Toponymies of places in New York's Capital District
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This article is incomplete. (April 2012) |
The toponymies of places in New York's Capital District are a varied lot, from non-English languages such as Native American, Dutch, and German to places named for famous people or families, of either local or national fame. Also, in the early 1800s, many places in the Hudson Valley, Capital District and points west were either named or renamed after places from Classical Antiquity (e.g. Athens, Cairo, Carthage, Greece, Ilion, Ithaca, Phoenicia, Rome, Syracuse, Troy, Utica)
Settlements [edit]
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Contents
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| Place Name |
County | Toponymy | Language of origin | Year |
Notes or previous names |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albany | Albany | Duke of Albany[1][Note 1] | English | 1636 | Fort Orange, Fuyck, Beverwyck, Williamstadt |
| Altamont | Albany | High mountain[4] | 1887 | Knowersville | |
| Amsterdam (city and town) |
Montgomery | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Dutch | ||
| Ancram | Columbia | town in Scotland where the Livingston family originated[5] | Scottish | 1814 | Livingston Forge, Scotchtown, Gallatin |
| Argyle (town and village) |
Washington | Argyllshire, Scotland where early settlers were from | Scottish | ||
| Athens | Greene | Athens, Greece | |||
| Austerlitz | Columbia | Battle of Austerlitz | German | 1818 | |
| Ballston | Saratoga | Eliphalet Ball | a surname | Ball's Town, Ballton | |
| Bethlehem | Albany | in honor of the religious in the community | English | ||
| Bleecker | Fulton | Barent Bleecker, early settler | surname of possible Dutch origin | ||
| Brunswick | Rensselaer | possibly for Brunswick-Lüneburg, Germany | German | 1807 | |
| Boght | Albany | bend of river | Dutch | Groesbeck's Corners | |
| Cairo | Greene | Cairo, Egypt | 1808 | ||
| Canaan | Columbia | Canaan, Connecticut | 1788 | Kings District | |
| Canajoharie (town and village) | Montgomery | Canajoharie, a town, translated as "a washed kettle" | Iroquoian languages | ||
| Coeymans | Albany | Barent Pieterse Coeymans | surname of possible Dutch origin | ||
| Cohoes | Albany | Cohos, translated as "pine tree" | Algonquian | ||
| Mechanicville | Saratoga | occupation of early residents | 1829 | ||
| Pittstown | Rensselaer | William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham[6] | English | 1761 | George III named the town in honor of the leading statesman—and Prime Minister—of the time |
| Saratoga Springs | Saratoga | The mineral springs discovered by Sir William Johnson in 1767 | Native American | Known to be a corruption of a Native American name Se-rach-to-que; it is unsure whether it means "hillside country of the great water", "place of the swift water", or even "floating scum upon the water" | |
| Schenectady | Schenectady | Schau-naugh-ta-da, translated as "on that side of the pinery" or "place beyond the pine plains" | Mohawk language | ||
| Troy | Rensselaer | Classical Troy, from Homer's Iliad | Greek | 1789 |
Notes [edit]
- ^ James Stuart (1633–1701), brother and successor of Charles II, was both the Duke of York and Duke of Albany before being crowned James II of England and James VII of Scotland in 1685. His title of Duke of York is the source of the name of the province of New York.[1] Duke of Albany was a Scottish title given since 1398, generally to a younger son of the King of Scots.[2] The name is ultimately derived from Alba, the Gaelic name for Scotland.[3]
References [edit]
- ^ a b Brodhead 1874, p. 744
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (Albany, Dukes of). Encyclopædia Britannica Company; 1910. OCLC 197297659. p. 487.
- ^ Leslie 1888, p. 354
- ^ Grade 7, Altamont Grade School (1946). "History of Altamont". Village of Altamont. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
- ^ Masters, Hillary. "Town of Ancram, NY History". Town of Ancram. Retrieved 2011-08-03.
- ^ Weise 1880, p. 90
Sources [edit]
Note: Linked titles redirect to a free, full-view version hosted by Google Books or the Internet Archive.
- Brodhead, John Romeyn (1874). History of the State of New York. New York City: Harper & Brothers, Publishers. OCLC 458890237.
- Leslie, Jhone (1888). In E.G. Cody. The Historie of Scotland. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons. OCLC 3217086. Unknown parameter
|translator=ignored (help) - Weise, Arthur James (1880). History of the Seventeen Towns of Rensselaer County from the Colonization of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck to the Present Time. Troy, New York: J. M. Francis & Tucker. OCLC 6637788.
