Manhattan

See also: manhattan

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From the earlier form Manna-hata recorded by Dutch travelers and settlers, from its name in Unami, the local Algonquian language. The name generally understood to be a compound of Unami mënatay (island) or Munsee munahan (compare Abenaki manahan) with another element.

According to a report by John Heckewelder, the name is connected to a wooded area whose trees were suitable for making bows. Linguist Ives Goddard explains the early forms Manna-hatta(n) and Mannahachtink as spellings of Munsee manaháhtaan (place for gathering the wood to make bows) and its related locative form manaháhteenk. This interpretation breaks down the word as a compound of manah- (gather) +‎ -aht (bow) +‎ -aan (place).[1]

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /mænˈhætn̩/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /mænˈhætn̩/, [mænˈhæʔn̩]
  • (New York City) enPR: mənhătən, IPA(key): /mənˈhætn̩/, [mn̩ˈhætn̩]
  • Audio (New York City):(file)
  • Audio (General American):(file)
  • (US, regional) IPA(key): [mn̩ˈhæʔɪ̃n̩], [mn̩ˈhæʔn̩]
  • Hyphenation: Man‧hat‧tan

Proper noun

Manhattan

  1. An indigenous people of North America who lived in present day New York State.
  2. A borough of New York City, New York, United States, mainly on Manhattan Island; in full, Borough of Manhattan.
    Holonyms: New York < New York < United States < North America < Earth, World
    Meronyms: Harlem, Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Lower East Side, Madison Avenue, Wall Street, World Trade Center, Battery
    Near-synonyms: New York County, County of New York (coterminous)
  3. An island of New York, United States; in full, Manhattan Island.
    • 1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems:
      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.
    • 2017 December 8, Hadley Freeman, “Adam Gopnik: ‘You’re waltzing along and suddenly you’re portrayed as a monster of privilege’”, in The Guardian[2]:
      Adam Gopnik has, by many accounts, including his own, a lovely life. A longtime staff writer for the New Yorker and bestselling author, Gopnik lives in Manhattan with his wife, Martha, a film-maker, and their two children, and he moves in the kind of circles that allow him to drop casual lines into conversation such as: “As John Updike once said to me …”, although he has the nervy Jewish self-consciousness to follow that with “… if you’ll forgive the namedrop.”
  4. A number of places in the United States:
    1. A ghost town in Larimer County, Colorado, United States.
    2. An unincorporated community in Manatee County, Florida, United States.
    3. A township in Will County, Illinois, United States.
    4. A village in Will County, Illinois, United States.
    5. An unincorporated community in Putnam County, Indiana, United States.
    6. A city, the county seat of Riley County, Kansas, United States.
    7. A town in Gallatin County, Montana, United States.
    8. An unincorporated community in Nye County, Nevada, United States.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

Manhattan (plural Manhattans)

  1. A cocktail made from whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters.

Derived terms

Translations

References

  1. ^ Goddard, Ives (2010), “The Origin and Meaning of the Name 'Manhattan'”, in New York History[1]

Further reading

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English Manhattan, it in turn deriving, via Dutch, from the Unami language.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˌmɛnˈɦɛ.tən/
  • Audio:(file)

Proper noun

Manhattan ?

  1. Manhattan (a borough and island of New York City, New York, United States)

Derived terms

Noun

Manhattan m (plural Manhattans, diminutive Manhattantje n)

  1. Manhattan (cocktail)

German

Etymology

Borrowed from English Manhattan.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /mɛ(ː)nˈhɛtən/, [mɛnˈhɛ.tn̩], [ˌmɛːn-], [-tən]
  • Audio (Germany (Berlin)):(file)

Proper noun

Manhattan n (proper noun, genitive Manhattans or (optionally with an article) Manhattan)

  1. Manhattan (a borough and island of New York City, New York, United States)

Declension

Derived terms

Noun

Manhattan m (strong, genitive Manhattans or Manhattan, plural Manhattans or Manhattan)

  1. Manhattan (cocktail)

Declension

Swedish

Noun

Manhattan n

  1. Manhattan (borough of New York City)

Noun

Manhattan c

  1. Manhattan (cocktail)