Date: Sat, 25 Mar 1995 12:01:52 -0800

From: Anton Sherwood dasher[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]NETCOM.COM

Subject: Ossining / Sing Sing



Wayles Brown asks:

Sing Sing prison is located in Ossining, New York. Is there any connection

between the name Sing Sing and the name Ossining? What is their etymology?



That's my cue to pull out "A Concise Dictionary of American Place-Names" by

George R. Stewart (Oxford 1970).



OSSINING Algonquian `stone(s)-little-at'.



SING SING From Algonquian `stone(s)-little-at' (cf. Ossining),

developed by humorous folk-etymology from an original ASSIN-IS-ING.



Anton Sherwood *\\* +1 415 267 0685 *\\* DASher[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]netcom.com