INDIANS (LANGUAGES OF AMERICAN.) 



vert* whose different tenses and moods appear to 

 have sprung from different roots as in Latin, sum, 

 ermm, fui ; in French, alter, je vait, j'irai ; and in 

 English, / go, I went there are no examples in 

 Zeisberger's Grammar of the Delaware, and probably 

 there are none in that language. Mr Heckewelder, 

 after giving an example of a Delaware verb, adds 

 this rein.irC: - Iii iliis inai.nrr, verbs arc conjugated 

 through all their moods and tenses, and through all 

 their negative, causative, and various other forms, 

 with fewer irregularities than any other language 

 that I know of." The same regularity exists in the 

 languages of South America. Molina says of that of 

 Chile, " What is truly surprising in this language, 

 fa, that it contains no irregular noun or verb. Every 

 thing in it may be said to be regulated with a geome- 

 trical precision, and displays much art with great 

 simplicity, and a connexion of well ordered and un- 

 varying grammatical rules, which always make the 

 subsequent so much depend upon the antecedent, 

 that the theory of the language is easy, and may be 

 learned in a few days." This fact, as Mr Du Pon- 

 ceau justly observes, is worthy of attention. Mr 

 Zeisberger, in his list of irregular verbs, gives one 

 example, aski (must), which has neither persons nor 

 tenses, used thus : aski n' wits Aetna (I must help 

 him); aski nayunap (I was forced to carry him), &c. 

 (/) Specific or concrete Character of the Indian 

 Verbt. It is a remark of Mr HeckeweJder, that the 

 Indians are more in the habit of using particular or 

 specific, than generic terms. Their verbs, accord- 

 ingly, partake of this character, and have numerous 

 forms to express the particular or specific thing, 

 which is the object of the action denoted by the 

 verb. Thus, in the Delaware, n'mitzi (I eat), in a 

 general sense; n'mamitzi (I am in the act of eating 

 at this moment); the one is used in the indefinite, 

 and the other in the definite sense; and a good 

 speaker will never employ the one for the other. 

 Again; n'mitzihump (I have eaten), metshi rigischi 

 milzi (I am come from eating), n'dappi mitzi (I am 

 returned from eating). These three expressions are 

 all past tenses of the verb / eat, and mean / have 

 eaten ; but a person just risen from table will not say, 

 n'dappi mitzi; this can only be used after leaving 

 the place where he has been eating, in answer to 

 a person who asks him where he comes from. The 

 word n'dappi is connected with the verb apats/iin 

 (to return). And here, in passing, another distinc- 

 tion is to be noticed; if the place from which the 

 person comes is near, he says, n'dappi ; but if dis- 

 tant, n'dappa. A more full illustration of tiiis 

 peculiarity of Indian words, was given some years 

 ago by an example from the Cherokee language, 

 published in the Massachusetts Historical Collec- 

 tions, vol. x., p. 121, of the second series, which we 

 here extract. In that language, says one of the mis- 

 sionaries (the reverend Mr Buthrick), thirteen different 

 verbs are used to express the action of washing: 

 thus (pronouncing the words as in English) 



I am washing myself, as in a river. 



my head. 



another person's head. 



my face. 



another's face. 



my hands. 



another's hands. 



my feet. 



another's feet. 



my clothes. 



another's clothes. 



dishes, etc. 



a child. 



meat. 



Kulestala, 

 Tsestala, 



Takdsula, 

 Talteydsula, 

 TakOsula, 

 Tntteydtula, 



TatteyQngkeld, 

 TokWeya, 



This difference of words prevents the necessity of 

 mentioning the object washed. So it is witli the 

 verbs love, take, have, leave, die, weigh, &c. The 

 same tiling is found in the languages of South and 

 Middle America. Gilij informs us, that " to express 

 / wash my face, requires a different word from that 

 which would express washing my feet, my hands, 

 &c. ; and the old age of a man, woman, and of a gar- 

 ment, the heat of the body, of a fire, of the sun, and 

 of the climate, have each a particular word. Again; 

 in our language, and in many others (European), 

 there is but one word, mangiare, for to eat ; but in 

 the Tamanacan, there are several, according to the 

 thing eaten; jacurii is, to eat bread, or the cassava; 

 jemerl (to eat fruit, honey) ; janeri (to eat meat)," 

 &c. We add an example from the Delaware, which 

 is suggested by the above remark of Gilij, on the 

 word old. This word, as Mr Heckewelder observes, 

 is used by us in the most general sense; we say, an 

 old man, old horse, old house, old basket, &c. The 

 Indians, on the contrary, vary their expressions, 

 when speaking of a thing that has life, and of one 

 that has not ; for the latter, instead of the word old, 

 they use terms which convey the idea, tliat the thing 

 has lasted long, that it has been used, worn out, &c. 

 Examples ; kikey (old, advanced in years), applied to 

 things animate ; chowiey or chowiyey (old by use, 

 wearing), &c. ; kikeyilenno (an old man, advanced in 

 years); kikechum (an old one, of the brute kind); 

 chowigdwan (an old house), from wikwam or wig- 

 wam ; chowaxen (old shoes), from maxen (moccasoons 

 or shoes); they say also, pigihilttu (torn by long use 

 or wearing); UgihillVu (fallen to pieces), &c. The 

 same remarks may be made on the word young ; for 

 instance, their general term for the young, the im- 

 mediate offspring, is mitshan ; vfnitschanall (his or 

 her young or offspring, that have been born alive and 

 suckled), and this applies to man, and beasts of the 

 genus mammalia ; but when they speak of the 

 feathered kind, or when the young is produced from 

 the egg by hatching, they say aninshihillVu, plural 

 aninshihileisak, barely implying that the animals are 

 young feathered creatures. We return to the verbs. 

 (g) The positive, negative, reciprocal, and other 

 Forms of the Verbs. All the verbs in these languages 

 may be conjugated throughout, in the positive or af- 

 firmative, and the negative forms ; as, in the Dela- 

 ware, n'dappi (I am there) ; matta n'dappi (I am not 

 there) ; and, in an example given by Mr Zeisberger, 

 we have a curious instance of the care taken to 

 preserve precision in some cases : on the verb nihil- 

 lapewi (I am free), he observes, that as this verb 

 has the syllable wi, which, in general, indicates a 

 negative form, its negative has wiwi. In the Massa- 

 chusetts language, the negative form was made by 

 interposing oo or u in the affirmative : as, nooivad- 

 chanumun (I keep it), a tool, garment, &c. : negative, 

 noowadchanum-oo-un (I keep it not); noowaantam (I 

 am wise); noowaantam-ooh (I am not wise). The 

 reciprocal form, in the Delaware, may be thus exem- 

 plified : Infinitive mood, ahoalan (to love) ; n'dahoala 

 (I love him); reciprocal, infinitive, ahoaltin (to love 

 one another); n'dahoaltineen (we love one another) ; 

 and, negatively, matta ' dahoaltinwuneen (we do not 

 love one another), &c. Reflected form, n'dahowala 

 n'Aakey (I love myself); k'dahowala k'hakey (thou 

 lovest thyself), &c. Relative form, eloweya (as or 

 what I say), from n'dellowe (I say). Social form, 

 witeen or wideen (to go with), from n'da, or n'ta 

 (I go). Causative form, pommauchsoheen (to make 

 to live), from pommauchsin (to live;) nihillapucheen 

 (to make free), from nihillapewin (to be free). Con- 

 tinuous or habitual form, rfwawulamallsi (I am 

 always well or happy), from nulamallsi (I am well 

 or happy). Adverbial form, epia (where I am), from 



