Wanashque, Anasqui, 'at the extremity of,' 'at the end;' Abn. [oo]anask[oo]i[oo]i, 'au bout;' Cree, wánnusk[oo]tch; Chip. ishkuè, eshqua. See (pp. [18], [19],) Wanashqu-ompsk-ut, Wonnesquam,[86] Winnesquamsaukit, Squamscot. Wonasquatucket, a small river which divides North Providence and Johnston, R.I., retains the name which belonged to the point at which it enters an arm of Narragansett Bay (or Providence River), 'at the end of the tidal-river.' A stream in Rochester, Mass., which empties into the head of an inlet from Buzzard's Bay, received the same name. Ishquagoma, on the upper Embarras River, Minnesota, is the 'end lake,' the extreme point to which canoes go up that stream.
Names of fishes supply the adjectival components of many place-names on the sea-coast of New England, on the lakes, and along river-courses. The difficulty of analyzing such names is the greater because the same species of fish was known by different names to different tribes. The more common substantivals are -amaug, 'fishing place; -tuk or sipu, 'river;' ohke, 'place;' Abn. -kantti, 'place of abundance;' and -keag, -keke, Abn. -khigé, which appears to denote a peculiar mode of fishing,—perhaps, by a weir;[87] possibly, a spearing-place.
From the generic namaus (namohs, El.; Abn. namés; Del. namees;) 'a fish'—but probably, one of the smaller sort, for the form is a diminutive,—come such names as Nameoke or Nameaug (New London), for namau-ohke, 'fish country;' Namasket or Namasseket (on Taunton River, in Middleborough, Mass.) 'at the fish place,' a favorite resort of the Indians of that region; Namaskeak, now Amoskeag, on the Merrimack, and Nam'skeket or Skeekeet, in Wellfleet, Mass.
M'squammaug (Abn. mesk[oo]amék[oo]), 'red fish,' i.e. salmon, gave names to several localities. Misquamacuck or Squamicut, now Westerly, R.I., was 'a salmon place' of the Narragansetts. The initial m often disappears; and sometimes, so much of the rest of the name goes with it, that we can only guess at the original synthesis. 'Gonic,' a post office and railroad station, near Dover, N.H., on the Cocheco river, was once 'Squammagonic,'—and probably, a salmon-fishing place.
Kaúposh (Abn. kabassé, plu. kabassak), 'sturgeon,' is a component of the name Cobbosseecontee, in Maine ([page 26], ante), 'where sturgeons are plenty;' and Cobscook, an arm of Passamaquoddy Bay, Pembroke, Me., perhaps stands for kabassakhigé, 'sturgeon-catching place.'
Aumsuog or Ommissuog (Abn. anms[oo]ak), 'small fish,'—especially alewives and herrings,—is a component of the name of the Abnaki village on the Kennebec, Anmes[oo]k-kantti; of Mattammiscontis, a tributary of the Kennebec (see [p. 25], ante), and probably, of Amoscoggin and Amoskeag.
Qunnôsu (pl. -suog; Abn. k[oo]n[oo]sé; Old Alg. kinonjé; Chip. keno´zha;) is found in the name of Kenosha, a town and county in Wisconsin; perhaps, in Kenjua or Kenzua creek and township, in Warren county, Pa. Quinshepaug or Quonshapauge, in Mendon, Mass., seems to denote a 'pickerel pond' (qunnosu-paug). Maskinongé, i.e. massa-kinonjé, 'great pike' or maskelunge, names a river and lake in Canada.
Pescatum, said to mean 'pollock,' occurs as an adjectival in Peskadamioukkantti, the modern Passamaquoddy ([p. 26]).
Nahanm[oo], the Abnaki name of the 'eel,' is found in "Nehumkeag, the English of which is Eel Land, ... a stream or brook that empties itself into Kennebec River," not far from Cobbissecontee.[88] This brook was sometimes called by the English, Nehumkee. The Indian name of Salem, Mass., was Nehumkeke or Naümkeag, and a place on the Merrimac, near the mouth of Concord River (now in Lowell, I believe,) had the same name,—written, Naamkeak.