Etymology

When I was in elementary school, I was taught that “Manhattan” was derived form a Native American word meaning “wooded hills.” That’s probably wrong. Unfortunately, we don’t know for certain what’s right: four centuries of European renaming have buried the Native names and their meanings under mispronunciation, homonyms, and bad spelling. There is an entire Wikipedia article on nothing but the etymology of “Manhattan” as a place name.

Here’s a 1684 map that is largely based on a 1651 map:

Zooming in a bit…

My home turf of Flushing is there under its Dutch name Vlysingen, we have Iamaica, Breukelen, Staten Eylant, and, as a nod to the English takeover from the Dutch, Jorck Shire. The Groote Rivier (not, as far as I know, ever referred to as the Rio Grande) is also named the Manhattans river, the Noort (North) rover, the Montaigne river, and the Maurits river. “North River” is still with us, the name Hudson River started showing up in the eighteenth century. And in the center, with the star fort carefully drawn in, Manhattans. The map also has a suspiciously clean and tidy illustration of Nieuw Amsterdam on the lower right.