[Mogongh-kamigh,] a boundmark of the Bayard Patent (Land Papers, 245), is located therein, "From a fall on said river called by the Indians Kasesjewack to a certain place called by the natives Mogongh-kamigh, then up the southeast branch," etc. The name means, probably, "Place of a great tree."
[Kenaghtiquak,] "a small stream" so called, was the name of a boundmark of the Peter Schuyler Patent, described, "Beginning where three oak trees are marked, lying upon a small creek, to the south of Pomponick, called by the Indians Kenaghtiquak, and running thence," etc. It probably stands for Enaughtiqua-ûk, "The beginning place."
[Machachoesk,] a place so called in Columbia County, has not been located. It is described of record as a place "lying on both sides of Kinderhook Creek," and may have taken its name from an adjacent feature.
[Wapemwatsjo,] the name of a hill in Columbia County, is a Dutch orthography of Wapim-wadchu, "Chestnut Hill." The interpretation is correctly given in the accompanying alternate, "or Karstengeberg" (Kastanjeberg, Dutch), "Chestnut Hill."
[Kaunaumeek,] an Indian village sixteen miles east of Albany, in the town of Nassau, Rensselaer County, was the scene of the labors of Moravian missionaries, and especially of Missionary Brainerd. It was long known as Brainerd's Bridge, and is now called Brainerds. The name is Lenape (German notation) and the equivalent of Quannamáug, Nar., Gunemeek, Len., "Long-fish place," a "Fishing-place for lampreys." The form, Kaunaumeek, was introduced here by the Moravian missionaries.
[Scompamuck] is said to have been the name of the locality now covered by the village of Ghent, Columbia County, perhaps more strictly the head of the outlet of Copake Lake where an Indian settlement is located on early maps. The suffix, -amuck, is the equivalent of -amaug, "fishing place." Ouschank-amaug, from Ousch-acheu, "smooth, slippery," hence eel or lamprey—"a fishing-place for eels."
[Copake,] the modern form of the name of a lake in Columbia County, is of record Achkookpeek (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii. 628), meaning, literally, "Snake water," from Achkook, "Snake," and -péek, "Water place," pool or pond. Hendrick Aupaumut, the Historian of the Stockbridge-Mahicans, wrote: "Ukhkokpeck; it signifies snake-water, or water where snakes are abundant." On a map of the boundary line between Massachusetts and New York an Indian village is located at the outlet of the lake, presumably that known as Scompamuck.
[Kaphack,] on Westenhook River, a place described as "Beginning at an Indian burying-place hard by Kaphack," probably means "A separate place"—"land not occupied." The tract began at "an Indian burying-place," and presumably took its name therefrom. Chépeck, "The dead;" Chépeack, "Place of the dead." (See Shapequa.)
[Valatie,] the name of a village in Columbia County, is Dutch. It means "Vale, valley, dale, dell," and not "Little Falls," as rendered in French's Gazetteer. Waterval is Dutch for "Waterfall." Vallate, Low Latin for "valley," is the derivative of Valatie, as now written.
[Schodac,] now covered by the village of Castleton (Schotax, 1677; Schotack, 1768), was the place of residence of Aepjin, sachem, or "peace chief," of the Mahicans. [FN-1] It has been translated from Skootay, Old Algonquian (Sqúta, Williams), "fire," and -ack, "place," literally, "Fire Place," or place of council. It was extended to Smack's Island, opposite Albany, which was known to the early Dutch as "Schotack, or Aepjen's Island." It is probable, however, that the correct derivative is to be found in Esquatak, or Eskwatak, the record name of the ridge of land east of Castleton, near which the Mahican fort or palisaded village was located, from which Castleton takes its name. Esquatak is pretty certainly an equivalent of Ashpohtag (Mass.), meaning "A high place." Dropping the initial A, and also the letter p and the second h, leaves Schotack or Shotag; by pronunciation Schodac. Eshodac, of which Meshodack [FN-2] is another form, the name of a high peak in the town of Nassau, Rensselaer County, has become Schodac by pronunciation. It has been claimed that the landing which Hudson made and so particularly described in Juet's Journal, was at Schodac. [FN-3] The Journal relates that the "Master's mate" first "went on land with an old savage, the governor of the country, who carried him to his house and made him good cheere." The next day Hudson himself "Sailed to the shore, in one of their canoe's, with an old man who was chief of a tribe consisting of forty men and seventeen women," and it is added, "These I saw there in a house well constructed of oak bark and circular in shape, so that it had the appearance of being built with an arched roof." Presumably the house was near the shore of the river and in occupation during the fishing and planting season. The winter castle was further inland. The "arched roof" indicates that it was one of the "long" houses so frequently described, not a cone-like cabin. The "tribe" was the sachem's family.