Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES. 77
or qunni-quid, thit is a long point. The Indians often dropped
one syllable of the radical words in the forming of compounds,
and sometimes several letters were interposed. Cohasset,* sometimes
written Conohasset, is a compound of qunni or cono, hassum
a rock, and the terminal et, which is a contraction of the last syllable
word AJiteuke which is variously written ; thus, tuck, tuk,
muck, ick, it, at and et, the form depending in some cases on the
gender of the word to which it is annexed. Ahteuke may be defined
as meaning soil, fields or lands, place or country. This
word does not occur in Williams's vocabulary, but as he has a
word of similar meaning not found in Cotton's, Sannukamuck he
gives as a synonym of Auke, earth or land. Williams uses W in
many words that Cotton spells with an M, also au for oh or oo.
Ohkee (Cotton) Auke (Williams) the same word, a general term
for earth or land. Ahteuke (Cotton) Sanaukamuk (Williams)
are applied to smaller divisions. The latter word is a compound,
for kamuck or komuck means home. It is used by Eliot, Cotton
and Williams, and in compounds the first syllable, ko, is often
omitted. In the names of places this word very frequently occurs.
Sometimes the first syllable, but generally the last in some
of its varied forms. Some Indian names are easily analyzed and
defined ; others it is extremely difl5cult, if not impossible, to ascertain
with certainty the radical words from which they were
compounded. This difficulty is increased by the different manner
in which different persons write the same name. Cotton does not
spell names uniformly, neither does Williams or Gookin. On the
records there is a still greater want of uniformity.
The Indians had a name for every inlet of the sea, every
point, every river, creek or brook ; every pond and almost every
swamp. Their 'names were all of particular places of small extent.
They had no general names. The Indians of Barnstable,
Plymouth, Nantucket and Dukes Counties, and a part of Rhode
Island, were subjects of one prince. The other Indian nations
called them Wampanoags—that is eastern, or white Indians.
Gookin calls them Paw-kan-naw-cuts, because their prince or king
resided at a place of that name, and if he had changed his residence
the name would have changed.
Sachems or Sagamores. I-yan-nough, (captain or one who
imitates) in 1620 was the Sachem of the Mattakeeset Indians. He
was sometimes called Sachem of Cam-ma-quid, (Sandy Neck)
because during some part of the year he resided there. His territory
included what is now known as the East Parish in Barnstable,
a part of West Barnstable, and the easterly part of Sandy
Neck, South and West Yarmouth, and that part of Hyannis in
Flint in liiB history of Cohasset says the meaning of the name is "a fishing promontory."
He is mistaken. Namasket is a fishing place.