tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360721195242669735.post9087458399586843233..comments2023-12-04T14:35:49.198-05:00Comments on Civil War Navy Sesquicentennial: "The enemy entered Palatka"Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01520357948612296575noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5360721195242669735.post-80012414922402766922012-03-15T13:19:40.291-04:002012-03-15T13:19:40.291-04:00An similar old Native American word.
Dear Answer ...An similar old Native American word.<br /><br />Dear Answer Girl:<br /> <br /> Q: What does Pascack mean?<br /> <br />N.Y.B., River Vale, NJ<br /> <br />A: Pascack, or Paskack as it was more commonly written in former years, is an Indian word given to the area compromising the Pascack Valley and its stream of water, the Pascack Brook.<br /> <br />Very few Indian words in this area have retained their original meaning, mainly because the Indians (Lenape) were gone many years before an interest arose in what the names meant or why they were used. Much of the existing explanation, therefore, is conjecture and sometimes-pure imagination. The Indian language was never a written one and had a variety of dialects. The spellings found in early deeds and grants in New Jersey and elsewhere are purely phonetic in large variety.<br /> <br />It has been accepted by many historians that Pascack comes from the word Pachgeechen which the Lenape Dictionary translates as “ where the road forks”, but perhaps other words in the dictionary come nearer to the pronunciation of Pascack and have general enough meanings to apply as well: Paschajeek, a valley; Pachat, to split; Packchack, a board. Possibly Pascack means where the land is “split” by the river. There we will leave it since one can only venture a probability with the information at hand.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com