THE INDIAN WORD " NONACOICUS." 55 



THE INDIAN WORD "NONACOICUS." 



In the library of the Historical Society there is a copy of a 

 book, written in Latin by Joseph Acosta, and published at 

 Cologne in the year 1596, which once belonged to Chief 

 Justice Samuel Sewall, and bears his autograph signature, 

 dated March 9, 1698-9. The volume is entitled " De Natvra 

 Novi Orbis," etc., and has been in the possession of the So- 

 ciety for more than a century. On a fly-leaf, at the beginning 

 of the book, is the following note in Judge Sewall's hand- 

 writing: " Nunnacdquis signifies an Indian Earthen Pot as 

 Hafiah Hahatan's Squaw tells me March, 24. 169I;," — which 

 throws some light on the meaning of an Indian word. I men- 

 tion the fact, as I am inclined to think that the term is iden- 

 tical with or closely allied to Nonacoicus, the Indian name 

 of Major Simon Willard's farm at Groton. William Hahatan, 

 Hannah's husband, belonged to the Ponkapoag tribe. His 

 name is sometimes written Ahauton, Nahatan, and even 

 Nahaughton. 



As the spelling of all such words by the early settlers was 

 phonetic, Nonacoicus has several different forms ; and it is 

 easy to see how the one may have been taken from the other, 

 or from a similar form. Another variation of the word, as 

 given in Sewall's Letter Book (I. 98), is " Nonna Coyacas "; 

 and Nonajcoyicus, Nonecoicus, and Nonacoiacus are also 

 found in old manuscripts. 



In the original survey of the farm, returned by Thomas 

 Noyes to the General Court at the session beginning on 

 October 18, 1659, it is said that the land lies "at the place 

 wch is Called by the Indians nanajcoyijcus." From this it 

 would seem that the name was given to the neighborhood by 

 the red men, and not by the whites. Perhaps earthen pots 

 were made in that locality, as fragments of pottery, as well 

 as various stone implements, were formerly found there and 

 elsewhere throughout the township ; and this fact may have 

 given a distinctive name to the place. 



Originally Nonacoicus included the district in Harvard now 

 known as the Old Mill, — two miles away from Willard's 



