Names on the East from Manhattan North.
[Keskeskick,] "a piece of land, situated opposite to the flat on the island of Manhattan, called Keskeskick, stretching lengthwise along the Kil which runs behind the island of Manhattan, beginning at the head of said Kil and running to opposite of the high hill by the flat, namely by the great hill," (Deed of 1638.) Kaxkeek is the orthography of Riker (Hist. of Harlem); and Kekesick that of Brodhead (Hist. New York), in addition to which may be quoted Keesick and Keakates, given as the names of what is now known as Long Pond, which formed the southeast boundary of the tract, where was also a salt marsh or meadow. In general terms, the name means a "meadow," and may have been that of this salt marsh (a portion of the name dropped) or of the flat. The root is Kâk, "sharp;" Kâkákes, "sharp grass," or sedge-marsh; Sik-kákaskeg, "salt sedge-marsh." (Gerard.) Micûckaskéete, "a meadow." (Williams.) Muscota, now in use, is another word for meadow.
[Mannepies] is quoted by Riker (Hist. Harlem) as the name of the hilly tract or district of Keskeskick, described as lying "over against the flats of the island of Manhattan." It is now preserved as the name of Cromwell Lake and creek, and seems to have been the name of the former. The original was probably an equivalent of Menuppek, "Any enclosed body of water great or small." (Anthony.)
[Neperah,] Nippiroha, Niperan, Nepeehen, Napperhaera, Armepperahin, the latter of date 1642 (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 9), forms of record as the name of Sawmill Creek, and also quoted as the name of the site of the present city of Yonkers, has been translated by Wm. R. Gerard, from the form of 1642: "A corruption of Ana-nepeheren, that is, 'fishing stream' or 'fishing rapids.'" Ap-pehan (Eliot), "a trap, a snare." There was an Indian village on the north side of the stream in 1642. (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 9.)
[Nepahkomuk,] Nappikomack, etc., quoted as the name of a place on Sawmill Creek, and also as the name of an Indian village at Yonkers, may have been the name of the latter by extension. It has been translated with apparent correctness from Nepé-komuk (Mass.), "An enclosed or occupied water-place." [FN]
[FN] This translation is from Nepe (Nepa, Nape, Nippe, etc.), meaning "water," generally, and Komuk, "place enclosed, occupied, limited," a particular body of water. "The radical of Nipe is pe or pa, which, with the demonstrative and definitive ne prefixed, formed the noun nippe, water." (Trumbull.) Nape-ake (-auke, -aki) means "Water-land," or water-place. Nape-ek, Del., Nepeauk, Mass., means "Standing water," a lake or pond or a stretch of still water in a river. Menuppek, "Lake, sea, any enclosed body of water, great or small." (Anthony.) Nebi, nabe, m'bi, be, are dialectic forms. The Delaware M'hi (Zeisb.) is occasionally met in the valley, but the Massachusetts Nepe is more frequent. Gami is another noun-generic meaning "Water" (Cree, Kume). Komuk (Mass.), Kamick (Del.), is frequently met in varying orthographies. In general terms it means "Place, limited or enclosed," a particular place as a field, garden, house, etc., as distinguished from auke, "Land, earth, unlimited, unenclosed."
[Meghkeekassin,] the name of a large rock in an obscure nook on the west side of the Neperah, near the Hudson, is written Macackassin in deed of 1661. It is from Mechek, Del., "great," and assin "stone." "Meechek-assin-ik, At the big rock." (Heckewelder.) The name is also of record Amack-assin, a Delaware term of the same general meaning—"Amangi, great, big (in composition Aman-gach), with the accessory notion of terrible, frightful." (Dr. Brinton.) Presumably, in application here, "a monster," i. e. a stone not of the native formation usually found in the locality. [FN]
[FN] The Indians are traditionally represented as regarding boulders of this class, as monuments of a great battle which was fought between their hero myth Micabo and Kasbun his twin brother, the former representing the East or Orient, and the latter the West, the imagery being a description of the primary contest between Light and Darkness—Light gleaming from the East and Darkness retreating to the West before it. Says the story: "The feud between the brothers was bitter and the contest long and doubtful. It began on the mountains of the East. The face of the land was seamed and torn by the wrestling of the mighty combatants, and the huge boulders that are scattered about were the weapons hurled at each other by the enraged brothers." The story is told in its several forms by Dr. Brinton in his "American Hero Myths."