[Edward Manning Ruttenber (1906)] Brinton wrote: "From investigation among living Delawares, _Minsi,_ properly _Minsiu,_ formerly _Min-assin-iu,_ means 'People of the stony country,' or briefly, 'Mountaineers.' It is the synthesis of _Minthiu,_ 'To be scattered,' and _Achsin,_ 'Stone.' according to the best native authority." Apparently from _Min-assin_ we have Van der Donck's _Minn-essin;_ with locative _-k, -ck, -g, -gh, Minn-essin-ks,_ "People of the stony country," back-landers or highlanders. Interpretations of less merit have been made. One that is widely quoted is from Old Algonquian and Chippeway _Minnis,_ "Island," and _-ink,_ locative; but there is no evidence that _Minnis_ was in the dialect spoken here; on the contrary the record name of Great Minnisink Island, which is supposed to have been referred to, was _Menag'nock,_ by the German notation _Menach'hen-ak._ Aside from this _Minnissingh_ is of record at Poughkeepsie, in 1683, where no island is known to have existed, and in Westchester County the same term is met in _Men-assink_ (_Min-assin-ink_), "At a place of small stones." The deed description at Poughkeepsie located the tract conveyed "On the bank of the river," _i. e._ on the back or ridge lands. (See Minnis-ingh.) The final _s_ which appears in many of the forms of the name, and especially in _Minsis,_ is a foreign plural.