Note 1 — INTRODUCTION

In the early part of December, 1634, three Dutchmen made a journey (the itinerary of which was duly recorded in a Journal1) in the interests of the fur-trade from Fort Orange, now Albany, N. Y., to the Mohawk and the “Sinnekens” to thwart French intrigue there. Strictly speaking, the latter name designated the Oneida, but at this time it was a general name, usually comprising the Onondaga, the Cayuga, and the Seneca, in addition. At that period the Dutch and the French commonly divided the Five Iroquois tribes into two identical groups; to the first, the Dutch gave the name Maquas (Mohawk), and to the latter, Sinnekens (Seneca, the final -ens being the Dutch genitive plural), with the connotation of the four tribes mentioned above. The French gave to the latter group the general name “les Iroquois Superieurs”, “les Hiroquois d’eu haut”, i.e. the Upper Iroquois, “les Hiroquois des pays plus hauts, nommés Sontouaheronnons” (literally, ‘the Iroquois of the upper country, called Sontouaheronnons’), the latter being only another form of “les Tsonnontouans” (the Seneca); and to the first group the designations “les Iroquois inférieurs” (the Lower Iroquois), and “les Hiroquois d’en bas, nommés Agnechronnons” (the Mohawk; literally, ‘the Iroquois from below, named Agnechronnons’). This geographical rather than political division of the Iroquois tribes, first made by Champlain and the early Dutch at Ft. Orange, prevailed until about the third quarter of the 17th century. Indeed, Governor Andros, two years after Greenhalgh’s visit to the several tribes of the Iroquois in 1677, still wrote, “Ye Oneidas deemed ye first nation of sineques:” The Journal of the Dutchmen, mentioned above, records the interesting fact that during their visit to the tribes they celebrated the New Year of 1635 at a place called Enneyuttehaga or Sinnekens. The first of these names was the Iroquois, and the second, the Mohegan, name for the place, or, preferably, the Mohegan translation of the Iroquois name. The Dutch received their first knowledge of the Iroquois tribes through the Mohegan. The name Enneyuttehaga is evidently written for Onĕñiuteʼagāʹʼgeʻ, ‘at the place of the people of the standing (projecting) stone.’ At that date this was the chief town of the Oneida. The Dutch Journal identifies the name Sinnekens with this town, which is presumptive evidence that it is the Mohegan rendering of the Iroquois local name Onĕñʹiuteʼ, ‘it is a standing or projecting stone’, employed as an ethnic appellative. The derivation of Sinnekens from Mohegan appears to be as follows: aʻsinni, ‘a stone, or rock’, -ika or -iga, denotive of ‘place of’, or ‘abundance of’, and the final -ens supplied by the Dutch genitive plural ending, the whole Mohegan synthesis meaning ‘place of the standing stone’; and with a suitable pronominal affix, like o- or wă-, which was not recorded by the Dutch writers, the translation signifies, ‘they are of the place of the standing stone.’ This etymology is confirmed by the Delaware name, Wʼtassone, for the Oneida, which has a similar derivation. The initial w- represents approximately an o-sound, and is the affix of verbs and nouns denotive of the third person; the intercalary -t- is merely euphonic, being employed to prevent the coalescence of the two vowel sounds; and it is evident that assone is only another form of aʻsinni, ‘stone’, cited above. Hence it appears that the Mohegan and Delaware names for the Oneida are cognate in derivation and identical in signification. Heckewelder erroneously translated Wʼtassone by ‘stone pipe makers.’