Seneca Village

English

Etymology

Seneca+village. Unknown. Possibly from Latin Seneca; or from Portuguese Senegal of unknown West African origin; or from Dutch Sennecaas from Algonquian indigenous American term. The Seneca were a native tribe found in the Dutch colony of New Netherlands, which may have been an origin of the name. There had been a tradition of naming African American slaves with Classical names, which may give rise to the term Seneca. The freed slaves may have had a memory of their origin in West Africa and the locale name Senegal.

Proper noun

Seneca Village

1. (historical) A former village in Manhattan, New York City, New York County, New York State, United States; a settlement of freed slaves and other African Americans, also containing non-WASP European immigrants, demolished to make way for Central Park.
   • 2021, Colson Whitehead, Harlem Shuffle, Fleet, page 68:

     The preacher grandfather had been one of the Seneca Village elders, ministering to the free Negro community downtown.