Question: What is the origin of the name of the town Thonotosassa?
Answer: The name Thonotosassa comes from the Seminole-Creek words ronoto, “flint,” and sasv, “some,” meaning the place was a source of valuable flint.
After bad experiences with colonial English settlers in Georgia and Alabama, Creek Indians migrated to the Spanish territory of Florida, where they were tabbed “Seminoles” or “runaways.” The signature tribe of Florida made a home on the shores of a lake less than 20 miles from Tampa Bay. They called the lake Thonotosassa.
