It appears that the ownership of the Susquehanna was the subject of no
little dispute among the tribes composing the Six Nations.[A] The
Onondagas claimed the country.

[Footnote A: From a record of a meeting of the mayor and aldermen of
Albany in 1689 the Onondagas are called Ti-onon-dages.

In an old map found among the papers of Sir Guy Johnson the Schenevus
creek or valley is called Ti-ononda-don. The prefix _Ti_ appears to
have been quite common among Indian names, sometimes used and
sometimes omitted. Doubtless _Ononda_ is the root of the word
_Ti-ononda-don_. As the Onondagas had claimed the Susquehanna country,
the Indian etymologist might naturally inquire whether there was any
kinship between Tionondaga, Tionondadon, Onondaga and the word
Oneonta. His belief in a common etymon might be somewhat strengthened
by a quotation from a "Journal of What Occurred between the French and
Savages," kept during the years 1657-58. (See Doc. Hist., Vol. I, p.
44*: [*Transcriber's Note: last digit illegible in original.]

"The word Onnota, which signifies in the Iroquois tongue a _mountain_,
has given the name to the village called Onnontae, or as others call
it Onnontague, because it is on a mountain.")

Perhaps the word Oneonta may have the same derivation or a like
derivation as Onondaga--perhaps not. The reader is left to follow up
the query. Among the Hurons who had been conquered by the Iroquois, a
tribe is mentioned under the name of Ti-onnonta-tes. The name may have
no relation to nor any bearing upon the derivation of the word
Oneonta, but that there was such a tribe, the fact is given for what