284 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



low." Remembering now that the N of this word is a nasal hardly sounded (and 

 not sounded by the Passamaquoddies), while the No. 8 we can only express by OO 

 or OU, this root would read PAGOOESSOO, or, to use the spelling established under 

 the preceding word, POKWESO. The effect of the S in this word is to give a super- 

 lative significance to the root; thus Trumbull, in his Natick Dictionary, 151, gives 

 PONGUA as the modern Abenaki word for SHALLOW, but PONGUASO, as VERY 

 SHALLOW. The termination GEHAWK, for its part, is perfectly clear, for it is 

 obviously the root, variously spelled GEHAWK, GUEK, GUEC, etc., and which we 

 may most simply express by GWEK, meaning STREAM, found in a good many 

 Acadian place-names as noted already {these Transactions, V, 1912, ii, 189), and as 

 will appear more fully in a later list. The surveyors spelled out all of their names 

 on the Magaguadavic very minutely. This would make the complete word POK- 

 WESO-GWEK, meaning literally VERY SHALLOW-STREAM, the locative K 

 being involved in the last root. This is obviously identical with our POCASHA- 

 GUACK-PEQUESGEHAWK, which word, with respect to its origin and history 

 combined, we may best write POKWASEGWEK, pronounced PÔK-WÂ-SËG- 

 WËK'. 



Turning now to test this explanation by reference to the features of the place, 

 I can speak with confidence from a personal knowledge of this stream, refreshed from 

 a recent visit thereto for this express purpose. Looking up the Stream, our POK- 

 WASEGWEK, from its junction with the Magaguadavic, the contrast between the 

 two is very great, for while the latter, though swift, is readily navigable for a canoe 

 even at low water, the Stream, for its part, is very shoal, with much slope over a 

 stony bed, its shoalness, indeed, being its most prominent feature for a long distance 

 up from its mouth. The designation SHALLOW, or VERY SHALLOW, therefore, 

 is both appropriate and distinctive, and I have no question as to the correctness of 

 this explanation, and that the name is really POKWASE-GWEK meaning VERY 

 SHALLOW-STREAM. 



The name was extended to the Lakes at the source of the stream in the form 

 PEQUESEGEHAWGUM on the general map of 1797 compiled from the surveyors' 

 plans {these Transactions, VII, 1901, ii, 254) and on a few maps following; but it has 

 long since disappeared. This name was obviously formed by a replacement of the 

 final AWK by the root AWGUM, meaning LAKE, frequently found in Place-names 

 of this region, but generally followed by the locative suffix OOK, as will later be 

 considered. 



Curiously enough the name "Shallow River" is given as an alternative name to 

 another stream a little farther down the Magaguadavic on the opposite side, called 

 on the Surveyors' map LIBBEGAHAWK, and now known as Davis Brook. I can- 

 not find the least connection between any roots in this name and the meaning SHAL- 

 LOW, nor is it especially appropriate to the Stream, which is a clear little brook. 

 Accordingly I have no question that the appearance of this word "shallow" on that 

 stream is an error of the surveyor, who heard it from the Indians as a translation of 

 PEQUESEGEHAWK, but placed it inadvertently on the next stream below. 



It is quite probable that the name POKOMOONSHINE applied to a Lake and 

 Mountain in Eastern Maine, and thence by transference (probably) to places in 

 New Brunswick and the Adirondacks, involves also this root POKWA, meaning 

 SHALLOW; but later this name will be considered in full. 



