Piscataqua

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A river flowing through southeastern New Hampshire and southern Maine to the Atlantic Ocean ; a Native American people of the region whose name is associated with the river
2. The name of a river in New Hampshire and Maine that empties into the Atlantic ; a group of Algonquian-speaking indigenous people connected to that area
3. A waterway in the northeastern United States along the New Hampshire and Maine border ; an indigenous community historically living near the river

Etymology: English explorers recorded this name by ear long before anyone agreed on its spelling. John Smith's 1614 map shows it as "Pascataquack," and colonial records of the following century show many variants before the modern "Piscataqua" became standard. The name comes from an Algonquian language of the region, most likely Abenaki. Its meaning is less certain. The most common explanation is something like "branch river" or "where the river divides," which suits the geography: near its mouth the river splits around islands and forms the boundary between New Hampshire and Maine. This gloss is widely repeated, but the people who first named the river never wrote down what they meant by it.