Wiccopee is of record as the name of the highest peak in the Fishkill Mountains on the south border of East Fishkill. It is also assigned to the pass or clove in the range through which ran the Indian path, now the present as well as the ancient highway between Fishkill Village and Peekskill, which was fortified in the war of the Revolution. An Indian village is traditionally located in the pass, of which "one Wikopy" is named as chief on the same authority. The name, however, has no reference to a pass, path, village or chief; it is a pronunciation of _Wecuppe,_ "The place of basswoods or linden trees," from the inner bark of which (_wikopi_) "the Indians made ropes and mats--their tying bark par excellence." (Trumbull.) "_Wikbi_, bast, the inner bark of trees." (Zeisberger.) In Webster and The Century the name is applied to the Leather-wood, a willowy shrub with a tough, leathery bark.
Matteawan, now so written, has retained that orthography since its first appearance in 1685 in the Rombout Patent, which reads: "Beginning on the south side of a creek called Matteawan," the exact boundmark being the north side or foot of the hill known as Breakneck (_Matomps'k_). It has been interpreted in various ways, that most frequently quoted appearing in Spofford's Gazetteer: "From _Matai,_ a magician, and _Wian,_ a skin; freely rendered, 'Place of good furs,'" which never could have been the meaning; nor does the name refer to mountains to which it has been extended. Wm. R. Gerard writes: "_Matáwan,_ an impersonal Algonquian verb, meaning, 'It debouches into,' _i. e._ 'a creek or river into another body of water,' substantially, 'a confluence.'" This rendering is confirmed by Albert S. Gatschet, of the Bureau of Ethnology, who writes: "Mr. Gerard is certainly right when he explains the radix _mat--mata_--by confluence, junction, debouching, and forming verbs as well as roots and nouns." _-A'wan, -wan -uan,_ etc., is an impersonal verb termination; it appears only in connection with impersonal verbs. (See Waronawanka.) Matteawan is met in several forms--Matawa and Mattawan, Ontario, Canada; Mattawan, Maine; Matawan, Monmouth County, N. J.; Mattawanna, Pa.; Mattawoman, Maryland.