1. Applied to persons.

1. Applied to persons.

A. Initial successful action. _Gischigin_, to begin life, to be born. _Gischihan_, to form, to make with the hands. _Gischiton_, to make ready, to prepare. _Gischeleman_, to create with the mind, to fancy. _Gischelendam_, to meditate a plan, to lie.

B. Continuous successful action. _Gischikenamen_, to increase, to produce fruit. _Giken_, to grow better in health. _Gikeowagan_, life, health. _Gikey_, long-living, old, aged,

C. Final successful action. _Gischatten_, finished, ready, done, cooked. _Gischiton_, to make ready, to finish. _Gischpuen_, to have eaten enough. _Gischileu_, it has proved true. _Gischatschimolsin_, to have resolved, to have decreed. _Gischachpoanhe_, baked, cooked (the bread is).

2. Applied to things.

A. Initial successful action. _Gischuch_, sun, moon, day, month. The idea appears to be the beginning of a period of time with the collateral notion of prosperous activity. The correctness of the derivation is shown by the next word. _Gischapan_, day-break, beginning day-light. From _wapan_, the east, or light. _Gischuchwipall_, the rays of the sun. _Gischcu_, or _Gisckquik_, day.

B. Continuous successful action. _Gischten_, clear, light, shining. _Gischachsummen_, to shine, to enlighten. _Gischuten_, warm, tepid.

Numerous other derivatives could be added, but the above are sufficient to show the direction of thoughts flowing from this root. Howse considers it identical with the root _kitch_, great, large[167]. This would greatly increase its derivatives. They certainly appear allied. In Cree, Lacombe gives _kitchi_, great, and _kije_, finished, perfect, both being terms applied to divinity[168].

{L} _General Algonkin root_ 8 {N} I. _Abnaki_, 8RI; _Micmac_, 8E´LI, {R}

_Chippeway_, GWAN-; _Del., two forms_, WUL _and_ WIN. _It conveys the idea of pleasurable sensation._

A. First form, _wul_. _Wulit_, well, good, handsome, fine. _Wullihilleu_, it is good, etc. _Wuliken_, it grows well. _Wulamoe_, he truth-speaks. _Wulamoewagan_, truth. _Wulistamen_, to believe, to accept as truth. _Wulenensin_, to be fine in appearance, to dress. _Wulenensen_, to be fine to oneself, to be proud.

B. Second form, _won_ or _win_. _Winu_, ripe, good to eat. _Wonita_, he is ripe for it, he can, he is able. _Wingan_, sweet, savory. _Winktek_, done, boiled, fit to eat. _Winak_, sassafras. From its sweet leaves. _Wingi_, gladly, willingly. _Winginamen_, to delight in.

The figure 8 in the above represents the "whistled _w_," like the _wh_ in "which," when strongly pronounced.

From this root, as I have already said, is derived also the word WALAM, red paint, from the sense "to be fine in appearance, to dress," as the Indian accomplished that object by painting himself.

_Grammatical Structure of the Lenape._

It would not be worth while for me to enter into the intricacies of Lenape grammar, particularly as I can add little to what is already known.

The Delaware Grammar of Zeisberger remains our only authority, and in spite of its manifest shortcomings and state of incompletion, the unprejudiced student must acknowledge, with Albert Gallatin[169], that it is "most honestly done," and showed the Delaware as it actually was spoken, though perhaps not as scientific linguists think it ought to have been spoken.

A few general observations will be sufficient.

As in other languages of the class, the theme is indifferently nominal, verbal or adjectival; that is, it performs the functions of either of these grammatical categories, according to its connection.

Nominal themes are either animate or inanimate. The characteristic of all animate plurals is _k_ (_ak_, _ik_, _ek_). Inanimate plurals are in _al_, _wall_ or _a_. As usual, the distinction between animate and inanimate nouns is partly logical, partly grammatical, various objects being conceived as animate which are in fact not so.

The possessive relation is generally indicated by placement alone, the possessor preceding the thing possessed, as _lenno quisall_, the man's son; but one could also say _lenno w'quisall_, the man his son.

Adjectives precede nouns, and when used attributively assume a verbal form by adding the termination _wi_, which indicates objective existence (like the Chip. _-win_). Thus, _scattek_, burning; _scattewi w'dehin_, a burning-heart--literally, it-is-a-burning-thing his-heart.

The degrees of comparison are formed by prefixing _allowiwi_, more, and _eluwi_, most. Both of these are from the same radical _ala_ which may perhaps come from the _admirationis particula_, _ala'_ (Abnaki, _ara'_) found in the northern dialects as expressive of astonishment[170].

There being no relative pronoun in Delaware, dependent clauses are either included in the verbal of the major clause, or include it as a secondary.

The scheme of the simple sentence is usually subject-verb-object; but emphasis allows departures from this, as in the following sentence from Bishop Ettwein's MSS.:--

_Jesus wemi amemensall w'taholawak._

Jesus all children he-loved-them.

Of the formal affixes, the inseparable pronouns are the most prominent. They are the same for nouns and verbs, and are--

1st. _n_, I, my, we, our. 2d. _k_, thou, thy, you, your. 3d. _w_ or _o_, he, she, it, his, their.

Past time is indicated by the terminal _p_, with a connective vowel, and future time by _tsch_, which may be either a prefix or suffix, as--

_N'dellsin_, I am thus. _N'dellsineep_, I was thus. _N'dellsintschi_, } or } I shall be thus. _Nantsch n'dellsin_,}

The change or "flattening" of the vowel of the root in suppositive propositions, was recognized as a fact of speech, but not grammatically analyzed by Zeisberger.

Its effect on verbal forms may be seen from the following examples from his _Grammar_:--

_Examples of Vowel Change in Lenape._

_N'dappin_, I am there. _Achpiya_, if I am there. _Epia_, where I am. _N'dellsin_, I am so. _Lissiye_, if I am so. _N'gauwi_, I sleep. _Gewi_, he who sleeps. _N'pommauchsi_, I walk or live. _Pemauchsit_, living. _N'da_, I go. _Eyaya_, when I go. _Eyat_, going.

Another omission in his Grammar is that of the "obviative" and "super-obviative" forms of nouns. These are used in the Algonkin dialects to define the relations of third persons. They prevent such obscurity as appears in the following English sentence: "John's brother called at Robert's, to see his wife." Whose wife is referred to is left ambiguous; but in Algonkin these third persons would have different forms, and there would be no room for ambiguity. In his writings in Lenape, Zeisberger makes use of obviatives, with the terminations _al_ and _l_, but does not treat of them in his Grammar.

As a question in philosophical grammar, it may be doubted whether the Lenape has any true passive voice. Cardinal Mezzofanti was accustomed to deny the presence of any real passives in American languages; and he had studied the Delaware among others.

The sign of the Delaware passive is the suffix _gussu_ or _cusso_. In the Cree dialect, which, as I have already said, preserves the ancient forms most closely, this is _k-ussu_, and is a particle expressing likeness or similarity in animate objects[171]. Hence, probably, the original sense of the Lenape word translated, "I am loved," is "I am like the object of the action of loving."

FOOTNOTES:

[165] _A Grammar of the Cree Language, with which is combined an Analysis of the Chippeway Dialect_, by Joseph Howse, Esq. (London, 1844).

[166] In a note to Zeisberger's _Grammar of the Delaware_, p. 141.

[167] _A Grammar of the Cree Language_, p. 175.

[168] _Dictionnaire de la Langue des Cris_, sub voce.

[169] In _Trans. Amer. Antiq. Society_, Vol. II, p. 223. Zeisberger's statements were criticised by Joseph Howse, _Grammar of the Cree Language_, pp. 109, 310, 313. His strictures and those of the Abbé Cuoq, in his _Etudes Philologiques sur Quelques Langues Sauvages_, Chap. I, were collected and extended by Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull, in his paper on "Some Mistaken Notions of Algonquin Grammar," _Trans. of the American Philological Association_, 1874. There is a needless degree of severity in both these last named productions.

[170] Rasles, _Dictionary of the Abnaki_, p. 550. Dr. Trumbull compares the Mass. _anue_, more than. _Trans. American Philological Association_, 1872, p. 168.

[171] J. Howse: _Grammar of the Cree Language_, p. 111.