Pennacook
/ˈpɛn.ə.kʊk/noun
Pennacook refers to an Indigenous Algonquian people historically associated with the Merrimack River valley, and to places named after them.
Did you know?The Pennacook Confederacy was led by the sachem Passaconaway, whom later colonial writers surrounded with stories of supernatural power and sorcery—accounts that mix Indigenous tradition with colonial legend.
Etymological Timeline
Precolonial period
Abenaki
penakuk
“An Indigenous place-name or ethnonym; its precise internal translation is uncertain in surviving documentation.”
17th Century
English colonial records
Pennacook
“The name used by English colonists for an Indigenous people and settlement in the Merrimack River region.”
17th Century
English colonial records
Pannukog
“A recorded variant spelling of Pennacook, reflecting attempts to represent an Abenaki-language name with English orthography.”
18th Century
English
Penacook
“A shortened or variant spelling used in colonial and early American records.”
Modern English
English
Pennacook
“A historical ethnonym and a place-name, especially associated with Penacook, New Hampshire.”
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