Massachuset
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (Enrolled members:) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 United States: Massachusetts
|
|
| Languages | |
| English, formerly Massachusett language | |
| Religion | |
| Niantagot | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Narragansett and Patuxet |
The Massachusett are a Native American people who historically lived in areas surrounding Massachusetts Bay, as well as northeast and southern Massachusetts in what is now the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including present-day Greater Boston. Tribal members spoke the Massachusett language, which is part of the Algonquian language family. The present-day U.S state of Massachusetts is named after the tribe.
The name Massachusett means “people of the great hills”, referring to the Blue Hills south of Boston Harbor.
As one of the first groups of indigenous American peoples to encounter English colonists, the Massachusett experienced a rapid decline in population in the 17th and 18th centuries due to new infectious diseases. Descendants of the Massachusett continue to inhabit the Greater Boston area, but they are not a federally recognized tribe.
The name of the people, language and region—adopted as the name of the colony and later U.S. state with the addition of a terminal 's'—takes its name from the original name of the Great Blue Hill, a sacred area to the Massachusett people situated on the borders of Canton and Milton, Massachusetts that overlooks Boston and its harbor. The spellings 'Massachuset' or 'Massachusett' for the people and language and 'Massachusetts' for the region were more or less standard by the eighteenth century, although early English sources are full of alternate spellings such as 'Masichewsetta,' 'Masstachusit,' 'Masathulets,' 'Masatusets,' 'Massachussett,' etc.
The Massachusett were also known as the 'Moswetuset,' which derives from the same roots as 'Massachusett' but the first element is found only in a few compounds with the meaning of 'to pierce' and refers to an 'arrow-shaped hill' and refers to Moswetuset Hummock in what is now Quincy, Massachusetts, said to be ceremonial meeting ground between sachems. French sources of the early seventeenth century refer to the coastal peoples of New England as the Almouchiquois or Armouchiquois, probably from an unknown Native people of what is now Canada and likely indicating 'dog people.' Although the term extended to the coastal groups of Eastern Abenaki tribes, it specifically referred to the coastal peoples of southern New England such as the Massachusett. In the late colonial period, the French generically referred to the peoples of central and southern New England as Loup, or 'Wolf people.'
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