Amarascoggin

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An alternate form of the name of a Native American group of the Abenaki peoples in Maine, also tied to the river that bears a similar name
2. A historical name for an Algonquian-speaking people living along a river in Maine and New Hampshire, the same group usually called Androscoggin
3. An old variant spelling of the name of an Abenaki-related people of western Maine, and of the river region where they lived

Etymology: The closest real word is "Androscoggin," the name of a river that runs through Maine and New Hampshire and of the Abenaki-speaking people who lived along it. The name comes from Algonquian languages of the region, and it is usually glossed as something like "fish-curing place" or "place where fish are dried," though the exact meaning of the Abenaki elements is debated. Early colonial records spelled the name in many different ways, and "Amarascoggin" appears to be one of those variant spellings.