es 
~ 
of different tribes, and indeed to some extent in the same tribe, interchanged certain consonantal 
sounds without any hinderance to the communication of their thoughts. Thus the letters b and p, 
Land 7, were used for each other; so were k, g, and ¢; and was sometimes the substitute for k, and 
even for q; while fand v were not used in Maine, though sometimes appearing in the words as 
written by the new-comers; especially in the case of the latter of these two where wu and xv, in the 
old English eustom, were employed as equivalents, as in the name applied to a locality in Maine, and 
afterward toalarge part of its coast—JJau-o0-shen, written Mav-oo-shen. The Miemacs seem of late 
to have introduced / and v in place of b. Vowels were easily changed; and the persons who early 
wrote their words used much liberty in the introduction of such letters as they deemed best for 
their purpose; and through carelessness allowing wv to appear as vn, and the reverse. Letters were 
also introduced for the sake of avoiding harshness of sound, particularly in the composition of 
words,! formed by taking parts’of several and “ agglutinating” them into a new form; sometimes 
taking only a single sound or syllable from the least important, and sometimes extending the union 
to a length like the following : 
“ Nukkitteamonteanitteaonganunnonash.”” 
In the termination of words denoting place, the syllables at, et, it, ut, set, frequently appear ; 
and, while used as affixes, have the power of prepositions, meaning at, in, near ; also ak, ek, ik, ok, 
uk ; and ag, aug, og, ook; and with e euphonie prefixed, cook, sometimes becoming kuk, onk, and 
unk with l prefixed, lunk; and some others, which will easily be seen to fall within this class, usu- 
ally called locative afiixes, such as eag, keay, keak, ke, ki, Sometimes syllables added appear to have 
been the termination of a verbal form for the purpose of giving a verbal meaning to the noun to 
which it is applied. Though they had no substantive verb, they seem to have had some idea of 
its nature; and by this addition they conveyed the thought of the object existing in the place to 
which they appropriated the name. But the more common derivation for these afiixes will be 
found in the word auké,’ land, earth, place ; written in dialectic differences ahkis ohkie The first syl- 
lable under euphonic influences readily passed into wk, ook, and the other forms above noted, easily 
recognized as having their origin in this word, and as prevalent among the Massachusetts tribes, 
and those of its contiguous territory ;° while in the central and eastern parts of Maine, the last syl- 
lable was frequently adopted for this use, appearing as ki, ke; and with kas a suifix, having the 
power of a preposition, making kik ;* and from this, in the English mode of writing, becoming 
keag ; Which form also appears in other parts of New England. Sometimes, too, from the instinctive 
desire for euphony, the first consonant k, in which the meaning resides, was allowed to disappear, 
or be supplemented by another, and so was changed to cag, deag, seag, and others. 
As the pine-tree was the characteristic growth of a large part of the State, it was but a 
natural consequence that many localities should be named with reference to this facet. The same 
is true in regard to the places frequented by the bear. Noted places for catching and drying fish 
were marked with names to designate these occupations. ‘Thus we see the reason for the frequent 
occurrence of the same words in the interpretation of these names. 
This attempt to explain the following words, as well as to present them in a correct orthog- 
raphy, is the first that has been thus systematically made. In the majority of them there can be 
1“This language doth greatly delight in compounding of words, for abbreviation, to speak much in few words, 
though they be sometimes long ; which is chiefly eaused by the many syllables which the Grammar Rule requires, and 
suppletive syllables which are of no signification, and eurious care of Euphonie.” Eliot, Ind. Gram. in Mass. Hist. Col- 
lections, 2d ser., Vol. IX, p. 252. 
2 The language of the Esquimaux is even more prolific in long words. The expression * Lest I be full,” (Proy. 30, 9,) 
is thus translated: “ Karsillarnekarnanyideissegalloartonga.” But an example by J. Hammond Trumbull, to whose em- 
inent suecess in Indian scholarship the present writer is much indebted, furnished in a note to his edition of Roger 
Williams’ Key, p. 184, and lengthened beyond all that has yet appeared, “ gives, in illustration of * the Indian way of 
compounding words,’ one of twenty-two syllables, which signifies ‘our well-skilled looking-glass makers:’ 
“ Nup-pahk-nuh-ti-pe-pe-nau-wut-chut-chiuh-quo-ka-neh- ha-e-nin-nu-mun-no-nok f 
“One ean hardly look at it without stammering. With alangnage permitting the constraction and use of sneh com- 
pounds as this, the ‘man of few words’ might yet be loquacious. ” 
’R. Williams. 
' Schooleraft. 
’ Eliot. 
© As ak, ok, oc, og, aug. 
7RAle’s Dict., “Terre.” But auké is here sometimes retained: as in A’takdenauké, now Mt. Katahdin ; howanoche- 
wauké— white man’s place, i. e., house. 
