John Dyneley Prince and Frank Gouldsmith Speck

“ GLOSSARY OF THE MOHEGAN–PEQUOT LANGUAGE
By J. DYNELEY PRINCE and FRANK G. SPECK
There is always something strangely pathetic about a dying language, especially when, like the Mohegan-Pequot idiom, the dialect exists in the memory of but a single living person. Mr Speck has obtained two connected texts and most of the following words and forms from Mrs Fidelia A. H. Fielding, an aged Indian woman resident at Mohegan, near Norwich, Conn., who has kept up her scanty knowledge of her early speech chiefly by talking to herself. ”

“ Abn. kîk in the earth.
Keenunch carry (kî'nŭnch) = N. kenunnum he bears it.
Ne keowhig I desire, want it (nĕ-kĭō'wĭg) . This also means ‘I must.’ This must be the Pequot form of N. quenauat it is lacking, with elision of the l as usual.
Kerchush hay (kŭchŭ'sh) . This is the real word for ‘hay,’ cogn. with N. moskeht; C. askusque; Abn. mskikw grass. In kŭch'ŭsh we have a metathesis k-ch = s-k in the other Algonquian words. See Chuggunce.
Kermumpsh ne you look at that (kŭmŭmsh nî) = N. womompsh look down; moneau he looks at him. All these stems are cognate with nam see. See Nawah. ”

“ On the other hand, a few Pequot words are traceable only to the Abenaki, and occasionally only an Ojibwe cognate is possible. A very few words are given in the glossary as being without discernible cognates.
Words indicated as Brothertown words were collected by Mr Speck from an old Indian at Mohegan who had lived for some time at Brothertown, near Green Bay, Wisconsin, whither a number of New England Indians, notably Tunxis, Wampanoags, Mohegans, and a few Long Island Montauks emigrated about fifty years ago. As will appear below, these words are merely corruptions of Ojibwe forms. ”

“ A Brothertown word = Oj. kitchimůkĕmân big knife.
Shpuck meat (shpŭk) . A Brothertown word, with no cognate. All other Algonquian idioms have wias in some form. See Weous.
Shquaaw woman; pl. shquaauwsuk (shkwâ) = N. squaas; C. eshqua; RW. squaws. The forms are undoubtedly connected with the D. ochqueu; Oj. ikwe and Pass. Micmac ēpît. The meaning of the stem was the prepuce. I see in Mohican pghainoom the same stem inverted, which appears also in Abn. pehanum; N. penomp virgin. There is of course no connection between Abn. pehanum and Fr. femme, as Trumbull thought. ”

“ Wahsus bear (wâ'sûs) = Abn. awasos; Pen. awesos; N. mosq. Stiles gives a word from an entirely different stem; viz., ahawgwut.
Webut his tooth (wî'bŭt) ; RW. weepit; N. weepit his tooth; Stiles meebut, the original form = Abn. wibidal teeth; D. wipit. Weechu he laughs (wî'chû) . No cognate.
Weegwasun good-morning (wîgwâ'sŭn) . This is the common Mohegan-Pequot salutation. It probably means ‘may you live happily’ from the root wig. I do not understand weegwasun as it is given by Mrs F. Not in Natick.
Weekchu he is handsome (wîk’chû) . Same stem as wîktŭm. See Ne weektumun. ”

“ Mrs Fielding is indeed the Dorothy Pentreath of the Mohegan-Pequots, and is quite as deserving of an enduring monument as was the last old woman who spoke Cornish.
Mohegan-Pequot Glossary
Ahupanun come here. Brothertown word. No cognate.
Appece apple (ăpî's) . There is no native equivalent for ‘apple’ in Abn. (aples) or D. (apel) . The word is not given in ND.
Aque hello (ĕkwî') = Abn. kuai.
Bagenood bag (bā'gĕnûd) . A hybrid, the last part of which is cogn. with RW. nutassen hemp-bags; cf. N. nutin to lift up; RW. niutash to take on the back. Same stem as in manodah bag, q. v. ”

“ All these words come from a stem tsip-chip to separate, i. e. a spirit is something separated from the body. The form debe (dîbî) also occurs in Pequot with an approach to palatalization. See Debe.
Jeebicornug hell (jîbâĭkâ'nŭg) . This probably contains the elements jeebi and ohke land, i. e. spirit land. See Debecornug, and cf. Am. Anth..
Jeets bird (jîts) = Abn. sîps, with palatalized sibilant and change of p to t. ”

“ The k in gertakwish is nothing but the common Algonquian rough breathing. See Getahwe.
Gertinemong he helps you (g’tĭ'nemŏng) . Cf. nîwōtĭ'nemŏng he helps me, Am. Anth.. The stem is wotine q. v. and cf. RW. kuttannumous he helps thee. In Abn. there is an inherent k, as in kdemoñgalmi help me, where k is not the 2d pers. The N. stem is annumaoh he helps him, which is probably a cognate.
Gertub you stay (g’tŭb) . Here k is the 2d pers.; t is the infix before the vowel, and ŭb is the stem. Cf. Abn. wd-abin he stays, sits; N. nuttappin I sit; weetappu he sits with him, etc. ”

“ In germeesh, we have the ger of the 2d pers. (q. v.) , which always has the precedence in Algonquian, + the root mee give = Abn. √mil seen in n’milgon he gives me. Cf. N. magis give thou; RW. mauks. In Pequot the form meezum ne ‘give me that’ (ne = that) also occurs (mî'zŭm nî) = Abn. mili give me.
Megeeshkuddu he is lazy (mîgîshkůdů') . The root is probably geesh seen in D. gicht-amen he is lazy; cf. Oj. naegatch slowly (?) .
Megerchid dung (mî'gĕchîd) , undoubtedly cognate with Abn. magwi dung. ”

“ Of the vowels, ā = a in “father”; â = aw in “awful”; ē = ay in “may”; ĕ = e in “met”; î = i in “machine”; ĭ = i in “pin”; ō = o in “note”; ŏ = o in “not”; û = u in “rule”; ŭ = u in “but”; ů = oo in “foot.” The apostrophe (’) = a short indeterminate ŭ-vowel. The consonants have the English values, except that g is always hard as in “go’’; final -kw = kwŭ, with a very short final vowel; ñ = nasal n as in French final n; š = sh. The combination tsy is to be pronounced with a slight palatalization after the sibilant. ”

“ Nerternees my daughter (nötönîs) = N. wut-taun-oh his daughter; Oj. nin-daniss; Abn. nd-osa ‘my daughter’ is clearly a distant cognate from the same stem.
Ne netun I desire, want (nĕ-nĭtŭ'n) = N. kodtantum he desires.
Nezush seven (nî'zŭ'sh) . Stiles has nezzaugnsk; N. nesausuk tahshe; D. nischasch. It looks as if nezush were a Mohican form, owing to the D. nischasch which it resembles more closely than the N. E. forms. The Narr. had another stem to denote this numeral, i. e. enada seven.
Nichie my brother (nĭchî') . Brothertown word = Abn. nijia my brother. ”

“ Eliot has horsesug, pl., but the form nahnaiyeumooadt ‘creature that carries’ occurs in Natick. Cf. D. nanayunges (Heckewelder Correspondence, 402) .
Ikekuzoo he works (âĭkî'kŭzû) = Abn. aloka; N. anakausu he works; nuttanákous I work. Here again we have the elided l-n in Pequot. Âĭkî = aloka-anaka.
Ikunzoo work (noun â'ĭkŭnzû') . See Ikekuzoo.
Inchun Indian (ĭ'nchŭn) , seen in Inchineen, i. e. Indian man + een, q. v. Eliot has Indian which was no doubt pronounced inchun.
Jeebi spirit (jî'bâ'ĭ) = Stiles chepy; N. chippeog ghosts; Nanticoke tsee-e-p a dead man; Abn. chibai; D. tschipey. ”

“ Ne sosunne I am tired (nĕ-sâ'sŭnĭ) ; also gĕsâ'sŭnĭ 2d pers., and sâ'sŭnĭ 3d pers., Am. Anth.. Cf. RW. nissowanishkaumen; Abn. n’zao‘to I am tired. The Pequot form is a reduplication of N. sauunum he is tired.
Squayoh red (skwâ'ĭō) ; N. = musqui, msqui; RW. msqui; Abn. mkui; D. machkeu. Stiles gives a curious form with p, i. e. mes’piou. Squayoh has lost its m-.
Squonneeks red squirrel (skwânî'ks) ; Stiles shenneague and m’ushanneege; RW. anequs. See Orneeks. In Abn. anikwses = a striped squirrel. The old word was probably pronounced with r as is so often the case, i. e. squorreeks. ”

“ In Peq. gĕtā'wĭ tŭbō = he is going to stay, for wutubo = 3d pers.
Gertuhmah he sings (g’tû'mā) , pl. gertuhmâk they sing = N. ketuhom he sings. This ketu-gertuh = Abn. kadawi seen in kadawintōdit they who sing. The original stem is evidently seen in N. unnuham he sings. Abn. kadawintōdit really means “those who wish (kadawi) to sing.”
Gertumkish get up (g’tŭ'mkĭsh) ! The root is really umki; cf. Abn. ômiki, arise, seen in wd-ômikin; N. omohku he gets up. In Pequot also nĕgĕtŭmkî I arise.
Ne-getahwe I am going (nĕ-gîtâ'wî) . See Gertakwish. This is used exactly like the Abn. kadawi ”

“ Gersubertoh it is hot (g’sû'bĕtŏ) = RW. kusópita; Oj. nkijob I am hot in a house; N. kussitau it is hot. See Gersudah.
Gersudah it is hot, said of the weather (g’sû'dă) . See Gersubertoh.
Gersug mud (g'sŭ'g) also gersuggayoh it is muddy (g’sŭggāyŏ) . This must be cogn. with N. pissag mire, mud, with g for p.
Gertakwish going to (g’tâwî'š) ; g + t + awi + š. For awi, cf. N. aui he goes, ND. 267. I believe this is cogn. with Abn. kadawi, the sign of the future, where the k- is part of the root and not the second person. ”

“ Ne wesukwon I hurt myself (nĕ-wîsögwŏn) = N. woskheau he hurts him; nuwoskhit I am hurt; D. wissachgissi it hurts me. Wetun wind (wî'tŭn) = Stiles wuttun; Oj. notine; Old Algonquian lootin (Lahontan) .
Weyon tongue (wî'yŭn) = N. menan; wenan his tongue; D. (Heckewelder) wilanu; Abn. wilalo his tongue.
Weyongoo yesterday (wîyŭngû') = Abn. ulôgua; N. wunnonkw. D. ulaque.
Weyoun moon (wîyûn) = Stiles weyhan, a pure Pequot word.
Weyout fire (wî yû't) = Stiles yewt; RW. yoteg, loc.; Pass. skwut, Abn. skweda, Oj. ishkote. The N. wood is nut from the same stem. ”

“ Stiles puppous; N. papeases. The word is evidently a reduplication of pea ‘little,’ seen in Abn. piusessit he is little.
Peormug fish, pl. (pî'âmâ'g) . This must mean ‘a little fish,’ i. e. pî + âmâg. Cf. N. mogke-amaugq-ut ‘great fishes,’ where amaugq = fish. See the next.
Peormug chaw to fish (pî'âmâ'g châ) . The N. form for ‘fishermen’ is negomácheg; RW. aumáchick. For amag, cf. Abn. nd-aman I fish; RW. aumaui he fishes.
Piskut penis (pĭ'shkŭt) . No cognate.
Ger-poonch you shut (g’pû'nsh) . The stem is pûn N. ponum; imv. ponsh put thou. Abn. nbonumun I put it. In Pequot also the imv. ”

“ N. sonqui it is cold; RW. saunkopaugot cold water. The same stem is seen in Abn. wesguinôgana mzena he has a cold with a cough.
↑ The Natick u represented in Eliot’s writings by the horizontal figure 8 (ꝏ) I have indicated simply by u. ↑ American Anthropologist, 1903, vol. 5, p. 210 ↑ The following abbreviations are used: Abn. = Abenaki; C. = Josiah Cotton, Vocabulary of the Massachusetts (or Natick) Indian Language, Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., ser. 3, II, 1830; D. = Delaware; LD. = Lenâpe Dictionary, by D. G. Brinton; N. = Natick or Massachusetts ”