History of the city of Paterson and the County of Passaic, New Jersey, Part 10

Author: Nelson, William, 1847-1914
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Paterson : Press Printing and Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 466

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of Missouri river ; Cheyennes, upper waters of Arkansas river; Chipe- ways or Ojibways, shores of Lake Superior; Crees, southern shores of Hudson's bay ; Illinois, on the Illinois river; Kickapoos, on upper Illinois river; Miamis, between Miami and Wabash rivers; Micmacs, Nova Scotia; Mohegans, on lower Hudson river; Manhattans, about New York bay; Nanticokes, on Chesapeake bay; Ottawas, on the Ottawa river; Passamaquoddies, on Schoodic river; Pottawattomies, south of Lake Michigan ; Sacs and Foxes, on Sac river; Shawnees, on Tennessee river. Cf. Brinton's " American Race," p. 80: Powell on "Indian Linguistic Families of America North of Mexico," in Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, 1891, pp. 48-50.

1 According to the report of the U. S. Indian Commissioner for 1889, and the Canadian Indian report for 1888.

2 Bishop Faraud, quoted in Essays of an Americanist, 395.

mon to all or most American languages, which indicate a common origin of the peoples using them, notwithstand- ing the superficial differences between them. There is no gender in the American tongues ; words are animate or in- animate, the distinction being not always one of fact. There are no relative pronouns, few or no conjunctions ; no articles ; very few adjectives or prepositions. Many objects were spoken of always in connection with their relations to other objects. Instead of saying "arm," "thigh," "hand," the Indian would say "my-arm," "your-thigh," "his-hand." Words apparently disconnected were run together and in- corporated into each other, a part of one being united with another, and tlius new words were formed, new ideas ex- pressed. The Indian who saw a cow for the first time de- scribed it in his owu tongue as "animal-that-walks-on-flat- split-foot." The Delaware word for horse means " the four- footed-animal-which-carries-on-liis-back."1 Although lack- ing in facility of precise expression, according to our ideas, in many instances the American languages avoid confusions common to us. While they had little use for words to con- vey abstract ideas, or metaphysical, theological or scientific terms, missionaries have often found it entirely practicable to explain the mysteries of religion and theology in native words. The two examples just given show how concrete objects were often described. Certain words were used, as "indifferent themes," sometimes corresponding to our nouns, sometimes to verbs, sometimes to adjectives, ac- cording to their connection. If used in a verbal sense, a change in the root would indicate that the action was sup- positive, instead of positive. Many other peculiarities show that the American languages differ in structure from those of the eastern hemisphere. 2 They are more primitive than the Aryan languages, and hence arises their interest for the ethnologist, who has here the opportunity of study- ing the earlier methods of expression used by mankind ; and so of analyzing the mental processes of man in his primitive state. The light thus gained on the history of the development of the human race in mind, in manners and customs, in ways of obtaining a living, in civilization, relig- ion and government is of the greatest value and fascinating in its interest. 3 Prof. Whituey says with truth : "Our national duty and honor are peculiarly concerned in this

1 Ib., 321.

2 So long ago as 1867, Prof. William Dwight Whitney, of Yale Col- lege, in his lectures on "Language and the Study of Language,". re- marked that the " incorporative type is not wholly peculiar to the lang- uages of our continent ;" that a trace of it was to be found in the Hunga- rian, and notably in the Basque .- Op. cit., 349, 354. See also " Races and Peoples : lectures on the Science of Ethnography," by Daniel G. Brinton, A. M., M. D., New York, 1890, p. 143. This fact has led some scholars to venture the hazardous conjecture that possibly the Basques are of all European peoples of to-day the most likely to have pre- served traces of a common ancestry with the American race.

3 The interest and importance of this study, in its relations to an- thropology, are very clearly set forth by Dr. Brinton in several of his ad- mirable papers collected into the volume of " Essays by an Americanist ;" see also " The Development of Language, a paper read before the Cana- dian Institute," by Horatio Hale, Toronto, 1888 ; " On Algonkin Names for Man," by J. Hammond Trumbull [From the Transactions of the American Philological Association, 1871].

HISTORY OF PATERSON.

matter of the study of aboriginal American languages, as the most fertile and important branch of American archæol- ogy. * * Indian scholars, and associations which devote themselves to gathering together and making public linguis- tics and other archæological materials for construction of the proper ethnology of the continent, are far rarer than they should be among us."1 But there is no lack of litera- ture on these subjects now, and every year is adding to our store of knowledge, and perhaps demolishing old theories. The newer students are satisfied to gather facts, and are more chary of conclusions than their predecessors. Already we have a far greater body of original texts in the American languages-dealing with their popular traditions, myths, re- ligion, folk-tales, religious songs and dances, ceremonies, initiation rites into medicine lodges and other secret socie- ties, etc .- than can be found in the whole of the ancient Greek and Latin literature put together.2 The various so- cieties mentioned, besides others, are constantly adding to the mass, while the United States Bureau of Ethnology is accumulating a priceless treasure of original material, the result of the well-directed labors of scores of intelligent, in- dustrious and zealous workers.

The literature of the Lenape may be thus summarized, from Pilling's Algonquian Bibliography: translations from the bible, and bible history, thirteen titles ; dictionaries, seven, of which one was printed in 1887 and one in 1889 ; lists of geo- graphic names, six; grammatic comments, eleven; grammatic treatises, two ; hymns and hymn books, six ; translations of the Lord's prayer, twelve (two by Trumbull) ; lists of numer- als, fifteen ; lists of proper names and translations, seven ; vocabularies, forty-seven. A grammar was compiled with

1 Whitney, as cited, 352. Since this was written something has been done to remove this reproach. The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, at Cambridge, Mass., has accomplished a great deal in the way of original research in these departments. The University of Pennsylvania has established a chair of American Archæology and Lin- guistics; Clark University, Worcester, Mass., has founded a chair of An- thropology, and other institutions have turned their attention in the same direction. It still remains true, in the year 1893, that the only so- cieties in the world devoted exclusively to the study of the American races are foreign, and principally composed of Frenchmen : the Société Américaine de France, at Paris, and the Congrès International des Ameri- canistes. According to the Compte Rendu of the latter for 1891, out of six hundred members about half were French, and only twenty-five or thirty were citizens of the United States. The American Folk-Lore Society is doing good work by publishing in its quarterly Journal original contribu- tions to the literature of the religious cults of the aborigines. The In- ternational Folk-Lore Congress has necessarily included within its scope the origin and significance of American popular tales and their relations to the primitive worship of the people. The Anthropological Society of Washington, D. C., naturally gives special prominence to American archæology, mythology and linguistics ; selections from the papers read are published in the American Anthropologist, a quarterly journal. The American Association for the Advancement of Science has one Section (H) devoted to American Anthropology.

2 For the past twelve years James Constantine Pilling has been occu- pied in preparing for the Bureau of Ethnology a series of bibliographies of American languages. Those so far published are Eskimo, 1887, pp. 116, titles cir. 650 ; Siouan, 1887, pp. 87, titles cir. 300; Iroquoian, 1888, pp. 208, titles 949; Muskhogean, 1889, pp. 114, titles 521 ; Algonquian, 1891, pp. 614, titles 2,245 ; Athapascan, 1892, pp. 125, titles 544. Many of these titles are repeated once or more in the several catalogues, but there are probably 4,000 separate titles in all in the lists of these five linguistic stocks.

infinite care by the devoted missionary, David Zeisberger, in the latter part of the eighteenth century ; it was translated in 1816 by Peter S. Duponceau, and published in the Trans- actions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. III., New Series, in 1827, filling one hundred and fifty large quarto pages. It is not such a grammar as an accomplished philologist would prepare in the last decade of the nine- teenth century, but it is the only one we have of the lang- uage, and gives a very full and comprehensive exposition of the structure and idioms of the Lenâpé tongue. The intro- duction and notes by the translator (pp. 65-96) add much to- its value. Zeisberger's dictionary of the English, German, Onondaga and Delaware languages, also prepared more than a century ago, was published in 1887, in a volume of two hundred and thirty-six quarto pages. It contains about four thousand Delaware words, of the Minsi dialect. The original manuscript is in the library of Harvard University. Another manuscript dictionary of the Delaware (the Unami dialect), believed to be the work of the Rev. C. F. Dencke, a missionary to the Indians in Canada, who died in 1839, is in the Moravian Archives at Bethlehem, Pa. It has been carefully edited by Dr. Brinton and the Rev. Albert Seqaq- kind Anthony (a native Delaware missionary), and published in 1889, in a handsome small quarto volume of two hundred and thirty-six pages, giving about three thousand seven hun- dred words. These three works-the grammar and the two dictionaries-are the principal sources of information re- garding the language spoken by the New Jersey Indians two centuries ago. The only really philosophical analysis of the language is given by Dr. Brinton, in his "Lenâpé and their Legends," already so freely quoted in this work. As illus- trating the peculiar mode of expressing ideas by modifica- tions of a single theme, he gives this example of the com -- binations of the root ni, I, mine :

I. In a good sense :

Nihilleu, it is I, or mine. Nihillatschi, self, oneself.

Nihillapewi, free.

Nihillapewit, freeman. Nihillasowagan, freedom, liberty. Nihillapeuhen, to make free, to redeem. Nihillapeuhoalid, the Redeemer, the Saviour.

II. In a bad sense.

Nihillan, 1 he is mine to beat, I beat him. Nihillan, 2 I beat him to death, I kill him. Nihillowen, I put him to death, I murder him. Nihillowet, a murderer. Nihillowewi, murderous.

III. In a demonstrative sense.

ne ; plural, nek or nell, this, that, the. Nall, nan, nanne, nanni, this one, that one. Nill, these. Naninga, those gone, dead.

1 Accent on the first syllable.

2 Accent on the second syllable.

THE LANGUAGE OF THE LENAPE.

IV. In a possessive sense.

Nitaton, in-my-having, I can, am able, know how. Nitaus, of-my-family, sister-in-law. Nitis, of-mine, a friend, companion. Nitsch ! my child, exclamation of fondness.

Thus the same root is used to express ideas so opposite as freedom and slavery, murder and Saviour.

The inseparable pronouns, n, k, and wor u or o, in the first, second and third persons, respectively, are used as pre- fixes with words expressing objects and actions. for ex- ample :

Nooch, my father.

Noochcna, our father.

Kooch, thy father. Koochuwa, your father.

Ochwall, his or her father.

Ochuwawall, their father.

Hacki, earth ; hakihacan, plantation.

N'dakihacan, my planta- tion.

N'dakihacancna, our planta-

tion.

K'dakihacan, thy planta- tion.

K'dakihacanena, your planta- tion.

W'dakihacan, his planta- tion.

W'dakihacanowawall, their plantation.

These inseparable pronouns are the same for nouns and verbs, and are used in the nominative, possessive and accu- sative cases, and in both numbers, without change. Vowel changes, accent and emphasis played an important part in the spoken language, effecting great differences in the mean- ing of words otherwise apparently the same. Students of the Indian languages often doubt if there is any fixed rule of accent or pronunciation. There appears to have been a tendency among the Lenape to place the emphasis on the penult in words of two syllables, and on the antepenult in words of more than two syllables, but so far as this was the practice, it was modified by the laws altering the mean- ing of a word through the emphasis. Changes in the conso- nants are also frequent among Indians, even of the same tribe. Not only were there permutations of consonants of the same class, but often of labials into dentals, of liquids into sibilants. Zeisberger says the Delawares (meaning those in the northern part of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the Minsis) had no f nor ? in their language, and those con- sonants have no place in his grammar and dictionary ; nor are they found in the Lenâpé-English dictionary which has been cited in these pages. On the other hand, Campanius, the Swedish missionary in West Jersey, says that the Indi- ans in that section had no / in their language; that they called themselves Renni renape, instead of Lenni Lenape. But it is hardly safe to accept these statements as absolutely correct in either case. Names of places and of persons show that the sound of r was not unknown in Northern New Jer- sey, nor the sound of / in West Jersey. Allowance must be always made for the accuracy with which persons hear and distinguish between the sounds of a foreign tongue.

The careless assumption that the Indian languages under- go great and constant changes in brief periods, because they are spoken and not written tongues, finds emphatic contra- diction in the case of the Lenâpé. We have the numerals as recorded by Campanius in 1645, in the Swedish alphabet;

by Thomas, in 1695, in English ; by Zeisberger, about 1750, in German, and by Lieut. Whipple, on the Pacific railroad survey, in 1855, when he found a party of the Delawares in Kansas. From a comparison! it will be seen that, allowing for the differences in pronunciation by the different record- ers, the Indian words have undergone practically no change in two hundred and fifty years :

Campanius. 1645

Thomas. 1695

Zeisberger. 1750

Whipple. 1855

Ciutte

Kooty

Ngutti

Cote

Nissa

Nisha

Nischa

Nisha

Naha

Natcha

Nacha

Naha

Naevvo

Neo

Newo

Neewah

Pareenach

Pelenach

Palenach

Pahlenahk

Ciuttas

Kootash

Guttasch

Cottasch

Nissas

Nishash

Nischasch

Nishasch

Haas

Choesh

Chasch

Hasch

Paeschum

Peshonk

Peschkonk

Pesco

Thaeren

Telen

Tellen

Telen.

It would be difficult to find two persons unfamiliar with the Indian language, who, hearing these numerals uttered by a Delaware to-day, would write them down more nearly alike than they are given above as taken from the different authors named. 2

A careful comparison of the Lenape with other Algon- quian languages shows that it has departed from the purity of the parent stock. These changes have been effected partly by environment, partly by climatic influences, and possibly in part by long contact, either as neighbors or as conquerors, with tribes who occupied New Jersey before their own arrival from their home in the Far North. A closer study of the language may some day throw more light on the share these several influences have had in the modification of the Lenâpé.

In his grammar Zeisberger gives paradigms of eight con- jugations of verbs, through the active, passive, personal and reciprocal forms, positive and negative, with the five or six transitions of each mood. A single specimen must suffice :

Ahoalan, to love

N'dahoala, I love.

N'dahoalaneen, we love.

K'dahoala, thou lovest. K'dahoalohhumo, you love.

Ahoaleu or W'dahoala, he loves.

Ahoalewak, they love.

The past tense is formed in the singular by adding ep to the verb, and in the plural by adding ap, and the future tense by the use of the suffix tsch. The negative is formed by the prefix atta : Atta n'doahawi, I do not love. The pas- sive by the suffix gussi : N'dahoalgussi, etc. In the nega- tive form, past tense, Atta w'dahoalgussiwipannik, they

1 Made in Brinton's Lenâpê and their Legends.

2 Jan de Laet, who was the first to describe the New Netherlands, in 1625, gives the numerals thus : 1. Cotte ; 2. Nysse ; 3. Nacha ; 4. Wyue (probably a typographical error for Nyue) ; 5. Parenag ; 6. Cottash ; 7. Nysas; 8. Gechas; 9. Pescon; 10. Terren. He says this was accord- ing to the language of the Sanhikans (about Trenton). See Johannes de Laet Antwerpiani Notæ ad Dissertationem Hugonis Grotii De Origine Gentium Americanarum, etc. Amstelodami, 1643, p. 174. The pro- nunciation should be according to the Dutch.

HISTORY OF PATERSON.

were not loved ; in the future : Atta n'dahoalgussiwuneen- tsch, we shall not be loved. In the fourth transition : K'dahoalohhummowuneen, 1 we do not love you.

It must not be inferred that the Lenape was as elegant or as copious as the Greek, or Latin, or English ; but it is evi- dent from what has been said that it had a very elaborate construction. Its very richness or redundancy of inflections, however, is regarded by scholars as a sign of its primitive- ness. This is another reason why its study should inter- est us, as it represents a stage in the development of human language thousands of years older than our own vernacular. It shows the mental process of men in a state of barbarismn ; how objects, facts, ideas were apprehended by them. This mental process may be illustrated by a specimen of the Len- ape language (in the Unami or West Jersey dialect), as giv- en by Dr. Brinton, in his Lenâpé and their Legends, from an unpublished manuscript in the library of the American Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia, the passage being the parable related in Matthew XXII, I-5 :

I. Woak Jesus wtabptonalawoll woak lapi nuwuntschi And Jesus he-spoke-with-them and again he-began Enendhackewoagannall nelih woak wtellawoll.

parables them-to and he-said-to-them.

2. Ne Wusakimawoagan Patamauwoss (wtellgigui)

(mallaschi )

The his-kingdom God it-is-like

mejauchsid Sakima, na Quisall mall'nitauwan certain King, his-son he-made-for-him

Witach-pungewiwuladtpoàgan. marriage.

3. Woak wtellallocalan wtallocacannall, wentschitsch nek And he-sent-out his-servants the-bidding the Elendpannik lih Witachpungewiwuladtpoàgannüng those-bidden to marriage

wentschimcussowoak; tschuk necamawa schingipawak. those-who-were-bidden, but they they-were-unwill- ing.

4. Woak lapi wtellallocalan pili wtallocacannall woak And again he-sent-out other servants and (panni) (penna) wtella (wolli ) ; Mauwiloh nen Elendpannik, (schita) he-said-to-then those the-bidden

Nolachtüppoágan 'nkischachtüppui, nihillalachkik

the-feast I-have-made-the-feast they-are-killed

Wisuhengpannik auwessissak nemætschi nhillapannik they-fattened-them beasts the-whole I-killed-them woak weemi ktaköcku 'ngischachtüppui, peeltik lih and all I-have-finished come to WVitachpungkewiwuladtpoàgannüng. marriage.

5. Tschuk necamawa mattelemawoawollnenni, woak But they they-esteemed-it-not and

ewak ika, mejauchsid enda wtakihacannung, napilli went away certain thither to-his-plantation-place other nihillatschi (M'hallamawachtowoagannüng) (Nundauchsowoagannüng -

to-merchandise-place.

The following is the Lord's prayer in Delaware (Minsi dialect), from Zeisberger's Spelling Book (1776) and Histo-

I In the citations from Zeisberger the letters should be sounded as in German ; the apostrophe indicates a breathing.

ry of our Lord (1806). Pronounce a like aw in law ; e like ay in say ; i like ee ; u like oo or ou in you ; ch nearly like Scottish gh; j like English i in in; g like g in gay. For the termination of the verbal noun, here printed -wagan, Zeisberger has -woagan ; Heckewelder, wagan. The trans- lation is by Heckewelder :

(Ki) Wetochemellenk, (talli) epian awossagame : Thou our-Father there dwelling beyond the clouds

Machelendasutsch ktellewunsowâgan ;

Magnified (or praised) be thy name.

Ksakimawagan pejewiketsch ;

Thy kingdom come-on

Ktelitehewagan leketsch talli achquidhakamike elgiqui Thy-thoughts (will, intention) come-to-pass here upon (or, leek tulli awossagame ;

all-over-the) earth, the same as it is there in heaven (or, beyond the clouds)

Milineen juke gischquik gunigischuk achpoan ; [bread

Give-to-us on (or, through) this day the-usual (or, daily) Woak miwelendamau(w)ineen 'ntschanauchsowagannena, And forgive us our-transgressions (faults) the same-as

elgiqui niluna miweledamauwenk nik we-mutually-forgive-them who (or, those) who tschetschanilawemquengik ; have-transgressed (or, injured) us

Woak katschi npawuneen li achquetschiechtowaganink ; And let-not us-come-to-that that we-fall-into-temptation Schukund ktennineen untschi medhikink ;

But (rather) keep-us free from all-evil

Ntite knihillatamen ksakimawâgan, woak ktallewussowâgan, For thou-claimest thy-kingdom and the-superior-power

woak ktallowilissowâgan; (ne wuntschi hallemiwi) li and all-magnificence. From henceforth

hallamagamik. Amen. ever (always). Amen. 1

In his introduction to Zeisberger's grammar2 the learned Duponceau enthusiastically declares : " There is no shade of idea in respect to time, place and manner of action which an Indian verb cannot express, and the modes of ex- pression which they make use of are so numerous, that if they were to be considered as parts of the conjugation of each verb, one single paradigm might fill a volume." One of his examples is this : n'mitzi, I eat (in a general sense) ; n'mamitzi, I am eating (at this moment, now); n'schingiwi- poma, I do not like to eat with him.

The greatest singer of the nineteenth century has de- clared that man, in his vain efforts to voice the loftiest aspirations of the human soul, is but

An infant crying in the night, An infant crying in the light, And with no language bnt a cry !

When Tennyson was thus at a loss, what wonder if the untutored savage of primeval America had but shadowy notions of the origins of men and things, of the future life, the spirit land, and of the mysterious influences which he felt were constantly shaping his destinies for good or ill -in short, of religion ?

1 Quoted from Notes on Forty Algonkin Versions of the Lord's Prayer, by J. Hammond Trumbull, Hartford, 1873, P. 49.

2 P. 84.

INDIAN IDEAS OF THE CREATION.

The Algonkins everywhere regarded the turtle as the creator of all things, doubtless because of its amphibian character. According to the traditions of the Lenâpé, the turtle supports the earth-which was considered an island -on its back.1 In 1679, an Indian, eighty years old, called Jasper or Tantaqué, living at Hackensack or at Acquacka- nonk, described the origin of the world thus: "He first drew a circle, a little oval, to which he made four paws or · feet, a head and a tail. 'This,' said he, 'is a tortoise, lying in the water around it,' and he moved his hand round the figure, continuing, 'this was or is all water, and so at first was the world or the earth, when the tortoise gradually raised its round back up high, and the water ran off of it, and thus the earth became dry.' He then took a little straw and placed it on end in the middle of the figure, and proceeded, ' the earth was now dry, and there grew a tree in the middle of the earth, and the root of this tree sent forth a sprout beside it and there grew upon it a man, who was the first male. This man was then alone, and would have remained alone ; but the tree bent over until its top touched the earth, and there shot therein another root, from which came forth another sprout, and there grew upon it the woman, and from these two are all men produced."2

Another aged Indian, called Hans, living near Bergen, said that "the first and great beginning of all things, was Kickeron or Kickerom, who is the origin of all, who has not only once produced or made all things, but produces every day. All that we see daily that is good, is from him ; and everything he makes and does is good. He governs all things, and nothing is done without his aid and direc- tion. 'And,' he continued, 'I, who am a Captain and Sakemaker among the Indians; and also a medicine-man, and have performed many good cures among them, ex- perience every day that all medicines do not cure, if it do not please him to cause them to work.'" Being told of what Tantaque had said of the tortoise, how it had brought forth the world, or that all things had come from it : " That was true, he replied, but Kickeron made the tortoise, and the tortoise had a power and a nature to produce all things, such as earth, trees, and the like, which God wished through it to produce, or have produced."3

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History of the city of Paterson and the County of Passaic, New Jersey, Part 10

Author: Nelson, William, 1847-1914 Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Paterson : Press Printing and Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 466

Author: Nelson, William, 1847-1914
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Paterson : Press Printing and Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 466