The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1837-09-06
From ne New York Kniekaboeko.
MoHEGAN LANGUAGE AND GEOGRAPHIC
CAL NAMES.

MUHEGAN LANGUAGE AND GEOGRAPHIC
GAL NAMES
To the Editors Of ls KaiekrDoeksr:
MicmLlAAcxiSAcH. August =, 1887
In making some inquiries recently OF
party Of the Michigan tribe--the remnant Of
whom have made, their way to this quarter
within few years. find that they have
preserved their Evolutionary history for the
last two centuries, or more, with degree OF
accuracy which is not common 10 the native
tribes in this region. It is very well known,
from published data, thatihis ancient tribe &C.
cupicd Long Island .aud the contiguous main
land, on the discovery of theicountry, whence
in process Of time they withdrew eastwardly
into Connecticut, and afterward went west
into Massachusetts. They appear, from the
first, to have had the means OF instruction,
which have been continued up to the present
time, with perhaps less interruption than
among most Of the other tribes. This may
account in part for the better preservation Of
their traditions. Many Of them being able to
read could refer TO some things in printed doc
uments. Others appear TO have retained with
tenacity that Evolutionary lore which the aged
among the tribes generally employ the leisure
Of their superannuated days in handing down
to the young.
During the long residence of this tribe at
Stockbridge, (Mass.,) they were commonly
called Stockbridges, and after the revolutiona-
ry war, when they transferred their residence
to Oneida, in western New York, they naturally
retained this name, and finally bore it with
them to their present location in Wisconsin
territory. disclaim any intention to sketch
their history and wish no farther to allude to
it, than appears to be necessary to bring for
ward few facts in the character of their Ian
guage, and particularly their names for the
places of their former residence, on the lower
parts of the Hudson. And as this is matter
Of which but little is generally known, it has
appeared to me of sufficient local interest, to
justify the liberty take in addressing these
remarks to you.
The Mohegan is readily recognised as a
type of the algonquin or (as Mr.. Gallatin has
recently denominated iD the "Lenapee-Al-
gonkin" family, and bears a strong resem-
blance, both in sound and syntax, to the dia-
lects of some Of the existing lake tribes.
This affinity is very striking in its grammati-
cal structure, and its primitive words. Deri-
yatives with all our tribes, are subject to in
terchange their consonants, or drop them en-
tirely, which creates a necessity of being
constantly on the alert to detect these ex-
changes. Moreover, the accent is uniformly
moved, or doubled, often creating primary and
secondary accents in the same phrase, which,
in an unwritten language, is alone sufficient
to account for numerous mutations. But
what, more than any other principle. affects
the sound Of Indian words, in their concrete
and derivative states, is the large stock of $50
to say) floating. particles, which come into
these words in the shape Of prefxes and suf-
fixes. These are, in their offices, almost as
numerous as the purposes Of person, tense,
number, quality, position, ETC., may require.
But while their respective Office remains pre-
cisely the same, in almost any given number
of dialects in mother language, it is found
that the several tribes pique themselves in
giving these auxiliary particles sound pc
culiar to themselves, by which something like
nationality is kept up. Thus in two dialects
indicating the least change in the primitves
or derivatives, to be found among all the
tribes, namely, Chippewa and Ottowa, these
PARTICLES, which, in the animate class for plu-
raj, are denoted by Uo, and in the local infec-
tons by oNG, and ING, in the one dialect are
respectively changed to uK, oNK, and INK, in
the other. ........
Similar to this process, seems to have been
the result Of change between the ancient Al
gonquin and the Mohegan, the latter, like The
Ottowa, constantly substituting for G, and
for B, etc, but in other respects, it exhibits
numerous gutturals, and some aspirates, which
are but rarely found in the liquid flow of the
Algic. 1t also embraces the (perhaps) Gothic
sound of TIL, which is wholly unknown 1.-THE
Shawnee excepted) TO the modern lake dia-
lects.
Geographical terms, with the Indians are
found generally to unite some natural quality
in the features or productions of the country
with an indication of the locality so that
their names are not, as with us, simple nomi-
natives, but las in all other cases in these pc
culiar languages) the quality, action, ETC.,
transfers itself to the object, and is expressed
in consolidated phrase. This is one of the
most constant and Distinguishing traits ofthese
languages. Their nouns and adectives,
therefore, as well as their verbs, are transit
tives. Even their propositions take transit
/" hooks of STEEL" to the objects to which
they are applied. Thus their name for the
island from which this letter is dated, is Place
of the Gigantic Faeries, or, by another inter-
probation, Place of the Great Turtle. Detroit
is literally translated) Roundward, or Rounds
by Place, denoting the sinuosites of the river
in its approach. Sault St. Marie, AT the
Shallow Water with Rocks" In another
class of derivative words, the union OF the
substantive and adjective il without n local