ABORIGINAL PLACE NAMES OF NEW YORK I7I 



Onondaga Falls was one name for t'hese in colonial times. 



Onondaga river was long a name for Oneida and Oswego rivers. 

 In 1721 Charlevoix spoke of it " the river of Chaugeuen, formerly 

 the river of Onnontague'." 



O-swe'-go, Osh-wa-kee and Swa-geh are forms of a well known 

 name, meaning Hozving out, or more exactly small water Uowing 

 into that which is large. Clark said that Hiaw^atha ascended the 

 hill, and looking on the broad lake said : " Osh-wa-kee, literally, 

 / see everyivhere — see nothing." This is not the meaning, though 

 it may have been his thought. The English first mentioned the 

 place as Oswego in 1727, and spoke of the lake as " the Osweego 

 Lake" in 1741. Before that they had called Lake Erie by that 

 name. To the Onondagas it is still the lake at Oswego. The 

 French had known the upper part of the stream as Riviere 

 d'Ochoueguen as early as 1672, at least; and in 1682 the Onon- 

 dagas wished to meet Frontenac at Techoueguen, which was near 

 their town, or to have him come to La Famine. Two years later 

 they proposed a general council with De la Barre at Ochoueguen. 

 This became the usual French form, with or without the prefix. 

 According to Morgan the river had this name only in its downward 

 course. Going up the stream it was named from the nation to 

 which it first led. For a considerable distance it was thus called 

 from the Onondagas but the French mentioned the lower part as 

 the River Choueguen in 1726. In his gazetteer Mr French erred 

 in deriving this name from Ontiahantaque, which belongs to 

 Salmon river. 



Oneida lake and river belong to this county, but have been 

 mentioned. 



The Relation of 1656 says : " Otihatangue' is a river which dis- 

 charges itself into Lake Ontario." This was the mouth of Salmon 

 river and was well described. In the same Relation it is written 

 Ontiahantague' and Oeiatonnehengue', and in the following year 

 Otiatannehengue'. This means a large clearing, there being ex- 

 tensive natural meadows there. It was the place at first selected for 

 the French colony, being a noted landing place, and it afterward 

 had the name of La Famine from the hunger of the colonists, who 

 found no food there. Charlevoix erroneously derived this name 

 from a later event, but the name appears two years before De la 



