What does harraseeket mean in English?

Answer 1

Harraseeket is an English attempt to say a native American river name. This is likely to be in an Abenaki dialect, but the meaning has been variously reported as "full of obstacles" or "river of many fish" - clearly both of these can not be correct.

The final -et is a common locative ending used in many place names.

The Abenaki word for fish is namas (nam- being the general and widespread Algonquian term for fish); the word for river is sibo or -tegw; many is kasi- or msali- and obstacle is adel-. Clearly none of these seem to feature in Harraseeket.

It is likely that early settlers misheard the river name, or recorded it incorrectly, or it became garbled in the following centuries. The true meaning and the original name are lost.