ABORIGINAL PLACE NAMES OF NEW YORK I97 



lake shuts itself in; Niagara, place of fallin-g waters. These are not 

 good definitions. Dr Hough had another derivation from a Caugh- 

 nawaga Indian, that of Sar-a-ta-ke, zuhcre the prints of heels may 

 be seen, from impressions in the rocks at the springs. This might 

 be derived from the Iroquois word eratage, heel, but the error is 

 in referring the original name to its present locaHty. As we have 

 seen, the first mention of the whole tract was by the Mohawk name 

 of Ochseratonque, in 1683, and by dropping the first syllable we 

 have essentially the present name, not of a small spot but of a 

 large tract. When thus considered no suggested definition has 

 proved fully satisfactory. 



It was Saraghtoge or Saragtoge in 1687, and in 1698 was men- 

 tioned as Cheragtoge on the Hudson river, 28 miles north of Half 

 Moon. The French usually called it Sarastau, with slight variations, 

 and in 1754 it was mentioned as " a place on Hudson's river, called 

 Saraghtogo, about 36 miles above Albany." The contested Dellius 

 claim was " from Saraghtoga along Hudson's river," etc. In defin- 

 ing the word it is thus evident that there is no allusion to the 

 springs, and from the persistent use of the letter t that no solution 

 eliminating this can be fairly considered. There are several old 

 Mohawk words from which the name may have been derived, hav- 

 ing the root in asara, the handle of the kettle, asare, a knife, and 

 asera, an ax. From the latter comes Aseroutagouan, to make satis- 

 faction for the hlozv of an ax, perhaps locally referring tO' some 

 warlike encounter or peaceful atonement. This dififers but little 

 from Ochseratonque, the first name by which it was known to the 

 English. As a place for burying the political hatchet at great con- 

 ventions it is not inappropriate now. 



Sco-wa-rock-a is a name given by Simms for the north part of 

 Maxon hill in Greenfield. 



She-non-de-ho-wa or Chouendahowa, a great plain, is Clifton 

 Park. Shanandhoi is another form, and Shanandhot a copyist's 

 error. 



Ta-nen-da-ho-wa; great point, is Sylvester's name for Anthony's 

 kill near Mechanicville, and he also applies it to Round lake. 



Ti-ogh-sah'-ron-de, place zn'hcrc streams empty themselves, or 

 Tiosaronda, meeting of ivdters, as at the Sacondaga and Hudson. 

 The proper meaning is as well expressed by the forks of a river. 

 Ojeenriidde seems a form of this as applied to Ticonderoga. 



