[Orange,] a familiar name in eastern New Jersey and supposed to refer to the two mountains that bound the Raritan Valley, may have been from the name of a sachem or place or both. In Breeden Raedt it is written: "The delegates from all the savage tribes, such as the Raritans, whose chiefs called themselves Oringkes from Orange." Oringkes seems to be a form of Owinickes, from Owini, N. J. (Inini, Chip., Lenni, Del.), meaning "Original, pure," etc., and -ke, "country"—literally, "First or original people of the country," an interpretation which agrees with the claim of the Indians generally when speaking of themselves. [FN] Orange is Oranje, Dutch, pure and simple, but evidently introduced to represent the sound of an Indian word. What that word was may, probably, be traced from the name given as that of the sachem, Auronge (Treaty of 1645), which seems to be an apheresis of W'scha-já-won-ge, "On the hill side," or "On the side of a hill." (Zeisb.) Awonge, Auronge, Oranje, Orange, is an intelligible progression, and, in connection with "from Orange," indicates the location of a village or the side of a hill, which the chiefs represented.
[FN] Dr. D. G. Brinton wrote me "I believe you are right in identifying Oringkes with Owine—possibly with locative k."
[Succasunna,] Morris County, N. J., is probably from Sûkeu, "Black," and -achsün, "Stone," with substantive verbal affix -ni. It seems to describe a place where there were black stones, but whether there are black stones there or not has not been ascertained.
[Aquackanonck,] Aquenonga, Aquainnuck, etc.. is probably from Achquam'kan-ong, "Bushnet fishing place." Zeisberger wrote "Achquanican, a fish dam." The locative was a point of land formed by a bend in Pasaeck River on the east side, now included in the City of Paterson. Jasper Bankers and Peter Sluyter wrote, in 1679-80: "Acquakenon: on one side is the kil, on the other is a small stream by which it (the point) is almost surrounded." The Dutch wrote here, Slooterdam, i. e. a dam with a gate or sluiceway in it, probably constructed of stone, the sluiceway being left open to enable shad to run up the stream, and closed by bushes to prevent their return to the sea. (Nelson.)
[Watchung] (Wacht-unk, Del.) is from Wachtschu (Zeisb.), "Hill or mountain," and -unk, locative, "at" or "on." Wachtsûnk, "On the mountain" (Zeisb.); otherwise written Wakhunk. The original application was to a hill some twelve miles west of the Hudson. The first deed (1667) placed the boundmark of the tract "At the foot of the great mountain," and the second deed (1677) extended the limit "To the top of the mountain called Watchung."
[Achkinckeshacky;] Hackinkeshacky, 1645; Hackinghsackin, Hackinkesack (1660); Hackensack (1685); Ackinsack, Hockquindachque; Hackquinsack, are early record forms of the name of primary application to the stream now known as the Hackensack, from which it was extended to the adjacent district, to an Indian settlement, and to an Indian sachem, or, as Van Tienhoven wrote, "A certain savage chief, named Haickquinsacq." (Breeden Raedt.) The most satisfactory interpretation of the name is that suggested by the late Dr. Trumbull: "From Huckquan, Mass., Hócquaan, Len., 'Hook,' and sauk, 'mouth of a river'—literally, 'Hook-shaped mouth,' descriptive of the course of the stream around Bergen Point, by the Kil van Kull, [FN-1] to New York Bay." Campanus wrote Hócküng, "Hook," and Zeisberger, Hócquaan. [FN-2] The German Hacken, now Hackensack, means "Hook," as in German Russel Hacken, "Pot-hook," a hook incurved at both ends, as the letter S; in Lenape Hócquoan (Zeisb.). Probably simply a substitution.
[FN-1] Before entering New York Harbor, Hudson anchored his ship below the Narrows and sent out an exploring party in a boat, who entered the Narrows and ascended as far as Bergen Point, where they encountered a second channel which they explored as far as Newark Bay. The place where the second channel was met they called "The Kils," or channels, and so it has remained—incorrectly "Kills." The Narrows they called Col, a pass or defile, or mountain-pass, hence Kil van Col, channel of the Narrow Pass, and hence Achter Col, a place behind the narrow channel. "Those [Indians] of Hackingsack, otherwise called Achter Col." (Journal of New Neth., 1641-47, Doc. Hist. N. Y., iv, 9.) . . . "Whether the Indians would sell us the hook of land behind the Kil van Col." (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 280.) Achter Col became a general name for all that section of New Jersey. Kul and Kull are corruptions of Col. Arthur Kull is now applied to Newark Bay.
[FN-2] Heckewelder wrote "Okhúcquan, Woâkhucquoan, or short Húcquan for the modern Occoquan, the name of a river in Virginia, and remarked, 'All these names signify a hook.'" (Trumbull.) Rev. Thomas Campanus (Holm), who was chaplain to the Swedish settlements on the Delaware, 1642-9, and who collected a vocabulary, wrote Hócküng (ueug), "Hook." This sound of the word may have led the Dutch to adopt Hackingh as an orthography—modern Haking, "Hooking," incurved as a hook.