When needed to refer to specific people or places, the name of the people or place was followed by () to indicate 'its people's language' or 'that which the people speak'. In the colonial period, the language was generally known as () , 'language of the Massachusett (region)' or () , 'language of the Massachusett (people).' was the correct short form in traditional Massachusett usage to refer to the people and the language, despite the adoption of 'Massachusett' in English, hence the translation of the 'Massachusett Psalter' as . The people and language take their name from the sacred hill, known in English as Great Blue Hill. The name derives from (), 'big,' 'sacred,' or 'great,' () , 'hill' (literally 'small mountain') and the locative suffix (). The syncopation of the diminutive () to was common in dialects and rapid or relaxed speech, thus the colonial form as opposed to careful Massachusett ().