[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.)
[Sunquams] is given by French as the Indian name of Mellville in Southampton, L. I., with the interpretation, "Sweet Hollow." The interpretation is mere guess-work.
[Massaback,] a hill so called in Huntington, Suffolk County—in English "Half hill," and in survey (1703) "Half-hollow hill"—probably does not belong to the hill which the English described as "half-hollow," but to a stream in proximity to it—Massabeset, "At a (relatively) great brook." (Trumbull.)
[Mattituck,] the name of a village in Southold, near the west end of the town, was primarily written as that of a tract of land including the present town of Riverhead, from which it was extended to a large pond between Peconic Bay and the Sound. Presumably the same name is met in Mattatuck, Ct., written Matetacoke, 1637, Matitacoocke, 1673, which was translated by Dr. Trumbull from Eliot's Mat-uh'tugh-auke, "A place without wood," or badly wooded. (See Titicus.)
[Cutchogue,] Plymouth Records, 1637; "Curchaug, or Fort Neck;" Corch'aki, deed of 1648; now Cutchogue, a village in Southold, in the vicinity of which was an Indian fort, the remains of which and of an Indian burial ground are objects of interest, is probably a corruption of Maskutchoung, which see. Dr. Tooker translated from Kehti-auke, "The principal place," the appositeness of which is not strikingly apparent. The clan bearing the name was party to the treaty with the Massachusetts people in 1637, and to the sale of the East Hampton lands. Their earliest sachem was Momoweta, who acknowledged the primacy of Wyandanch.
[Tuckahoe,] a level tract of land near Southampton village, takes that name from one or the other of the larger "round" roots (Mass. P'tuckweōō), possibly the Golden Club, or Floating Artmi, a root described "as much of the bigness and taste of potatoes." (Trumbull.) [FN] The same name is met in Westchester County.
[FN] Dr. Brinton writes: "They also roasted and ate the acrid cormus of the Indian turnip, in Delaware taw-ho, taw-hin or tuck-ah, and collected the seeds of the Golden Club, common in the pools along the creeks and rivers. Its native name was taw-kee." ("The Lenape and their Legends.") The name of another place on Long Island, written Hogonock, is probably an equivalent of Delaware Hóbbenac (Zeisb.), "Potatoes," or "Ground-nuts"; Hóbbenis, "Turnips." (See Passapenoc.)
[Sagabonock] has left only the remnant of its name to Sag-pond and Sag-harbor. It is from Sagabonak, "Ground nuts, or Indian potatoes." (Trumbull.) The name is of record as that of a boundmark "two miles from the east side of a Great Pond," and is described as a "pond or swamp" to which the name of the tuber was extended from its product.