On Morgan's map of Iroquois territory as it existed in 1720, he shows a
village at the foot of Otsego Lake to which he gives the Indian name
Ote-sa-ga.[7] Our present form, Otsego, is a variant of the same
original. Morgan wrote the word in three syllables, adding the letter
"e" after the "t" merely to make sure that the "o" should be pronounced
long. It seems certain that Morgan never pronounced the word as
"O-te-sa-ga." This form of the name, however, when the third syllable
carries the accent and a broad "a," is defensible on the ground of its
majestic euphony, for it should be permitted to take some liberties with
a name that has been spelled by high authorities in a dozen different
ways.

The explanation of Otsego, or Otesaga, as signifying "a place of
meeting" has been generally abandoned by scholars, in spite of the vogue
which Fenimore Cooper gave it along with the interpretation of
Susquehanna as meaning "crooked river." But as to the latter the doctors
disagree, some claiming that Susquehanna, which is not an Iroquois but
an Algonquin word, means "muddy stream"; others, following Dr.
Beauchamp, that it is a corruption of a word meaning "river with long
reaches." It must be confessed that Cooper credited the Indian words
with intelligible and appropriate meanings, so that, in the absence of
agreement among the specialists, the interpretations which he made
popular will continue to satisfy the ordinary thirst for this sort of
knowledge.

Assuming the existence of an Indian village on the present site of
Cooperstown, before the coming of the white man, the question of the
probable character of its inhabitants opens another field of study. Most
of the relics found in this region belong to the Algonquin type. On the