[Moriches,] a neck of land "lying at Unquetague, on the south side of Long Island, being two necks called by ye names of Mariges and Namanock" (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 45), is now in the town of Brookhaven. Namanock seems, from the locative, to be a corruption of Nam'e-ohke, "Fish-place"—Namanock or Namecock. (Trumbull.) [FN] Moriches, or Mariges, is a corruption of Dutch Maritches (Morichi, Mariche), from Moriche Palmita (Latin), meaning, in popular use, any plant thought to resemble a palm. Mauritia a species of Mauriticæ, or South-American palm, so called in honor of Prince Maurice of Nassau. (See Palmagat.)
[FN] Namaus, generic, "a fish"—Namohs, Eliot; Namés, Abn., Namaes, Heck.; Namees, Zeisb.; with suffix -aki, -ohke, etc., "fish-land," place or country. Améessok, Zeisb.; Anmesooak, Abn., Aumsûog, Mass., "small fishes." As a generic suffix, -ama'ug, Mass., -ama'uk, Del., "fishing-place." "Ama'ug is only used at the end of a compound name, where it is equivalent to Nameaug, at the beginning." (Trumbull.) The final syllable, -ug, -uk, etc., is an animate plural. On Long Island, -Ama'ug is frequently met in -amuck; in other places, -amwack, -amwook, -ameock, etc.
[Kitchaminchoke,] given as the name of a boundmark, said to be Moriches Island, is interpreted by Dr. Tooker, "The beginning place." The description (1630) reads, "Beginning at" a place called, i. e. an object or feature which would definitely locate a boundmark—apparently an equivalent of Schiechi-kiminschi-aki, Lenape, "Place of a soft-maple tree." The territory conveyed extended to Enaughquamuck, which Dr. Tooker rendered correctly, "As far as the fishing-place."
[Niamug] and Niamuck are forms of the name of what is now known as Canoe Place, on the south side of Long Island, near Southampton. "Niamug, the place where the Indians haul over their canoes out of the North Bay to the South Bay." (Deed of 1640.) Dr. Trumbull translated from Nôe-amuck, "Between the fishing places." Local tradition affirms that centuries ago the Indians made a canal here for the purpose of passing their canoes from Mecox Bay to Paconic Bay. Mongotucksee, the hero of the story, was a chieftain who reigned over the Montauks in the days of their pride and power. The tradition has no other merit than the fact that Niamug was a place at which canoes were hauled across the island.
[Sicktew-hacky] (deed of 1638); Sicketewackey (Van der Donck, 1656): "All the lands from Rockaway eastward to Sicktew-hackey, or Fire Island Bay"; "On the south coast of Long Island, at a place called Sicktewacky, or Secontague, near Fire Island Inlet" (Brodhead); Seaquetauke, 1659; Setauck Neck, the south bound of St. George's Manor, now Manorville; of record as the name of an Indian clan and village near Fire Island Inlet, with the Marsapinks and Nyacks for neighbors; now preserved in several forms of which Setauket probably locates a place near Secontague. Sicketeuhacky, writes Mr. Gerard, "is the Lenape equivalent of Secatogue, meaning 'Burned-over land.' Whether the mainland or Fire Island was the 'Burned-over land,' history does not tell us." Lands were burned over by the Indians to destroy the bushes and coarse grasses, and probably some field of this character was referred to by the Indian grantors, from which the name was extended to the Neck and to Fire Island, although it is said that fires were kindled on the island for the guidance of fishermen.
[Saghtekoos]—"called by the native Indians Saghtekoos; by the Christians Appletree Neck"—the name of the Thompson estate in Islip—probably means, "Where the stream branches or divides," or "At the branch," referring to Thompson's brook. The suffix -oos evidently stands for "small." (See Sohaghticoke.) "Apple-tree Neck" is not in the composition, but may indicate that the Indian owners had planted apple trees there.
[Amagansett,] the Indian name of what is now East Hampton, was translated by Dr. Trumbull, "At or near the fishing place"; root Am, "to take by the mouth"; Amau, "he fishes"; Abn., Amaⁿgaⁿ, "ou péche lá," "he fishes there," (Rasles); s, diminutive or derogatory; ett, "Near or about," that is, the tract was near a small or inferior fishing-place, which is precisely what the composition describes.
[Peconic,] now so written and applied to Peconic Bay and Peconic River, but primarily to a place "at the head of the river," or as otherwise described, "Land from ye head of ye bay or Peaconnack, was Shinnec'ock Indians' Land" (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiv, 600), is not the equivalent of Peqan'nuc, "a name common to all cleared land," as translated by Dr. Trumbull, but the name given as that of a small creek tributary to Peconic River, in which connection it is of record Pehick-konuk, which, writes Mr. Gerard, "plainly stands for K'pe-hickonuk, or more properly Kĕpehikanik, 'At the barrier,' or weir. Kĕpehikan from Kepehike, 'he closes up,' or obstructs, i. e. 'dams.'" The bounds of the Shinnec'ock Indians extended east to this stream; or, as the record reads, "To a river where they did use to catch the fish commonly called alewives, the name of which creek was Pehickkonuk, or Peconic." (Town Records.)
[Agwam,] Agawam, is quoted by French as the name of Southampton, L. I. Dr. Trumbull wrote: "Acawan, Agawan or Auquan, a name given to several localities in New England Where there are low meadows—a low meadow or marsh." Presumably from Agwu, "Underneath, below." Another authority writes: "Agawam from Magawamuk, A great fishing place." (See Machawameck.)