ABORIGINAL PLACE NAMES OF NEW YORK 29 



two villages north of Binghamton, 1750-79, where Onondagas and 

 Nanticokes lived on opposite sides of the river. These villages 

 have been erroneously placed at Binghamton by some. Councils 

 were sometimes held there, and it was called Otlincauke, Otsi- 

 neange, Chinange, Zeniinge, etc. 



Ot'-se-lic river. Morgan defined this as capful and it has also 

 been interpreted plum creek. Its mouth is at Whitney Point. It 

 had another name in 1753, which may have originated in the wild 

 red plum. An early Iroquois word for the plum tree was thichionk, 

 from which Otselic might be derived, or it may have been cor- 

 rupted from oshiaki, to pluck fruit. 



Oua-qua'-ga is the present name of a postofifice and creek. 



Schi'-o was the name applied by Zeisberger to the Otselic when 

 he reached it in 1753. This might come from Tischo, wild red 

 plum, as given in his dictionary, or abbreviated from thickionk, as 

 above, an earlier name for the plum tree. 



Ska-wagh-es-ten'-ras, or Bennett's creek, is on Sauthier's map, 

 below the mouth of the Unadilla and on the south side of the 

 Susquehanna. 



Skow-hi-ang'-to or Tuscarora town was a village near Windsor, 

 burned in 1779. 



Sus-que-han-na is an Algonquin name of rather uncertain mean- 

 ing, though the terminal for river is plain enough. Of this Hecke- 

 welder said : 



The Indians (Lenape) distinguish the river which we call Sus- 

 quehanna thus : The north branch they call M'che-wamisipu, or to 

 shorten it Mchwewarmink, from which we have called it Wyoming. 

 The word implies. The river on zvhich are extensive clear Hats. 

 The Six Nations, according to Prylaeus (Moravian missionary) 

 called it Gahonta, which had the same meaning. The west branch 

 they call Quenischachgekhanne, but to shorten it they say Quen- 

 ischachachki. The word implies : The river zvhich has the long 

 reaches or straight courses in it. From the forks, where now the 

 town of Northumberland stands, downwards, they have a name 

 (this word I have lost) which implies: The Great Bay river. The 

 word Susquehanna, properly Sisquehanne, from Sisku for mud, and 

 hanne, a stream, was probably at an early time of the settling of 

 this country overheard by someone while the Indians were at the 

 time of a flood or freshet remarking: Juh! Achsis quehanne or 

 Sisquehanne, which is : Hozv muddy the stream is, and therefore 



