Ossipee
/ˈɒs.ɪ.piː/noun
A place-name used for a town, mountain range, river, and lake in New Hampshire, and for a historic Abenaki people associated with the region.
Did you know?Ossipee is connected to the Ossipee Abenaki, one of several Indigenous communities whose names survive across New England’s landscape.
Etymological Timeline
Precolonial period
Abenaki
Uncertain; forms are variably recorded
“A regional Indigenous name associated with the Ossipee Abenaki people; its precise original meaning is disputed.”
17th Century
English colonial records
Ossipee / Ossapy
“Recorded as a name for an Indigenous group and the surrounding region in New England.”
18th Century
English
Ossipee
“Used for the mountains, river, and lake in what is now New Hampshire.”
1785
English
Ossipee
“Established as the name of a New Hampshire township.”
Modern English
English
Ossipee
“A geographic proper noun, especially the town and nearby natural features in New Hampshire.”
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