Native American land
deeds recorded by the Dutch from 1636 state that the Indians referred to Long Island as
Sewanhaka.
Sewanhacky and
Sewanhacking were other spellings in the transliteration of the
Lenape.
Sewan was one of the terms for
wampum, commemorative stringed shell beads, for a while also used as currency by colonists in trades with the Lenape, and is also translated as "loose" or "scattered", which may refer either to the wampum or to Long Island. The name "'t Lange Eylandt alias Matouwacs" appears in Dutch maps from the 1650s, with
't Lange Eylandt translating it to "Long Island" from
Old Dutch. The English referred to Long Island as "Nassau Island", after the
House of Nassau of the
Dutch Prince
William of Nassau, Prince of Orange (who later also ruled as
King William III of
England). It is unclear when the name "Nassau Island" was discontinued. Another indigenous name from colonial time,
Paumanok, comes from the Native American name for Long Island and means "the island that pays tribute."