Patawomeck

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small Algonquian-speaking Native American people who lived along the Potomac River in what is now northern Virginia
2. An Indigenous American group of the Algonquian language family once settled near the Potomac River in northeastern Virginia
3. The name of a tribe of Algonquian peoples whose homeland lay on the lower Potomac in colonial Virginia

Etymology: The name belongs to a group of Algonquian-speaking people who lived along the lower Potomac River in what is now Virginia. English colonists wrote it down in the early 1600s, and it was later applied to the group's territory and settlements. The word is a proper noun, so it names a people and a place rather than a common thing. Its meaning is uncertain. Many scholars link it to "Potomac," the river's name, which probably comes from a related Algonquian root. The idea that it refers to a place where goods or tribute were brought, a trading or gathering point, is plausible, but the evidence is thin, so it should be treated as a likely interpretation rather than a settled one.