Piscataquis County

Meanings

1. One of 16 counties in Maine, United States. County seat: Dover-Foxcroft.

Etymology

Generally agreed to be from a Penobscot word meaning "branch of the river" or "at the river branch"; see also Piscataquis River. Relatedly, John Gould asserted that the word Piscataqua came from piscatus + aqua, which if true may hint at a French-colonial-era European appellation for the American Indians of the area (fishermen, on the Romance pattern of fish+waters=fisherman, seen in various other Romance compounds), but this may be merely a folk etymology by monolingual English speakers, as many sources say that Piscataquis, Piscataqua, and Piscataway come from Native American words for waters, although they vary on what sort of waters (e.g., river branch, river bend, river rapids).