[FN] It is of record that "the borders of Hudson's River above Albany, and the Mohawk River at Schenectady," were known, in 1710, as "the best places for pines of all sorts, both for numbers and largeness of trees." (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii, 656.) Mass. Kowas-'ktugh, "pine tree." The name is met in many orthographies.
[Anaquassacook,] the name of a patent in Washington County, and also of a village and of a stream of water, was, primarily, the name of a boundmark. The locative has not been ascertained. Anakausuk-ook, "At the end of a course," or as far the brook.
[Podunk,] a brook so called in the town of Fort Ann, Washington County, is met in several other places. (See Potunk, L. I.) Its meaning has not been ascertained.
[Quatackquaohe,] entered on Pownal's map as the name of a tract of land on the south side of a stream, has explanation in the accompanying entry, "Waterquechey, or Quatackquaohe." Waterquechey (English) means "Moist boggy ground," indicating that Quatackquaohe is an equivalent of Petuckquiohke, Mass., "Round-land place," i. e. elevated hassocks of earth, roots, etc. The explanation by Gov. Pownal may supply a key to the translation of other names now interpreted indefinitely.
[Di-ononda-howe,] a name now assigned to the falls on the Batten Kill below Galeville, Washington County, is Iroquoian and of original application to the stream itself as written in the Schuyler Patent. It is a compound descriptive of the locality of the creek, the reference being to the conical hills on the south side of the stream near the Hudson, on one of which was erected old Fort Saratoga. The sense is, "Where a hill interposes," between the object spoken of and the speaker. The late Superintendent of the Bureau of Ethnology, Prof. J. W. Powell, wrote me: "From the best expert information in this office, it may be said that the phonetic value of the final two syllables howe is far from definite; but assuming that they are equivalent to huwi (with the European vowel values), the word-sentence Di-ononda-howe means, 'There it has interposed (a) mountain,' Written in the Bureau alphabet, the word-sentence would be spelled Ty-ononde-huwi. It is descriptive of the situation of the creek, but not of the creek itself, and is applicable to any mountain or high hill which appears between a speaker and some other object." (See Hoosick.)
[Caniade-rioit] is given as the name of Lake George, and "The tail of the lake" as the definition, "on account of its connection with Lake Champlain." (Spofford's Gazetteer.) Father Jogues, who gave to the lake the name "Lac de Saint Sacrament" (Lake of the Holy Sacrament), in 1645, wrote the Mohawk name, Andiato-rocte (French notation), with the definition, "There where the lake shuts itself in," the reference being to the north end of the lake at the outlet. This definition is not far from a correct reading of the suffix octe (okte, Bruyas), meaning "end," or, in this connection, "Where the lake ends." Caniade, a form of Kaniatare, is an Iroquoian generic, meaning "lake." The lake never had a specific name. Horicon, which some writers have endeavored to attach to it, does not belong to it. It is not Iroquoian, does not mean "north," nor does it mean "lake" or "silver water," [FN] The present name was conferred by Sir William Johnson, in honor of King George III, of England.
[FN] Horikans was written by De Laet, in 1624, as the name of an Indian tribe living at the head waters of the Connecticut. On an ancient map Horicans is written in Lat. 41, east of the Narragansetts on the coast of New England. In the same latitude Moricans is written west of the Connecticut, and Horikans on the upper Connecticut in latitude 42. Morhicans is the form on Carte Figurative of 1614-16, and Mahicans by the Dutch on the Hudson. The several forms indicate that the tribe was the Moricans or Mourigans of the French, the Maikans or Mahikans of the Dutch and the Mohegans of the English. It is certain that that tribe held the headwaters of the Connecticut as well as of the Hudson. The novelist, Cooper, gave life to De Laet's orthography in his "Last of the Mohegans."
[Ticonderoga,] familiar as the name of the historic fortress at Lake George, was written by Sir William Johnson, in 1756, Tionderogue and Ticonderoro, and in grant of lands in 1760, "near the fort at Ticonderoga." Gov. Golden wrote Ticontarogen, and an Iroquoian sachem is credited with Decariaderoga. Interpretations are almost as numerous as orthographies. The most generally quoted is from Spofford's Gazetteer: "Ticonderoga, from Tsindrosie, or Cheonderoga, signifying 'brawling water,' and the French name, Carillon, signifying 'a chime of bells,' were both suggested by the rapids upon the outlet of Lake George." The French name may have been so suggested, but neither Tsindrosie or Cheonderoga means "brawling water." The latter is probably an orthography of Teonderoga. Ticonderoga as now written, is from Te or Ti, "dual," two; Kaniatare, "lake," and -ogen, "intervallum, divisionem" (Bruyas), the combination meaning, literally, "Between two lakes." Horatio Hale wrote me of one of the forms: "Dekariaderage, in modern orthography, Tekaniataroken, from which Ticonderoga, means, simply, 'Between two lakes.' It is derived from Tioken, 'between,' and Kaniatara, 'lake.' Its composition illustrates a peculiar idiom of the Iroquoian language, Tioken when combined with a noun, is split in two, so to speak, and the noun inserted. Thus in combining Tioken with Ononte, 'mountain,' we have Ti-ononte-oken, 'Between two mountains,' which was the name of one of the Mohawk castles—sometimes written Theonondiogo. In like manner, Kaniatare, 'lake,' thus compounded, yields Te-kaniatare-oken, 'Between two lakes.' In the Huron dialect Kaniatare is contracted to Yontare or Ontare, from which, with io or iyo, 'great,' we get Ontario (pronounced Ontareeyo), 'Great lake' which, combined with Tioken, becomes Ti-onteroken, which would seem to be the original of Colden's Tieronderoga."