Home / Edward Manning Ruttenber (1906) / Passage

Footprints of the Red Men: Indian Geographical Names — Passage 56

Edward Manning Ruttenber (1906) 258 words View original →

[Edward Manning Ruttenber (1906)] known in their order as Commoenapa, Aresseck, Bergen, Ahasimus, Hoboken-Hackingh, and Awiehacken. Commoenapa is now preserved as the name of the upland between Communipaw Avenue and Walnut Street, Jersey City, but was primarily applied to the arm of the main land beginning at Konstabel's Hoek, and later to the site of the ancient Dutch village of Gamœnapa, as written by De Vries in 1640, and by the local scribes, Gamœnapaen. [FN] (Col. Hist. N. Y. xiii, 36, 37.) Dunlap (Hist. N. Y., i, 50) claimed the name as Dutch from _Gemeente,_ "Commons, public property," and Paen, "Soft land," or in combination, "Tillable land and marsh belonging to the community," a relation which the lands certainly sustained. (Col. Hist. N. Y., xiii, 234.) The lands were purchased by Michael Pauw in 1630, and sold by him to the Dutch government in 1638. Although clearly a Dutch name it has been claimed as Indian, from Lenape _Gamenowinink_ (Zeisb.), "England, on the other side of the sea." _Gamœnapaug,_ one of the forms of the name, is quoted as the basis of this claim; also, _Acomunipag,_ "On the other side of the bay." The Dutch did substitute _paen_ for _paug_ in some cases, but it is very doubtful if they did here. * * * * * [FN] Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter wrote in their Journal: "Gamaenapaen is an arm of the main land on the west side of the North River, beginning at Constable's Hook, directly opposite to Staten Island, from which it is separated by the Kil van Kol.