ABORIGINAL PLACE NAMES OF NEW YORK 97 



to refer to the Due de Nivernois, but the earher French usage 

 makes it an Iroquois name. 



Ni-ka-hi-on-ha-ko-wa has been translated big river, and appHed to 

 Black river. If so it is a very corrupt form of the word. It is more 

 likely to have been corrupted from the name of the sturgeon, 

 nikeanjiakowa, hig Ush, which abounded there. 



On-on-to-hen, hill ivith the same river on each side. Oxbow bend 

 on the Oswegatchie river. This is the very sharp bend just within 

 the county- 

 Hough said that on the Yale College map mentioned was a town 

 at the mouth of Black river called Otihanague. He seems to have 

 mistaken the location, for this name belongs to the mouth of Salmon 

 river in Oswego county, and is often mentioned in the Jesuit 

 Relations. 



Out-en-nes-son-e-ta was interpreted by A. Cusick as where the 

 Iroquois league began to form. On Pouchot's map this is a stream 

 north of Sandy creek and in the town of Henderson. This would 

 make the first thought of union one among the Onondagas, as in the 

 Hiawatha tradition, and before the removal of all to their later 

 homes. Some certainly lingered awhile. The name harmonizes 

 with an old tradition of a neighboring stream. If Hiawatha first 

 lived here this would account for his white canoe. 



Pee-tee-wee-mow-que-se-po, wide river, is given as an Algonquin 

 name of Black river. This is certainly not a good definition. The 

 prefix to sepo, here used for river, suggests Trumbull's pehteau- 

 wuttoon, he foams at the mouth, and Zeisberger's pitey for foam. 

 The meaning would then be river which foams, perhaps near the 

 mouth, and becomes strikingly descriptive. 



Te-ca-nan-ouar-on-e-si, a long time ago this swamp ims divided, 

 according to A. Cusick, was a name for the south branch of Sandy 

 creek in 1755. Pouchot said traditionally the Iroquois came out of 

 the ground there. This is an expression used for a first settlement 

 and there were early towns along the stream. 



Te-ka'-da-o-ga'-he, sloping banks, is Morgan's name for Sandy 

 creek. It might refer to the sides of the creek, or to the unequal 

 slope of an earthwork, bounded outside by a deep ditch, 



Wi-no'-na, an introduced western name, is said to mean the first- 

 born, if a daughter. 



