Saratoga News

Crusader: Don Wolfe

To be or not to be known as the city of floating scum

Ceremony, proclamation seek to rewrite history

By Sarah Lombardo

Would fair Juliet still have loved Romeo if his name had been Pond Scum instead of Montague? The world may never know. But Saratoga Mayor Don Wolfe has taken up the question of what is in a name--Saratoga's name, which has for years been reported to mean "floating scum upon the water" in the Iroquois language.

Wolfe plans to introduce a resolution to the City Council May 6 that will formally make the official translation of the city's moniker "hillside country of the great river, place of swift water."

A ceremony to celebrate the translation will be held on the steps of Bella Saratoga Restaurant at 14503 Big Basin Way at 3 p.m. that day, and again at the council meeting at 7:30 p.m. Some residents dressed in Revolutionary War-period costumes will also be in attendance, Wolfe said, to commemorate the pivotal battle at Saratoga.

Wolfe said he began researching the history of the word when he first came to Saratoga and read a book that said "Saratoga" meant "floating scum." Wolfe said he thought back to the times he swam in the Hudson River, where the city of Saratoga Springs--the California city's namesake--was originally located, and to his visits to the springs. None of his memories included pond scum.

"I felt that something was askew," Wolfe said.

When word got out that he had found another meaning for the name, Wolfe said residents and merchants were receptive. "I found there was enthusiasm for properly identifying the interpretation of Saratoga," he said.

But why?

"It's a slight controversy," said Louise Cooper, a member of the Saratoga Historical Society.

Apparently, some locals hold to the pond scum interpretation, cited in Saratoga's First Hundred Years by Florence Cunningham. But, Wolfe said, Cunningham never explains where she got the interpretation, writing only that it came from an official New York state publication.

On the other hand, Wolfe has found five sources--including publications from the Saratoga County Planning Board and Mallard Press in New York and memos from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., historians--that claim the name means "hillside country of great river" or "place of swift water."

But Lyn Johnston, chairwoman of archives and exhibits at the Saratoga Historical Museum, said finding the true meaning of Saratoga may not be as easy as it sounds.

"It's a derivative. It's not really an Iroquois word," she said, pointing out that many Native American words mean different things depending on their use and context. "It's a primitive language. We can't translate it exactly in English."

Still others wonder who Saratogans think they are proclaiming the true meaning of a word in a language they don't speak.

"It's true that the sun has come up each day on Saratoga with or without the proclamation," Wolfe said. "But it's a matter of clarity and civic pride, I think."

[ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ]