Indian Languages Database
Record Details
Indian and English Dictionary.
[Providence?]: , [1830-1850?]
Physical Description: 4 v. ; 22 cm. (8vo) v.1: 142 p., 22 cm.; v.2: 171-359 p., 18 cm.; v.3: 360-447 p., 17 cm.; v.4: 358-392 p., 18 cm.
Call number: Codex / Ind / 41
Accession number: 78-51
Notes: Ms. codex. A manuscript dictionary consisting of four surviving volumes of a series that had been somewhat larger. Based on an extensive compilation process in which terms from various North American Indian languages (and their English equivalents) were collected from different sources. The sources used included the Narragansett vocabularies of Roger Williams (published in 1643 as A key into the language of America), designated as “RW”; a list of Nanticoke terms labeled as “Nan”; and other lists thus far unidentified, labeled as A, B., C, H, L, S, W, and Z.
The dictionary entries were then cut out as individual slips and pasted onto the pages of unrelated printed books in an alphabetical arrangement, forming an attempt at a comprehensive dictionary of Indian and English terms, probably limited to Algonquian languages used in the northeastern United States. The surviving volumes consist of a 3-volume Indian-English dictionary: vol. 1: Aa to Me; vol. 2: Mi to Wa; vol. 3: Wa to Zed, but including also a supplementary list for Ach to Yu, p. 433-447. Only vol. 3 (or 8) of the corresponding English-Indian set survives, covering Va to Yo. That volume has the ms. label “English-Indian dictionary” on cover; it is designated here as vol. 4.
Title from ms. slip on cover. From the estate of Bradford E. Swan, who obtained it from Rhode Island Historical Society.
Digital facsimile copy of book available. Volume one here. Volume two here. Volume three here. Volume four here.
Languages: Algonquian languages / Nanticoke / Narragansett
Genre: Dictionary
Region: North America
