ABORIGINAL PLACE NAMES OF NEW YORK l6$ 



beech woods, or place of beech trees, was south of the Chawan- 

 gong tract according to the Rev. Mr Scott. 



Schun-e-munk, a variant of Shawangunk, is appHed to the moun- 

 tains in Blooming Grove and Monroe. 



Sen-e-yaugh-quan is given by Eager as the Indian name of a 

 place where the Swarthouts lived, and defined by him as T?ndge 

 across a brook. There is a moderate ground for this interpretation. 



Sen-ka-pogh creek was opposite Anthony's Nose according to 

 Ruttenber, who also gives it the name of Tongapogh. He placed 

 Assinapink creek there but farther north. Sinkapogh creek (now 

 Snakehole creek) was mentioned as the south line of lands bought 

 by Van Cortlandt in 1685, the north line being Assinnapink. A 

 good derivation would be from sonkippog, cool water. 



Sha-wan-gunk or Schunemunk mountains was written Skone- 

 moghky in some early deeds, and there are many forms. Ruttenber 

 gave a good deal of space to the name, including a synopsis of an 

 address before the Ulster Historical Society by the Rev. Charles 

 Scott. Schoolcraft had derived it from schawan, zvhite, and gunk, 

 rock, alluding to the white cliffs west of Tuthilltown, but this is 

 not satisfactory. The Dutch wrote it Shawangunk, and the English 

 sometimes Chawangong, as in Dongan's deed of 1684. Originally 

 it was a tract of fine lowland, west of Shawangunk kill, and thence 

 the name spread to the creek and mountain. Scott gave the name 

 as Shawangum, south zvatcr. This has a fair foundation, though 

 not exact, the Delaware word schawaneu, meaning south, and gam- 

 munk, on the other side of the zvater. This would refer to the land. 



Ruttenber did not feel sure of all this, and said : 



The first part or noun of the word, shawarh or chawan, would 

 seem to be from jewan, sivift current or strong stream, or the rapid 

 water settlement. * * * Another interpretation is derived from 

 shong, the Algonquin word for mink, and um or oma, zvater, or onk, 

 place or country. Still another is derived from Cheegaugong, 

 the place of leeks, and has no little force in the abundance of wild 

 onions, which are still found in that section of country. Indeed. 

 so universal is this pest of the farmer there, that they might well 

 have given this name to the stream, the valley and the mountains. 



The name is usually derived from schawaneu, south or south- 

 zvard. Spafford said : " Shawangunk is the Indian name for the 

 tract west of the creek to the mountains. . . . Shawan, in the 



