Pequonnock

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A river flowing through southwestern Connecticut into Long Island Sound near Bridgeport ; an Algonquian-speaking Native American people who lived in that region
2. A waterway in Fairfield County, Connecticut that empties into Long Island Sound ; the indigenous group of the Algonquian language family who historically inhabited the same area
3. A stream in southwestern Connecticut that drains into the Sound ; a Native American community of Algonquian origin once settled along its banks

Etymology: Pequonnock is a place name, not a common word. It belongs to the Pequonnock River in southwestern Connecticut, which flows through the Bridgeport and Trumbull area into Long Island Sound, and to the Native people who lived along it. The name comes from one of the Algonquian languages spoken in southern New England before European settlement, most likely the Quiripi-Unquachog language group. Its meaning is usually glossed as something like "cleared land" or "place cleared of trees," probably describing an open area beside the river. Because the language is known only from colonial-era records, which were written by English speakers who spelled Native words in inconsistent ways, that gloss is a reasonable interpretation rather than a firmly documented definition. The name survives in its original spelling, though spelling variants such as Pequannock turn up in older records. Those variants show how English writers tried to render the same sounds.