Ossining

English

Etymology

From earlier Ossingsing, named for the nearby Sing Sing Kill, borrowed from Dutch Sintsing, Sintsinck, from Munsee *ăsúnchung (*ăsə́nčəng), *ăshúnshung (*ăšə́nšəng, “at the small stone”), ăsún (ăsə́n, “stone”) +‎ -ush (-əš, diminutive suffix) +‎ -ung (-əng, locative suffix), from Proto-Algonquian *aʔsenya. The prison located on the site retains the older form of the name, Sing Sing.[1][2][3][4]

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Ossining

  1. A town in Westchester County, New York.
  2. A village, within this town; the site of Sing Sing prison.

References
  1. John Thomas Scharf, History of Westchester County, New York, voume 2 (1886)
  2. 1846 March 14, An Act to confirm the election and official acts of the town officers of the town of Ossinsing in the county of Westchester, and for other purposes, section 5, published in the compiled Laws of the State of New-York, passed at the Sixty-Ninth Session of the Legislature (1846; C van Benthuysen and Co., Albany, NY): "The name of the said town of Ossinsing is hereby changed to "Ossining," by which name the same shall hereafter be known and designated."
  3. Henry Townsend Smith, Manual of Westchester County: Past and Present, volume 3, page 180 (1913)
  4. Alanson B. Skinner, The pre-Iroquoian Algonkian Indians of central and western New York, in Indian notes and monographs, volume 2 (1919–1920)
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