Indian Languages Database
Record Details
Observations on the language of the Muhhekaneew Indians; in which the extent of that language in North-America is shewn; its genius is grammatically traced; some of its peculiarities, and some instances of analogy between that and the Hebrew are pointed out. Communicated to the Connecticut Society of Arts and Sciences, and published at the request of the Society.
[London]: New-Haven: New-Haven, printed by Josiah Miegs; London reprinted by W. Justins, Shoemaker-Row, Blackfriars, 1789
Physical Description: 15, [1] p. ; 21cm. (8vo)
Call number: D789/ E26o
Accession number: 09587
Notes: Includes 2 brief trilingual vocabularies (approximately 2 dozen terms each), in English, Mohegan, and Shawanee (p. 6) and English, Mohegan, and Chippewau (p. 7); numbers from one to ten in Mohegan and Mohawk (p. 8); the
Pater noster in Mohegan (p. 8-9) and in “the language of the Six Nations, taken from Smith’s History of New York” (p. 9); and brief comparative remarks on grammar, phonetics, and orthography. Also contains the following author’s note on sources (p. 6): “To illustrate the analogy between the Mohegan, the Shawanee, and the Chippewau languages, I shall exhibit a short list of words of those three languages. For the list of Mohegan words, I myself am accountable: That of the Shawanee words was communicated to me by General Parsons, who has had opportunity to make a partial vocabulary of that language. For the words of the Chippewau language I am dependent on Carver’s Travels.”
An initial imprimatur leaf reads in part: “At a Meeting of the Connecticut Society of Arts and Sciences, held by adjournment in the city of New-Haven, on the 23d day of October. A.D. 1787“.
First published New Haven, 1788. For author’s sources, see FM465 [Acc#s M1027 (cop.1) & 09586 (cop.2)]
To access digital facsimile copy of book, click here.
Languages: Mohawk / Mohegan / Ojibwa / Shawnee
Genre: Grammar / Specimen / Vocabulary
Region: North America
