"Williams wrote in the Narraganset dialect:
Qussuck,
stone; Qussuckanash, stones...”
Proceedings of the New York State Historical
Association, Volume 6
By New York State Historical Association
Quassakonkanuck - “Stone fence boundary mark; place
at the stone wall”
American Indian Place Names in Rhode Island by
Frank Waabu O'Brien
“There are other Rhode
Island names which take their origin from having been descriptive boundaries in
early conveyances...A pond in South Kingston, at the head of narrow river, was
called Quassakonkanuck, which
may connote "where the bound
turns" (Quashau), or "the turning bound."
Other boundary designations are derived from natural objects, such as trees, brooks,
rocks, etc. These elements are
frequently incorporated as components of such place-names. Quonocontaug pond,
in Charlestown, as well as the village bearing same name, has been correctly
translated by Dr. Trumbull as the "tall tree" (qunnuqui-tugk), which
served as a landmark. Cocumscusset brook, or Cawcawmsqussick, as it was written
by Roger Williams, is mentioned as a boundary in Coginaquand's deed to John
Winthrop, Humphrey Atherton and others in 1659 (Fones Rec., vol. 1, p. 3, et
seq.). This locality in the Narragansett country is historically famous. The
name probably signifies "at or near
the mark rock" (Kukuh-ompskqus-ei), denoting not the rock itself, but
the land in its neighborhood. Wannuscheomscut, in which we find the elements
Wannasque-ompskq-ut, is seemingly the actual name for the rock itself, meaning "at the ending rock," as it
is noted in the same deed as an alternative with Cocumscusset. Another boundary
in this deed is called Petaquamscott, "at
the roundrock" (Petukqui-ompsq-ui), which remains to this day a well-known
landmark, near a river bearing same name in South Kingstown...”
INDIAN GEOGRAPHIC NAMES, AND WHY WE SHOULD STUDY THEM;
ILLUSTRATED BY SOME RHODE ISLAND EXAMPLES.
Abstract Of A Paper Read Before The Society, March 25,
1897, By William Wallace Tooker, Esq.
Rhode Island Historical Society (Page 212 1897)
??
??
|Qussuk|, {
A Rock}. |pl. Qussukquanash|.
|Hussun|, { A Stone}. |pl. Hussunash|.
No comments:
Post a Comment