Etymology
Before the arrival of the English colonists, the vicinity of this river in present day Maryland and Pennsylvania was the territory of the Susquehannock tribe. This tribal name is an exonym, reported by John Smith on his 1612 map, with the spelling "Sasquesahanough". It is understood to have come from a neighboring tribe, the Powhatan of tidewater Virginia, which was an Algonquian speaking tribe. However, some scholars have suggested the possibility that it comes from a different Algonquian language. The meaning of the name is unknown; competing claims were reviewed in the early 1900s. Nowadays, there is an erroneous local legend that the name of the river comes from an Indian phrase meaning "mile wide, foot deep".
Read more about this topic: Susquehanna River
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
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