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From the earlier form Manna-hata recorded by Dutch travelers and settlers, from its name in Unami, the local Algonquian language. That name is usually taken to be a compound of Unamimënatay(“island”) or Munseemunahan (compare Abenakimanahan) and another element.
Based on a report by Anthony Heckewelder that the name Manhattan derives from the wooded area whose trees were suitable for making bows, Goddard explains the early forms Manna-hatta(n) and Mannahachtink as spellings of manaháhtaan "place for gathering the wood to make bows" and a related locative form manaháhteenk. compound of Munsee manah- (gather) + -aht (bow) + -aan (place).
Lo, body and soul—this land, / My own Manhattan with spires, and the sparkling and hurrying tides, and the ships, / The varied and ample land, the South and the North in the light, Ohio’s shores and flashing Missouri, / And ever the far-spreading prairies cover’d with grass and corn.