[FN] Mattappan, a participle of Mattappu, "he sits down," denotes "a sitting down place," or as generally employed in local names, the end of a portage between two rivers, or from one arm of the sea to another—where the canoe was launched again and its bearers reembarked. (Trumbull.) In Lenape Aan is a radical meaning, "To move; to go." Paan, "To come; to get to"; Wiket-pann, "To get home"; Paancep, "Arrived"; Mattalan, "To come upto some body"; logically, Mattappan, "To stop," to sit down, to land, a landing place
[Minnissingh] is written as the name of a tract conveyed to Peter Lansing and Jan Smedes by gift deed in 1683. (See Poughkeepsie.) Minnissingh is, apparently, the same word that is met in Minnisink, Orange County. The locative of the tract has not been ascertained, but it was pretty certainly on the "back" or upper lands. There was no island there. (See Minnisink.)
[Eaquorisink] is of record as the name of Crom Elbow Creek, and Eaquaquanessìnck as that of lands on the Hudson, in patent to Henry Beekman, the boundary of which ran from the Hudson "east by the side of a fresh meadow called Mansakìn [FN-1] and a small run of water called Mancapawìmick." In patent to Peter Falconier the land is called Eaquaquaannessìnck, the meadow Mansakin, the small creek Nanacopaconick, and Crom Elbow (Krom Elleboog, Dutch, '"crooked elbow'") Creek. Eaquarysink is a compression of Eaquaquaannessinck. It was not the name of the creek, but located the boundmark "as far as the small creek." The composition is the equivalent of Wequa, [FN-2] "end of"; annes, "small stream," and ink, "at," "to," etc.
[FN-1] "A meadow or marsh land called Manjakan," is an equivalent record in Ulster County. (Cal. N. Y. Land Papers, 133.) "A fresh meadow," i. e. a fresh water meadow, or low lands by the side of the creek.
[FN-2] Enaughqua, L. I.; Yò anûck quaque, Williams; Wequa, Weque, Aqua, Ukwe, Echqu, etc., "end of." The word is met in many forms. Wehque, "as far as." (Eliot.)
[Wawyachtanock,] Indian deed to Robert Livingston, 1685; Wawyachtanock, Wawijachtanock, Wawigachtanock in Livingston Patent and Watwijachtonocks in association with "The Indians of the Long Reach" (Doc. Hist. N. Y., 93, 97), is given as the name of a place—"The path that leads to Wawyachtenock." In a petition for permission to purchase, in 1702 (Col. Land Papers, 58), the description reads: "A tract of land lying to the westward of Westenhoeks Creek [FN-1] and to ye eastward of Poghkeepsie, called by ye Indians Wayaughtanock." It is presumed that the locative of the name is now known as Union Corners, Duchess County, where Krom Elleboog Creek, after flowing southwesterly, turns at nearly a right angle and flows west to the Hudson, which it reaches in a narrow channel between bluffs, a little south of Krom Elbow Point, where a bend in the Hudson forms the north end of the Long Reach. The first word of the name is from Wawai, "Round about," "Winding around," "eddying," as a current in a bend of a river. The second, -tan, -ten, -ton means "current," by metonymie, "river," and ock, means "land" or place—"A bend-of-the-river place." The same name is met in Wawiachtanos, in the Ohio country, [FN-2] and the prefix in many places. (See Wawayanda.)
[FN-1] Westenhoek is Dutch. It means "West corner." It was given by the Dutch to a tract of land lying in a bend of Housatonuk river, long in dispute between New York and Massachusetts, called by the Indians W-nagh-tak-ook, for many years the name of the capital town of the Mahican nation.(Loskiel.) Rev. Dr. Edwards wrote it Wnoghquetookooke and translated it from an intimate acquaintance of the Stockbridge dialect, "A bend-of-the-river-place." Mr. Gerard writes it, Wamenketukok, "At the winding of the river." Now Stockbridge, Mass.
[FN-2] "Tjughsaghrondie, alias Wawayachtenok." (Col. Hist. N. Y., iv, 900; La Trobe's Translation of Loskiel, i, 23.) The first name, Tjughsaghrondie, is also written Taghsaglirondie, and in other forms. It is claimed to be from the Wyandot or Huron-Iroquoian dialect. In History of Detroit the Algonquin is quoted Waweatunong, interpreted "Circuitous approach," and the claim made that the reference was to the bend in the Strait at Detroit at an elevation "from which a view of the whole broad river" could be had. In Shawano, Wawia'tan describes bending or eddying water—with locative, "Where the current winds about." The name is applicable at any place where the features exist.