4 
But while this language is thus widely extended, and perhaps was once used as one throughout 
its whole domain, lapse of time, separation of tribes, diminished intercourse between them, various 
new circumstances, and the want of all power to fix the language with any approach to perma- 
nency by orthographic means, have produced changes in words to an extent that makes the dia- 
leets to appear even more than the dialects of ancient Greece, as if they were in reality different 
languages. As a single instance, reference may be made to the name of hatchet. In the Virginia 
dialect it was Zamahaak,! whence is derived the name tomahawk. Inthe Delaware it is Temahican. 
In the Penobseot dialect in Maine it is Téamhegan. In the Norridgewoek it is Temahigan ; in the 
Micmac, Tumhegn. In other words, the variations have become so great that the Indians of the 
tribe at Oldtown on the Penobscot, and their brethren of the Passamaquoddy tribe at Pleasant 
Point, though not a hundred miles apart, have great difficulty in conversing with each other; and 
both these have still greater in understanding the Micmacs of Nova Scotia. If the Norridgewocks, 
the Sokokis, the Souriquois, the Tarratines, the Etchemins, the Marasheets, and the Almouchiquois, 
were still as once living in the State, there would be a large measure of the same kind of impedi- 
ment to intercourse stillremaining. Yet their ancestors in remote days had the same language. 
In the orthography of the names as well as in their interpretation, a knowledge of the differ- 
ent dialects is required. The means of gaining this knowledge is supplied in part by the labors of 
the missionaries of early times; among whom Rale is a memorable example of intelligenee and 
fidelity.2. They have reduced some of the dialects to a written form for the purposes of devotion, 
with translations. In words which conform to the dialects of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the 
labors of Eliot, Cotton, and Roger Williams afford great assistance. Vocabularies of the Dela- 
ware, Virginia, and Western dialects also contribute valuable aid, 
Another difficulty is found in the forms in which these geographical names appear. The In- 
dians knew nothing of writing beyond certain attempts by figures of objects, drawn on the bark of 
the white birch and prepared skins, to indicate their movements on the march, and record their 
suecesses and defeats.” 
Their words, as caught by the ear of the early navigators and the hardy pioneers in the forest, 
are presented in different orthographies. In some instances the change has been so great that the 
original form of the names has been nearly lost, and could not have been recovered but from the 
fact that the present Indians often retain the ancient name, and thus enable the inquirer to pre- 
serve it in accordance with their ownexpressions. And yet in some instances they do not entirely 
agree in their own utterances. We find a variation in pronunciation among them, as we also find 
it in that of our own language. Asa single instance, the following changes of the word oolegan, 
good, are all equally well understood by the members of the present Penobscot tribe: Ooregan, 
oolegan, orclegan, owregan, wunnegan, winnegan, wauregan, waulegan, and perhaps some others. When 
to this variety of pronunciation there is added the imperfect writing of the early settlers and in- 
terpreters, a reason readily appears why the names of persons and places should be clad in several 
varying forms. In many cases where the existing vocabularies do not afford aid, the present In- 
dians are unable to give an explanation. They refer them to an older language ; and this must 
mean the original language, before it was broken into dialects, where changes have proceeded so 
far as to show an appearance of a language of a different structure; though the careful student 
will see the traces remaining sufficient to carry his thoughts back to the common parentage. Or 
they ascribe them to the temporary influence of other tribes, in fixing some of their words as per- 
manent designations of certain localities." 
In determining the meaning of words, necessary aid is found in remembering that the Indians 
1 The word appears to be a compound, from tehemen, to cut, and haac, pronounced hauc, an implement, tool. 
2 His dictionary of the Norridgewock dialect was captured by Colonel Westbrook in 1721. 2 Williamson’s Hist., 
108. It is preserved in-the library of Harvard University, and was published (1833) in the * Memoirs of the American 
Academy,” Vol. I. 
’The Micmacs hail a hieroglyphical mode of writing, different from the pictographic, and somewhat like the Chi- 
nese, in which characters represented words and combined ideas. The early missionaries adopted the method and ear- 
ried it onward to a large extent. New York Hist. Magazine, vol. 5, pp. 289-292. “ Miemae or Recollect Hieroglyphics.” 
4The name Chesuiicook, denoting a large lake in the northern part of Maine, is one of this class. The Penobscot 
Indians do not explain it. But with the vocabulary of the Pennacooks, as given by Potter, in the Farmers’ Monthly 
Visitor, Vol. XIII, 323, the meaning is ascertained to be Great Goose Lake. 
