Androscoggin (I)
Interpreted as “the place for preparing or curing fish.”
Reference tool
Glossary
Clear definitions for distinctive Maine place names and the geographic, civic, ecological, maritime, and industrial terms used throughout Mainean Encyclopedia.
Using this glossary
Language shaped by land, water, and history
Some words below are strongly associated with Maine; others are less familiar terms that clarify subjects covered by the encyclopedia. Definitions include place-name interpretations, forms of local government, natural features, historic trades, and maritime language.
Many place names reflect Wabanaki languages. Interpretations and spellings vary because several languages contributed to Maine’s geographic vocabulary and early written forms attempted to represent spoken sounds. The marker (I) identifies terms described by the source material as having Indigenous-language origins.
General terms
Maine glossary entries
Entries are arranged alphabetically. Meanings of historic place names can differ among sources and should be read as documented interpretations rather than a single definitive translation.
Annabessacook (I)
Interpreted as “smooth water at outlet”; the name of a lake in Monmouth.
Appalachian
The mountain system extending under various names from Maine southwest toward Alabama. The name was recorded by Spanish explorers and associated with the Apalachi.
Aroostook
A river and county name interpreted as “good river” or “clear of obstruction.”
Assessors
Local officials responsible for assessing property taxes. Under town-meeting government, members of the select board may also serve as assessors.
Bagaduce (I)
“The big tideway river,” shortened from Majabigwaduce; the name of the Bagaduce River near Castine.
Bog
A wetland with peat deposits, acidic water, and often sphagnum moss. Bogs receive most of their water from precipitation and tend to be low in plant nutrients.
Brassua
A lake on the Moose River, traditionally said to have been named for an Indigenous chief.
Breastwork
A low, temporary defensive structure, often made of earth or stone, used to shelter troops.
Brig or brigantine
A two-masted sailing vessel, traditionally square-rigged on both masts.
Carding mill
A mill that brushed or “carded” wool, untangling its fibers before they were spun into yarn. Water-powered carding reduced demanding hand labor.
Cask
A large, barrel-like container traditionally made of wood, though metal and plastic forms also exist.
Cathance
Interpreted as “the principal branch of a river” and pronounced “cat-hance.” It names a river flowing through Topsham and Bowdoinham and a stream in Dennysville.
Chewonki (I)
Interpreted as “the big ridge.”
Chesuncook (I)
Interpreted as “at the place of the principal outlet.”
Civil division
A subdivision of the state created for government. Maine’s minor civil divisions include cities, towns, plantations, and townships.
Clover mill
A mill developed to separate and clean clover seed. Early examples used rough-cut millstones to crush flower heads before the seed was collected. Town histories for Farmington and Milo record such mills.
Cobbosseecontee (I)
Interpreted as “the place where sturgeon is found,” associated with fishing on the Kennebec River and later with the nearby lake and stream.
Cook (I)
A place-name suffix interpreted as a pool or bay and often applied to a lake or pond, as in Megunticook and Cobscook.
Cooper
A craftsperson who makes or repairs wooden barrels, casks, and tubs. A cooperage is the workplace.
Cupsuptic
An Abenaki term interpreted as “closed-up stream.”
Cushnoc (I)
Interpreted as “the head of tide”; an early name associated with Augusta.
Deorganize
To change an incorporated town or city, or an organized plantation, into an unorganized township without local government.
Downeast
A nautical expression tied to sailing eastward from Boston with prevailing westerly winds. In Maine it commonly refers to the region east of Penobscot Bay, particularly coastal Hancock and Washington counties.
Eggemoggin (I)
Interpreted as “the fish-weir place,” as in Eggemoggin Reach on the eastern side of Penobscot Bay.
Elvers
Young, very small eels.
Esker
A long, narrow ridge of sand, gravel, and boulders deposited by a stream that flowed on, within, or beneath stagnant glacial ice.
Estuary
A coastal area where a river current meets the tide, mixing fresh water and salt water.
Fall
The vertical drop of a river or stream between two points, often used historically to describe a site’s water-power potential.
Freshet
A sudden rise in a stream’s level or a flood caused by heavy rain or rapidly melting snow and ice.
Fresnel lens
An efficient lighthouse lens developed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel. Concentric glass sections focus light over long distances; an example is associated with Pemaquid in Bristol and Maine’s lighthouses.
Fulling
A finishing process that cleans and compacts newly woven wool cloth, traditionally using moisture, soap, or another agent to produce the desired thickness.
General aviation
Civilian aviation outside scheduled airline service, including many private and small aircraft operations.
Gore
A triangular or irregular tract formed where survey lines diverge or converge, often because of earlier surveying inaccuracies.
Grist mill
A mill for grinding grain such as wheat or corn into flour or meal. In early Maine, grinding stones were commonly powered by water.
Helve
A handle, as in “axe helve” for an axe handle.
Intervale
Low land beside a watercourse, often fertile from periodic flooding and therefore useful as farmland; also called bottomland.
Katahdin (I)
Interpreted as “great mountain.” Katahdin is Maine’s highest mountain and lies within Baxter State Park.
Kenduskeag (I)
Interpreted as “eel-weir place.”
Kennebago (I)
Interpreted as “long quiet water” or “long pond”; the name of a lake and mountain north of Rangeley.
Kennebec (I)
Interpreted as “long, quiet water.”
Kennebunk (I)
Interpreted as “the long cut bank,” possibly referring to the bank behind Kennebunk Beach.
Leather board
An imitation leather material made from leather scraps and other fibers, historically used for products such as shoe soles.
Machias
Interpreted as “a little run of bad water” or “bad little falls,” associated with the falls at Machias.
Macwahoc (I)
Interpreted as “bog”; the name of a stream flowing into Molunkus Stream.
Madawaska (I)
Interpretations include “where one river runs into another,” “having its outlet among reeds,” and “worn-out grass.”
Magdalen herring
Herring caught near the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Malaga (I)
Interpreted as “cedar.” Maine has Malaga Islands associated with Phippsburg and the Isles of Shoals.
Manan (I)
Interpreted as “island.” Petit Manan combines French and Mi’kmaq words to mean “little island.”
Manana
The name of the small island off Monhegan, associated in cited sources with an Abenaki form interpreted as “the small island.”
Maple sugar
Sugar produced by evaporating pure maple sap or maple syrup.
Maple syrup
A concentrated liquid made by heating maple sap, or by dissolving maple concentrate in water, to a regulated density.
Massabesic (I)
Interpreted as “big water” or “large pond.”
Mattamiscontis (I)
Interpreted as “alewife stream.”
Mattawamkeag (I)
Interpreted as “at the mouth, a gravel bar,” describing a recognizable feature near this tributary of the Penobscot.
Minor civil division
A government or geographic division below the county level, often abbreviated MCD. In Maine these include cities, towns, plantations, and unorganized townships.
Molunkus (I)
Interpreted as “deep-valley stream” or “ravine stream”; a tributary of the Mattawamkeag River.
Monhegan (I)
Interpreted as the “out-to-sea island.”
Mooselookmeguntic
A source cited for this glossary suggests a meaning related to an area of the lake that remains smooth during choppy or windy conditions.
Naskeag (I)
Interpreted as “the end” or “the extremity,” as in Naskeag Point in Brooklin.
Nicatou (I)
Interpreted as “the forks,” especially a fork in a river. Related forms mean “the little forks.” It is also a lake name in Hancock County.
Norumbega
An early European name for a region that included present-day Maine. It appeared on maps and was associated with speculative accounts of a wealthy land.
Oquossoc (I)
Interpreted as “place at the other side of a little stream”; a village in Rangeley and a stream connecting Mooselookmeguntic and Rangeley Lakes.
Passadumkeag (I)
Interpreted as “above the gravel bar”; a river entering the Penobscot from the east and the name of a town.
Passamaquoddy (I)
Interpreted as “pollock-plentiful place” and the name of a Wabanaki people in eastern Maine.
Patent
A grant of rights to possess and use an invention or land. Colonial proprietors received patents to large Maine tracts.
Pattagumpus (I)
Interpreted as “the gravelly bend,” referring to a sharp river turn with a gravel bottom.
Pejepscot (I)
Interpreted as “the long rocky rapids part” of the Androscoggin River.
Pemaquid (I)
Interpreted as “long point” or “a point of land running into the sea.”
Pemetic
Interpreted as “a range of mountains.”
Penobscot (I)
Interpreted as “the rocky part” or “at the descending rock,” originally associated with a stretch of the river between Bangor and Old Town.
Pentagoet
Interpreted as “falls of the river” or “at the falls,” referring to tidal falls.
Plantation
A form of local government inherited from Massachusetts and retained in Maine. Plantations hold annual meetings and are governed by a board of assessors. See Plantations.
Portage
From the French for “carry”; commonly the act or route of carrying a canoe and gear between bodies of water.
Proprietor
A person granted ownership of and, historically, governing powers over a tract of land by a colonial authority.
Public lots
State-owned lands managed for public purposes that can include recreation, wildlife, and forest resources. The term has roots in land reserved to support education and religion as townships were organized.
Public Reserved Lands
A system of public lands managed for multiple values, including recreation, wildlife habitat, and timber. Many include notable natural features and remote settings.
Quintal
A unit of weight. In the metric system it equals 100 kilograms, or about 220 pounds.
Red Paint People
A term formerly used by archaeologists for early inhabitants whose burials included red ocher, a practice also documented beyond Maine.
Sachem (I)
A leader of a Native nation or confederation, particularly in historical writing about Algonquian peoples.
Saco (I)
Interpreted as “an outlet” of a river.
Sagadahoc (I)
Interpreted as “the mouth of a river.”
Sagamore (I)
A historical term for the leader of a related band or a subordinate leader within a wider tribal structure.
Sebago and Sebec (I)
Forms interpreted as “great lake,” with historical spellings including Sebecco, Sebagok, and Sebagook.
Sebascodegan (I)
Interpreted as “almost through” or “rocky passage, almost through,” possibly referring to deep inlets and canoe-carrying places on the Harpswell island.
Sebasticook (I)
Interpreted as “the passage river,” “the almost-through river,” or “the short route”; a tributary of the Kennebec.
Sededunkehunk (I)
Interpreted as “rapids at the mouth”; the name of a stream in Brewer.
Select board
Under town-meeting government, the board responsible for administration, staff oversight, and limited policy matters. Historically called a board of selectmen.
Shire town
A county seat: the community containing county government functions such as courts, the sheriff, and registries.
Shooks
Sets of staves and headings prepared for assembly into a cask.
Skowhegan
Interpreted as “a place to watch for fish.”
Slugundy
A place name described in an early source as applying to rapids or small falls. Related context appears in Mattawamkeag.
Spindle
A component of spinning wheels and textile machinery that guides and twists thread while making yarn or cloth.
Spool block
A shaped block, often birch, from which a textile spool was turned, bored, and cut to a precise size.
Spuds
A familiar term for potatoes. “Spud” also historically described a narrow digging tool, which may help explain the crop’s nickname.
Square-rigged
A sailing arrangement in which the vessel’s principal sails are set on yards roughly at right angles to its length.
Staves
Curved pieces of wood fitted together to form the sides of a cask, barrel, or pail.
Sugarhouse
A building where maple sap is boiled to make syrup and maple sugar.
Sugarbush
A stand of sugar maple trees managed or tapped for maple syrup and maple sugar production.
Sunkhaze (I)
Interpreted as “concealing outlet,” describing a stream mouth difficult to see from the receiving water.
Township
An unorganized civil division that is not a city, town, or plantation and is administered directly through state or county systems.
Village corporation
A special local-government arrangement within a town, historically used to provide services in a defined area. Some were absorbed or became towns, including Frye Island; another remains within Dedham.
Weir
An enclosure of stakes, nets, or similar structures placed in a river or tidal channel to catch fish.
Weskeag (I)
From an earlier form, Wessaweskeag, interpreted as “tidal creek” or “salt creek”; the name of a river in South Thomaston.
Wiscasset (I)
Interpreted as “the outlet.”
Wytopitlock (I)
Interpreted as “alder tree place.”
Documentation
Selected source works
These works support terminology and place-name interpretations represented in the source glossary. Historical interpretations can differ, and language scholarship continues to develop.
- Stanley Bearce Attwood, The Length and Breadth of Maine, University of Maine Press, 1977.
- C. Lawrence Bond, Native Names of New England Towns and Villages.
- Fannie Hardy Eckstorm, Indian Place Names of the Penobscot Valley and the Maine Coast.
- Brian McCauley, The Names of Maine: How Maine Places Got Their Names and What They Mean, Acadia Press, 2004.
- Phillip R. Rutherford, The Dictionary of Maine Place-Names, Bond Wheelwright Company, 1970.
- Oxford English Reference Dictionary, revised second edition, Oxford University Press, 1996.
- Henry Gannett, The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States, 1905.
FAQ
Understanding the glossary
Quick guidance on definitions, language origins, and related research.
What kinds of terms are included?
The glossary includes Maine place names, natural features, local-government forms, historic trades, maritime vocabulary, land divisions, and ecological terms used in encyclopedia entries.
What does “(I)” mean beside a term?
It marks a term identified in the source material as having Indigenous-language origins. It does not indicate that every spelling or translation is definitive.
Why can a place name have several meanings?
Multiple Wabanaki languages contributed to Maine place names. Early writers represented spoken words in different ways, and later researchers sometimes reached different interpretations.
How can I find a term in context?
Use the search field above or the A–Z index. Place and subject articles explain how many terms relate to communities, rivers, industries, and events.
Where can I check pronunciation?
The Pronunciation Guide provides additional help with Maine names.
Does the glossary replace current specialist sources?
No. It is an orientation tool for reading the collection. Legal, scientific, linguistic, and administrative terminology may change, so specialist sources should be consulted for current formal usage.