BULL. 30] 



SQUAM SQUAW 



629 



second ompsq, 'rock' ; the ut is locative. 

 There is also a sqnam duck. (a. f. c. ) 



Squam. One of the aboriginal divisions 

 of Nantucket id., Ma^^s. — Mass. Hist. Soc. 

 Coll., 2d s., Ill, 25-26, 1815. 



Squamish. The name given by the 

 Canadian Department of Indian Affairs 

 to that portion of the Squawmish living 

 on Howe sd., Brit. Col. Pop. 31 in 1909. 

 Shw-aw-mish.— Can. Ind. Aff., 27(1, 1894 (probably 

 amispriiu) Skw-amish.— Ibid. ,358,1895. Skwaw- 

 mish.— Ibid., 30.'<, 1879. Squamish.— Ibid., 195, 1885. 



Squamscot. A part of the Pennacook 

 confederacy, called a tribe,which formerly 

 lived on Exeter r., probably aljout the 

 present site of Exeter, Rockingham co., 

 N. H. — Potter in Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, 

 V, 222, 1856. 



Squando. An Abnaki sachem of the So- 

 koki, known generally as the ''Sagamore 

 of Saco." He was credited with see- 

 ing visions and was called by Mather "a 

 strange, enthusiastical sagamore." His 

 wife and child had been insulted by the 

 English, and he took part in the war of 

 1675-76 and in the burning of Saco. He 

 signed the treaty of Cocheco. (a. f. c. ) 



Squannaroo ( Yakima: »S^^'?w}n(f»(1, 'whirl- 

 pool'). A body of Indians, numbering 

 120 persons, found by Lewis and Clark 

 in 1805 on Cataract r.. Wash., n. of the 

 Big Narrows. According to Mooney they 

 are a division of the Pisquows, and their 

 Yakima name refers strictly to a point on 

 Yakima r. about oppo.site the entrance 

 to Selah cr. , their village being on the w. 

 bank of the river. The same autliority 

 states also that they may possibly speak 

 the language of the Atanumlema, a neigh- 

 boring Shahaptian tribe. 

 Lower Yakima. — Lewis and Clark quoted bv Gibb.s 

 in Pac. R. R. Rep., I, 417, 18.55. Skwa'nana.— 

 Moonev in 14th Rep. B. A. E., 736, 1896. Spear- 

 maros.— Robertson (1846) In H.R. Ex. Doc. 76, 30th 

 Cong., lstsess.,9. 1848. Squam-a-cross. — Lewis and 

 Clark quoted by Stevens in Ind. Aff. Rep., 460, 

 1854. Squam-a-ross. — Lewis and Clark quoted by 

 Gibbs, op. cit. Squan-nan-os. — Lewis and Clark 

 Exped., Coues ed., 958, 1893. Squannaroos. — Lewis 

 and Clark Exped., ll, .595, 1817. Squannor-oss. — 

 Ibid., I, map, 1817. Squan-nun-os. — Orig. Jour. 

 Lewis and Clark, iv, 307, 1905, 



Squantersquash. An early name for the 

 squash, the latter word being a reduction 

 of the longer one; spelled also " squon- 

 tersquash." See Squash. (a. f. c. ) 



Squanto. A Wampanoag (Drake, Inds. 

 of N. Am., 69, 1880) who is said to have 

 been the only person in Patuxet that 

 escaped the plague of 1619. He was 

 a friend of the English, and did them 

 much service besides acting as interpreter 

 and guide, though he seems to have been 

 a»lso at one time the agent or spy of 

 Caunbitant, sachem of Mattapoisett. He 

 died at Chatham in 1622. The name 

 Squanto was contracted from Tisquan- 

 tum. (a. f. c. ) 



Squantum. A word still in use in parts 

 of New P^ngland in the sense of a merry- 

 making, a picnic, a shore dinner, a good 



time, a high old time, or the like. Os- 

 good (New Eng., 61, 1883) states: "The 

 squantum is a peculiar institution of this 

 island [Nantucket], being an informal 

 picnic on the beach sands, where the 

 dinner is made of fish and other spoils of 

 the sea." Bartlett (Diet, of American- 

 isms, 1877), says, "probably from Indian 

 place-names (Squantum), as in or near 

 Quincy, Mass." The place name Squan- 

 tum is said to be derived from Tisquan- 

 tum, or Tasquantum, the appellation of 

 a Massachusetts Indian, generally known 

 to the settlers aljout Plymouth as Squan- 

 tum or Squanto (q. v.). In all probability 

 the word goes back to this personal name 

 in the Massachuset dialect of Algonquian, 

 signifying 'door,' 'entrance,' like the cog- 

 nate Delaware eshkande, Chippewa ish- 

 kwnndem, Nipissing ishku'andem or ish- 

 kviand, and Cree iskivutem. (a. f. c. ) 



Squash. The common name of several 

 species of the genus Cucurbita. These 

 vegetables were cultivated by the Algon- 

 quian Indians of n. e. North America be- 

 fore the coming of the whites, who inher- 

 ited both thing and name. Roger Wil- 

 liams (Key to Lang, of Amer., 103, 1643) 

 says: ^'Askutasquash, their vine-apples, 

 which the English from them call 

 squashes." Josselyn (N. E. Rarities, 57, 

 1672) speaks of "squashes . . . more 

 truly squo)ife7'.squashes, a kind of melon, 

 or rather gourd." Wood (N. E. Pros- 

 pect, 761, 1634) says of the aborigines 

 of Massachusetts that "in summer, when 

 their corne is spent, 'Is(iuontersquashes' 

 is their best bread, a fruit like a young 

 Pumpion." Eliot (1663) in his Bible 

 renders "cucumbers" by askoot-asquash, 

 which is the INIassachuset form of the 

 Narraganset word cited by Williams. 

 Squashes were so spoken of by the In- 

 dians because, as some of the early chroni- 

 clers remarked, "you may eat them 

 green, and never after they are ripe." 

 Askufasqtiash signifies literally ' vegetables 

 eaten green,' inan. pi. of ashUasq; from 

 the root ask (1) 'to be green,' (2) 'to be 

 raw,' (3) 'to be immature.' From the 

 squash have been named: Squash-beetle 

 (Diahrolica vitfata), squash-vine borer 

 ( Trochilium c?(r»r/*(7<r), squash-bug (J??«sa 

 tristis), Hubbard squash, crookneck 

 squash, summer squash, winter squash, 

 squash gourd, squash melon, squash vine, 

 etc. (a. f. c. w. k. g.) 



Squash. A name mentioned by Buffon, 

 and by Webster on the authority of Gold- 

 smith, as that of the brown coati, Xasua 

 narica. The word is a corruption of the 

 Tupi (South American) name of the ani- 

 mal, (w. B. G. ) 



Squaw. An Indian woman. From 

 Narraganset squaiv, probably an abbre- 

 viation of esku;au', cognate with the 

 Delaware ochqueu, the Chippewa ikwi, 



