Note 162 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
The native name of William Penn offers an instance of this phonetic alteration. It is given as Onas. The proper form is Wonach. It literally means the tip or extremity of anything; as wonach-sitall, the tips of the toes; wonach-gulinschall, the tips of the fingers. The inanimate plural form wolanniall, means the tail feathers of a bird. To explain the name Penn to the Indians a feather was shown them, probably a quill pen, and hence they gave the translation Wonach, corrupted into Onas.