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Footprints of the Red Men: Indian Geographical Names — Passage 15

Edward Manning Ruttenber (1906) 207 words View original →

[Edward Manning Ruttenber (1906)] and for making bread, or round loaves. (See Tuckahoe, L. I.) Kitchiwan, modern form; _Kitchawanc,_ treaty of 1643; _Kichtawanghs,_ treaty of 1645; _Kitchiwan,_ deed of 1645; _Kitchawan,_ treaty of 1664; the name of a stream in Westchester County from which extended to an Indian clan, "Is," writes Dr. Albert S. Gatschet of the Bureau of Ethnology, "an equivalent of _Wabenaki-ke'dshwan, -kidshuan,_ suffixed verbal stem, meaning 'Running Swiftly,' 'Rushing water,' or current, whether over rapids or not. _Sas-katchéwan,_ Canada, 'The roiley, rushing stream'; _assisku,_ 'Mud, dirt.' (Cree.) The prefix _ki_ or _ke,_ is nothing else than an abbreviation of _kitchi,_ 'great,' 'large,' and here 'strong.' Examples are frequent as -kitchuan, -kitchawan, Mass.; kesi-itsooaⁿn or taⁿn, Abn., Kussi-tchuan, Mass., 'It swift flows.' The prefix is usually applied to streams which rise in the highlands and flow down rapidly descending slopes." The final _k_ in some of the early forms, indicates pronunciation with the guttural aspirate, as met in _wank_ and wangh in other local names. [FN] The final _s_ is a foreign plural usually employed to express "people," or tribe. The stream is now known as the _Croten_ from _Cnoten,_ the name of a resident sachem, which by exchange of _n_ and _r,_ becomes _Croten,_ an equivalent, wrote Dr.