Margaret Tomlinson age 10 Somerset; Ky. for her question:

How did Massachusetts get its name?

In the early days of our history, the settlers shared New England with Indians, There was friendly give‑and‑take between the new Americans and the original Americans. The Indiansi of course, knew the land, the climate and many foods that were strange to the settlers from Europe, As they described the land* the Indians used their own place names and the settlers adopted these names into their own language,

The original Americans$ the Indiansp lived close to nature and they often named their places from features on the face of the earth. The settlers took the Algonquin name Mass‑adohu‑set for their colony, The Algonquin name meant near‑the‑big‑mountain. The settlers translated it into Massachusetts and took it to name a colony which became one of the first states,