Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/473

 Forgotten Indian Place-Names in the Adirondacks. 125

tion is either a modern variant, or a slovenly pronunciation for sog (see below); 2. h'ld, 'comes' (ci.sogdd-h'td, 'it comes in,' said of a river). The regular modern equivalent of sdhg8k would be sog, ac- cording to the spelling of Laurent, op. cit., but it is probable that in sogdd-h l ld we have a fuller form of sog, e. g. sogdd + h'/d ; cf. sdiik- ede-'teggSe, 'embouchure d'une riviere' (Rasle, Aben. Diet. p. 442) and the ancient name Sdiikede-'rdilk, 'outlet,' applied by the early Abena- kis of Maine to the mouth of the Kennebec. The modern Sagada- hoc is an evident corruption of this form (so O'Brien). In the form S'n (Son) hdlonek, -hdlonek, or more properly -h'lonek, appears to be the locative verb form of sjh'ld, e. g. ' the place where it comes in ; ' viz., ' the outlet into a lake,' as explained by Sabattis. In this con- nection may be compared ari-'rannek, ' the place where one goes by canoe ' (O'Brien).

In spite of the difficulties of interpretation, then, we are justified in regarding Saranac — S'nhdlo'nek as a genuine Abenaki word, first, because of the apparent possibility of resolving it into known com- ponent elements, and secondly, because of the evident appropriate- ness of the meaning ' outlet ' to the Saranac River at Plattsburg.

Some Abenakis derive Saranac from Salonak, " Sumach buds," which are very common in the neighborhood, but this is doubtful, as the term is not exclusively applicable to the Saranac region and, moreover, smacks of popular etymology.

Very interesting also is Pdpolpdgd'mdk, the Abenaki name for Racquette Lake. According to O'Brien, this may be a derivative from an ancient root p8rbi, or reduplicated, pap8rbi, ' doubtful, deceit- ful, treacherous,' which is prefixed to the regular termination -gd'mdk, meaning 'at the lake; ' -gdmd + \oc. k. With -gd'md should be com- pared the Ojibwe ending -gdmi, 'water, sea,' as in KicJilgdmi, 'big water ; ocean.' The separate Abenaki word for ' lake ' is nepes (see below). The ancient form of Pdpolpogd'mdk, then, would have been PapSrbangamak, ' deceptive lake.' Sabattis gives its meaning as ' in and out ; full of bays,' which would be in harmony with this deriva- tion, as a lake full of bays and points is deceptive to the navigator.

According to Sabattis, the ancient name of Tupper Lake was Pdskdngdmdk, ' side ' or ' branch lake.' This is perfectly clear. The word consists of the well-known root pdsk- (ancient pesk- or psk-), generally signifying ' break, cut oft,' + -gd'mdk. We should compare here the present river-names Piscataquis (Maine) and Piscataqua

that a is almost like ii in but, while 2, i, and o are obscure short vowels. The other vowels have the Italian values. The consonants are pronounced as in Eng- lish except that^ is always hard. The combination kh is not a guttural, but is to be pronounced separately k-h. The consonant n is a voiceless tenuis. The syl- lables in Abenaki receive almost equal accentuation as in modern French.

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