The name "Muskingum" derives from the Shawnee word "mshkikwam" 'swampy ground'. In Lenape "Muskingum" was taken to mean 'elk's eye' ("mus wəshkinkw") by folk etymology, as if < "mus" 'elk' + "wəshkinkw" 'its eye'. Moravian missionary David Zeisberger wrote that the Muskingum River was called Elk's Eye "because of the numbers of elk that formerly fed on its banks, these animals being found there even at the present time [1779-1780]..." Historically, it was also the name of a large Wyandot town along the river.