decidedly ab 
 surd to suppose that the Indians of 
 Hudson River, at that early date, or 
 indeed, at any time, were so conver 
 sant with words of Spanish deriva 
 tion as to have repeated them to the 
 Dutch or English, in order to de 
 scribe tribes or people more remote. 
 In fact, this Spanish origin is fully 
 as bad as the English pun derivation 
 of Man-with-a-hat-on, which is occa 
 sionally quoted in the newspapers, 
 with a traditional story to give it 
 some credence. 
 
 Mr. E. M. Ruttenber, in a recent 
 work * rejects his former belief f 
 
 * Memorial Hist. N. Y., vol. i. p. 35. 
 
 f Indian Tribes of the Hudson, pp. 77, 36. 
 
C2 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 in the derivation given in the His 
 torical Magazine, before quoted, and 
 remarks : " Notwithstanding the 
 stern logic of facts, it is not an agree 
 able task to divest Manhattan Island 
 of other claims to that title than that 
 of adoption ; to break the glamour 
 which enshrouds the Manhattans, 
 or destroy the fine interpretations 
 which have been given to their pre 
 sumed name ; yet it cannot longer 
 be received as an historical fact that 
 the name Manhattan is from or after 
 a tribe of savages, among whom the 
 Dutch made their first settlement,nor 
 can the interpretation be accepted 
 that the name was from Menohhan- 
 net, in Mohecan the equivalent of 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 3 
 
 Islands, or as defining * the people 
 of the islands, for both are incor 
 rect. The Manna-hata of Hudson 
 did not refer to the east side of the 
 river, nor to a people, but was and 
 is a compound Algonquin de 
 scriptive term, than which there is 
 none more pure, none more compre 
 hensive, and none more appropriate 
 to the object described. Divested of 
 its coalescents it presents ma, as in 
 Manitto, the Great Spirit, or, in a 
 modified sense, any object that is 
 noble, or that may command rever 
 ence ; na, excellence, abundance, 
 something surpassing ; ata or ta, a 
 beautiful scene, valley, or landscape, 
 or, omitting the final a, at, an 
 
54 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 object near by. The significance of 
 these root terms cannot be escaped." 
 
 If these so-called "root terms," 
 were correct and of universal appli 
 cation they would apply in other 
 names of places ; but the truth is, 
 the use of such a method of proced 
 ure and analysis to other combina 
 tions would meet with disaster and 
 bring confusion on the comparative 
 method of studying Algonquian 
 nomenclature. 
 
 The incorporation of three ele 
 mentary syllables of analogous 
 meaning is enough in itself to cast 
 a decided doubt upon this interpre 
 tation, for the reason that Algon 
 quian place-names are not formed 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 55 
 
 in that way. Again, ma is not the 
 radical of Manitto, as our best 
 scholars, such as Trumbull,* Brin- 
 
 * Trumbull, in his Algonkin Verb, re 
 marks : " Manzt, i. e., the Preternatural, 
 often translated as God, spirit/ and the 
 like, is regularly formed as the suppositive 
 (3d pers. sing.) and participial of a primary 
 verb meaning to surpass, exceed, be more 
 than. The verbal root an, surpassing, go 
 ing beyond, is the base of Mass. anui(anue t 
 El.), it surpasses, is more than ; Del. alui 
 (eluwi, most/ Zeisb.), West ; Cree a in 
 (N ayew y more, surpassing etc.; Lac.); 
 Chip, ani- (in composition marks going on/ 
 Baraga). Eliot employs anue to form the 
 comparative degree, as in Matt, xviii. 8, 9, 
 anue ivunnegen, it is better. It takes 
 personal form in Mass. an-in t it is rotten, 
 decayed/ /. e., goes beyond, is more than 
 ripe, mature, or fit for use ; and with 
 anin, subj. aninmt, he is corrupt, rotten 
 (John xi. 39 ; Ps. xiv. i) ; inan. ptcpl. ne 
 aneuk, that which is corrupt (Mai. i. 14 ; 
 Ps. xii. 4) ; anim. noh anit, he who ex- 
 
56 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 ton, * Chamberlain f and Gatschet : 
 
 ceeds, surpasses, is more than the 
 natural, common, or normal. With the 
 indefinite and impersonal pronominal pre 
 fix -manit, somebody or something that 
 exceeds, is preternatural. With the pred 
 icative affix Manit,-u (Mam tto, Manittoo, 
 El.), he or it is manit; nen mam tto, I am 
 God (Is. xliii. 12). They cry out Manittdo, 
 that is, it is a God, says Roger Williams, 
 at the apprehension of any excellency in 
 man, woman, bird, etc.; and so they say 
 of everything which they cannot compre 
 hend. In composition the impersonal pre 
 fix m is not retained ; e. g., Del. Get-annito 
 (Zeisb.) Mass, kehtannit, the greatest 
 god (for the Lord God, Gen. xxiv. 7)." 
 
 * Lenape and their Legends, p. 219. Brin- 
 ton believed the an of mannzt to be a 
 intensive prefix to the real root //, thus 
 disagreeing with Trumbull, but he is evi 
 dently mistaken and Trumbull s derivation 
 far preferable. 
 
 f American Notes and Queries. Phila 
 delphia, 1888, vol. i. pp. 305, 6. 
 
 ^Journal American Folk Lore, vol. xii. 
 pp. 211, 212. 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 57 
 
 have repeatedly shown, neither does 
 the radical of Manitto enter into 
 the composition of Manhattan, as 
 I shall presently demonstrate. 
 Mr. Ruttenber, following Hudson, 
 locates Manhattan on the Jersey 
 side of the river, and says in a 
 note that De Vries confirms Hud 
 son s location of the name, which is 
 a decided mistake, for he does noth 
 ing of the kind. Relating his return 
 voyage from a visit to Hartford in 
 1639, De Vries writes :* " Arriving 
 about evening at the Manhattes, 
 opposite Fort Amsterdam." As 
 the critical reader cannot help but 
 
 *Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc., N. S. vol. i. p. 
 261. 
 
58 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 observe, this statement in no way 
 confirms Hudson, for it evidently 
 means that De Vries, arrived at the 
 Manhattes, and dropped anchor 
 opposite Fort Amsterdam, which 
 was on Manhattan Island. Nothing 
 else can be made of the statement, 
 and it corresponds with other 
 remarks of De Vries. De Laet, how 
 ever, who wrote ten years previous 
 ly says :* " On the right or eastern 
 bank of the river from its mouth 
 dwell the Manhattae, or Manatt- 
 hanes, a fierce nation and hostile 
 to our people from whom neverthe 
 less they purchased the island . . . 
 
 *Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc., N. S., vol. i. p. 
 308. 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 59 
 
 opposite the Manhattans dwell the 
 Machkentiwomi" 
 
 Rev. B. F. Da Costa, who contrib 
 utes the first chapter to the same 
 history, in a very scholarly and 
 critical discussion of the early maps, 
 refutes unknowingly many of the 
 deductions given by Mr. Ruttenber 
 in the second. 
 
 In the foregoing rtsumJ the vari 
 ous significations and derivations 
 offered for the name Manhattan 
 have been quoted and criticised ; 
 they reveal what a chaos of uncer 
 tainty and doubt the subject still 
 remains. The question will now be 
 treated from another standpoint, 
 bringing to bear upon it the light 
 
60 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 afforded by some recent discoveries, 
 without which this essay would 
 never have been written. There 
 can be no question as to the fact, 
 and abundant proof can be adduced 
 from the records of both the Dutch 
 and English, to corroborate the 
 same, that the name in the begin 
 ning was bestowed upon the island 
 still bearing it.* Again, there can 
 be no doubt whatever, as is evi 
 denced by all the early writers and 
 confirmed by all the early docu 
 ments, that the name is of aborigi- 
 
 *A record of 1626 states (Coll. Hist. 
 N. Y. t vol. i. p. 37): "They have pur 
 chased the Island Manhattes from the 
 Indians for the value of 60 guilders [$24.00] ; 
 tis 11,000 Morgens in size." 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 6 1 
 
 nal origin, no matter how spelled 
 or pronounced by alien tongues. 
 The Dutch, French, and English 
 all had their own way of spelling 
 it and hardly twice alike. For 
 example, Earl Bellomont, * wrote in 
 1700: " Menades, is the French 
 name for this Island of New York, 
 taken I suppose, from the Indian 
 name of Manhattan." The Dutch 
 abbreviated it as much as possible 
 for ease of utterance. The Cartes 
 Figuratives of 1614 and i6i6f are 
 supposed to have been the earliest 
 maps on which the name appears ; 
 but both of these maps may have 
 
 * Coll. Hist. N. Y., vol. iv. p. 793. 
 fColl. Hist. N. Y., vol. i. 
 
62 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 been delineated from information 
 obtained subsequent to their sup 
 posed dates. This, however, is a 
 topic worthy of more extensive 
 treatment than is warranted at this 
 time, and it may be made the sub 
 ject of future investigation.* There 
 is, however, an earlier map, recently 
 discovered in the General Archives 
 of Simancas, Spain, f of unique 
 value, which was prepared from 
 English sources for James I. A 
 copy found its way to Philip III. 
 of Spain, by Velasco, March 22, 
 1612. Rev. Dr. B. F. Da Costa, 
 who discusses this map at some 
 
 * See note p. 44. 
 
 f Genesis of the U. S., Brown, p. 456. 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 63 
 
 length, and whose opinion is worth 
 quoting, says :* " It was a copy of 
 a map made soon after the voyage 
 to New England and Virginia, in 
 1607. The compiler had not heard 
 of Hudson s voyage, as that navi 
 gator did not reach England until 
 November 7, 1609. If he had 
 received any information from 
 Hudson, he would have shown the 
 river terminating in a shallow in 
 navigable brook, whereas, the river 
 is indicated, in accordance with 
 Captain John Smith s idea, as a 
 strait leading to a larger body of 
 water. Further the map contra 
 dicts Hudson, who represents the 
 * Memorial Hist, of N. Y., vol. i. p. 30. 
 
64 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 Hoboken side of the river as 
 Mannahata, while this map puts 
 the name on both sides, Manahata 
 on the west,* and Manahatin on 
 the east. It is not unlikely that 
 Hudson had with him a copy of the 
 map for his guidance on the voyage 
 in the Half Moon, f On the origi- 
 
 *The Map of 1632 (Doc. Hist. N. Y., 
 vol. i.) has the legend on the Jersey side, 
 " Opposite the island Manhatas" Per 
 haps the same idea was intended to be 
 conveyed in this case by placing the name 
 on both sides. 
 
 f It is my belief that it is not only likely, 
 but an undoubted fact, that Hudson had a 
 copy of this map with him, on this memor 
 able voyage, for a contemporary stated 
 that Hudson had letters and maps from 
 Captain John Smith. If not why should 
 his mate Robert Juet, in his daily Jour 
 nal of the voyage (Coll. N. Y. Hist. 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 65 
 
 nal map, of which Velasco s example 
 was a copy, the land west of the 
 river was colored blue, and the 
 legend says that it is described by 
 information drawn from the Indians. 
 At all events, we have in this Eng- 
 
 Soc., N. S., vol. i. p. 331), have been so 
 explicit and particular as to use the identi 
 cal spelling as it occurs on the map, where 
 he speaks of the " cliff that looked of the 
 color of white green, as though it were 
 either a copper or silver mine . . . it is on 
 that side of the river that is called Manna- 
 hat a" unless he had a copy of the chart 
 before him. This is surely the strongest 
 kind of circumstantial evidence, for in the 
 Journal, and on the Map, occur the only 
 instances of this spelling and applica 
 tion of the term to the west side of the 
 river. The contemporaneous proof is as 
 follows (Arber s Smith, p. cxiv.) : " After 
 he discovered Chesapeake Bay, Smith evi 
 dently, sent to Hudson, with the third 
 
66 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 lish map, the first seventeenth- 
 century delineation of the region, 
 and one showing that the English 
 knew the form and general charac 
 ter of the country which the Crown 
 conveyed to the colonists of the 
 
 return of Captain Newport, about Novem 
 ber 1608, a duplicate of the Mappe of the 
 Bay and Rivers, which he then sent to the 
 Council in London. Newport reached 
 London in January 1609 ; soon after which 
 Hudson went to Holland from whence he 
 set sail on his Third Voyage on March 25, 
 1609. Emmanuel Van Meteren, in his 
 Historze der Neder Lanscher, states : 
 This idea had been suggested to Hudson 
 by some letters and maps which his friend 
 Captain Smith, had sent him from Virginia ; 
 and by which he informed him that there 
 was a sea leading to the Western Ocean 
 by the north of the southern English 
 Colony. Fol. 629, Ed. 1614 ; and at fol. 
 674, of the French edition of 1618." 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 67 
 
 North and South Virginia in 1 606. 
 So far as known, it was clearly the 
 English who first became acquainted 
 with the name that the aborigines 
 applied to the island upon which 
 our great metropolitan city stands. 
 Whether or not this was an abo 
 riginal word or a corruption of a 
 Castilian term, future investigators 
 may decide." As Dr. Da Costa 
 further observes, " the English map 
 with its Manahatin furnishes the 
 earliest form that most resembles 
 the present." 
 
 The undeniable fact now presents 
 itself that Manahatin is not only 
 the most ancient form of the name 
 so far discovered, but also a com- 
 
68 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 pound term, representing the true 
 elementary constituents as uttered 
 by the Indians far better than does 
 any other notation ; and from which 
 it is much easier to study its deriva 
 tion and to trace its subsequent 
 changes. 
 
 Heckewelder,Trumbull and others, 
 as has been noticed, all recognized 
 the first element Manah, as the 
 equivalent for " island." This deri 
 vation cannot and must not be set 
 aside, for it is abundantly paralleled 
 in the Massachusetts Munnah, or 
 Menoh ; Abnaki Menah ; Delaware 
 Mena, and in other Algonquian 
 names of islands, to which the same 
 stem is affixed. It is also confirmed 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 69 
 
 by its primary and subsequent ap 
 plication to the island, likewise by 
 all the early forms, especially those 
 from English sources, such as Mana- 
 hatin, Munahaddons, Munhattoes, 
 etc., and it should be accepted fully 
 as the unquestioned meaning of the 
 first two syllables. 
 
 There still remains for our more 
 critical consideration the termina 
 tion in -atin, -atan, -ato, or -ado, with 
 or without the superfluous Dutch or 
 English plural in s, which we find 
 so often added, when appearing in 
 compound words, for it is never 
 used alone ; the inseparable generic 
 denoting a hill or a mountain, is 
 -atin, -adin, or -attan, and, as more or 
 
70 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 less varied or abbreviated, is in fre 
 quent use in all Algonquian dialects. 
 Father Cuoq, a missionary among 
 the Nipissings in Canada, in his pref 
 atory remarks on Algonquian gram 
 matical composition,* says : "Proper 
 finals and suffixes, as in -atin, moun 
 tain." He further says,f "-atin y which 
 is more used than adjiw (= Mass. 
 -adchu), another suffix of same mean 
 ing. -Atin, declivity, side, little 
 hill. " ^ The same radical presents 
 itself in the Delaware Kittatinny^ 
 " the great hills " of Pennsylvania, 
 and in the Abnaki Katahdin, the 
 great mountain of Maine. On Long 
 
 * Lexique de la Algonquine. 
 f Ibid., p. 15. \ Ibid., p. 68. 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan, ji 
 
 Island, in the dialect of the Massa- 
 peags, whose language was identical 
 with that spoken by the Manhattans, 
 it appears in the term Wanasquat- 
 tan, from Wanasqua, a point, top, 
 or ending, and -attan, hills ; an analy 
 sis confirmed by a record of 1696,* 
 in which it appears as "Wanasquat- 
 tan on ye poynt of hilles," and 
 paralleled by Eliot f in Wanasquod- 
 tinmiuk, in the top of the mountains. 
 Other examples could be cited 
 showing the employment of this 
 generic, but enough has been given 
 to show its identity with the ter 
 minal of the name Manhattan. The 
 
 * Huntington, L. I. Rec., vol. ii. p. 188. 
 f Micah iv. i. 
 
72 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 interchange of the / and d in the 
 foregoing examples should be 
 noticed, because it fully explains 
 the occurrence of d in some of the 
 early notations, such as Manados, 
 Manadoes, etc. These consonantal 
 substitutions have been noticed in 
 the Algonquian speech of the present 
 day, and they undoubtedly occurred 
 as well in all the older dialects of 
 the same family.* Therefore, with 
 
 * Dr. A. F. Chamberlain, in his Language 
 of the Mississages, p. 12, bears out this 
 statement in the following words : " Even 
 where the consonantal sounds are com 
 paratively simple a variation in the utter 
 ance of the same word by the same indi 
 vidual on different occasions has been fre 
 quently noticed, and certain letters fail to 
 to be clearly distinguished from certain 
 others." 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 73 
 
 all these corroborative facts, one 
 dove-tailing with the other, the 
 name should undoubtedly be trans 
 lated " the island of hills," and 
 when applied in the plural to the 
 natives of the island, as it was fre 
 quently done, we have the " people 
 of the island of hills." * Manahach- 
 tanienck, or Mannahattanink, the 
 Delaware and Mohegan forms as 
 written by Heckwelder, have the 
 locative termination in -ink, denot- 
 
 * Blackwell s Island, having been also 
 called by the Indians Minnahanonck 
 (= Munnohan-anke), "the island place" 
 or "on the island," precludes the possi 
 bility of a " little island " for the larger and 
 more noted island ; and besides that " the 
 island of hills " is much more appropriate 
 in every way. 
 
74 The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 
 
 ing "at," or "on," otherwise they are 
 both consonous with our early form, 
 and I can see no reason why they 
 should not bear the same analysis 
 and the same interpretation. 
 
 That Manahatin, in accordance 
 with Algonquian custom and this 
 analysis, was descriptive of the 
 topography of the island at the 
 date of its discovery and its settle 
 ment, all the early Dutch pictures 
 of New Amsterdam bear witness.* 
 
 It is well known that the surface 
 of the island was indented by deep 
 valleys and quite broken by ridges 
 of gneiss and hornblendic slate, 
 especially in the northern part, im- 
 
 *See Doc. Hist. N. Y., vol. iv. p. 116. 
 
The Origin of the Name Manhattan. 75 
 
 mense masses of which have been 
 removed in grading. On the west 
 side, toward the north, the highest 
 point was 238 feet above tide water. 
 The south part of the island was 
 covered by drift and bowlders, pre 
 senting conical hills, some of which 
 were 80 feet above the present 
 grade of the street.* 
 
 * French s Gazetteer of N. Y., p. 418. 
 
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