ABORIGINAL PLACE NAMES OF NEW YORK II7 



definition of one of the above forms, and the word may be compared 

 with Cheorontok. Mr Spafiford, however, was not satisfied with 

 this, and in a later edition he said : 



The Teoronto bay, on Lake Ontario, merits more particular 

 notice, if for no other reason than to speak of Gerundegut, Irondc- 

 quoit, and Irondequot, names by which it was also known. The 

 Indians call it Teoronto, a sonorous and purely Indian name, too 

 good to be supplanted by such vulgarisms as Gerundegut, or Iron- 

 dequot. . . Teoronto, or Tche-o-ron-tok, perhaps rather nearer 

 the Indian pronunciation, is the place zvhere the waves breathe and 

 die, or gasp and expire. Let a person of as much discernrhent as 

 these " savages," watch the motion of the waters in this bay, facing 

 the n., after a storm on the lake, or a vigorous gale, and he will 

 admire the aptitude of the name. 



This is ingenious and delightful, but does not apply to the early 

 and present name of the bay. There was a Toronto on the shore 

 in Orleans county, but none here, and Harris says Spafiford had his 

 information from Mississaga Indians. 



Marshall said Irondequoit was a Mohawk and not a Seneca name, 

 and that it meant a jam of iioodzvood. It is difficult to sustain this 

 meaning. He added : "The Seneca name is O-'nyiu'-da-on'-da-gwat, 

 and means a bay or cove ; literally a turning out or going aside of 

 the lake ; composed of Ga-nyiu-daeh, lake, and O-da-gwah, it turns 

 out or goes aside. The name given by De Nonville (Ganniataron- 

 tagouat) is the same in the Mohawk dialect." This is a sound state- 

 ment. A few early forms may be added, as Irondegatt and Jeron- 

 dokat in 1687, Oniadarondaquat in 1701, Jerondoquitt, lerondoquet 

 and Thereondequat in 1720, and Rundigut in 1799. 



Notice should also be taken of an exhaustive paper on the name of 

 Toronto, by Gen. J. S. Clark, in the archeological report of Ontario, 

 Canada, for 1899. He derives this from the name of Irondequoit 

 bay, as signifying a bay, door, or entrance into a country, showing 

 that the name of Toronto is contained in this as given by De Lam- 

 berville in 1684. To show this more clearly he retains the spelling 

 but divides the word into Kania-Taronto-Gouat. This will appear 

 in other forms. He quotes with approval O'Callaghan's definition : 

 "Literally an opening into or from a lake ; an inlet or bay ; from 

 Kaniatare, a lake, and Hotontogouan, to open." The references to 



