LETTER XV.

FROM THE SAME.

BETHLEHEM, 24th July, 1816.

DEAR SIR.--I have now to answer your question on the subject of the Delaware verb, _n’dellauchsi_, which Zeisberger translates by “I live, or move about,” or “I so live that I move about.” You ask whether this is the only verb in the language which expresses “_to live_,” and whether the Indians have an idea of _life_, otherwise than as connected with _locomotion_?

Surely they have; and I do not see that the contrary follows from Mr. Zeisberger’s having chosen this particular verb as an example of the first conjugation. I perceive you have not yet an adequate idea of the copiousness of the Indian languages, which possess an immense number of comprehensive words, expressive of almost every possible combination of ideas. Thus the proper word for “_to live_” is in the pure Unami dialect _lehaleheen_. An Unami meeting an aged acquaintance, whom he has not seen for a length of time, will address him thus: “_Ili k’lehelleya?_”[282] which means, “are you yet alive?” The other will answer “_Ili n’papomissi_,”[283] “I am yet able to walk about.” The verb _n’dellauchsin_, which Mr. Zeisberger quotes, is more generally employed in a spiritual sense, “_n’dellauchsin Patamawos wulelendam_,” “I live up, act up to the glory of God.” This verb, like _pommauchsin_, implies action or motion, connected with _life_, which is still the principal idea. I do not know of any thing analogous in the English language, except, perhaps, when we say “To _walk_ humbly before God;” but here the word _walk_ contains properly no idea in itself but that of locomotion, and is not coupled with the idea of _life_, as in the Indian verb which I have cited. The idea intended to be conveyed arises in English entirely from the _figurative_ sense of the word, in the Delaware from the _proper_ sense.

I should never have done, were I to endeavour to explain to you in all their details the various modes which the Indians have of expressing ideas, shades of ideas, and combinations of ideas; for which purpose the various parts of speech are successively called to their aid. In the conjugations of the verbs, in Zeisberger’s Grammar, you will find but three tenses, present, past, and future; but you will be much mistaken if you believe that there are no other modes of expressing actions and passions in the verbal form as connected with the idea of time. It would have been an endless work to have given all those explanations in an elementary grammar intended for the use of young Missionaries, who stood in need only of the principal forms, which they were to perfect afterwards by practice. Let me now try to give you a faint idea of what I mean by a few examples in the Delaware language.

N’mitzi, _I eat_.[284] N’mamitzi, _I am eating, or am in the act of eating_. N’mitzihump, _I have eaten_. Metschi n’gischi mitzi, _I am come from eating_. N’dappi mitzi, _I am returned from eating_.

The first two _n’mitzi_ and _n’mamitzi_, both mean _I eat_, but the one is used in the indefinite, and the other in the definite sense, and a good speaker will never employ the one instead of the other. The three last expressions are all past tenses of the verb “_I eat_,” and all mean, “_I have eaten_,” but a person just risen from table, will not say, “_n’dappi mitzi_;” this expression can only be used after leaving the place where he has been eating, in answer to a person who asks him “where he comes from.” The word “_n’dappi_” is connected with the verb _apatschin_, to return. There is another distinction, proper to be mentioned here. If the place where the person comes from is near, he says “_n’dappi_,” if distant “_n’dappa_.” Thus:

N’dappi pihm, _I am come from sweating_ (_or from the sweat oven_.) N’dappihackiheen, _I am come from planting_. N’dappi wickheen, _I am come from building a house_. N’dappimanschasqueen, _I am come from mowing grass_. N’dappi notamæsin, _I am come from striking fish with a spear_. N’dappallauwin, _I am come (returned) from hunting_. N’dappachtopalin, _I am come (returned) from making war_.

In the future tense I could shew similar distinctions, but it would lead me too far.

I must now take notice of what Father Sagard says, as you have mentioned in your letter of the 13th inst., that the Indian languages have “no _roots_, and that there is no regularity in the formation of their words.” It is certain that the manner in which the Indians in general form their words is different from that of the Europeans, but I can easily prove to you that they understand the manner of forming them from “_roots_.” I take, for instance, the word _wulit_, good, proper, right, from which are derived:

Wulik, _the good_. Wulaha, _better_. Wulisso, _fine, pretty_. Wulamoewagan, _truth_. Wulatenamuwi, _happy_. Wulatenamoagan, _happiness_. Wulapensowagan, _blessing_. Wulapan, _fine morning_. Wuliechen, _it is good, or well done_. Wulittol, _they are good_. Wuliken, _it grows well, thrives_. Wuliechsin, _to speak well_. Wulelendam, _to rejoice_. Wulamallsin, _to be well, happy_. Wulandeu, } Wuligischgu,} _a fine day_. Wulapeyu, _just, upright_. Wuliwatam, _to be of good understanding_. Wuliachpin, _to be in a good place_. Wulilissin, _to do well_. Wulilissu, _he is good_. Wulilissick, _behave ye well_. Wulinaxin, _to look well_. Wulamoeyu, _it is true_. Wulantowagan, _grace_. Wulatopnachgat,[285] _a good word_. Wulatopnamik, _good tidings_. Wulatonamin,[286] _to be happy_. Wulissowagan, _prettiness, handsome appearance_. Wulihilleu, _it is good_. Wulineichquot, _it is well to be seen_. Wulelemileu, _it is wonderful_. Wulitehasu, _well cut or hewed_. Wuliwiechinen, _to rest well_. Welsit Mannitto, _the Good Spirit_. From Machtit, _bad_. Machtitsu, _nasty_. Machtesinsu, _ugly_. Machtschi _or_ Matschi Mannitto _or_ Machtando, _the evil Spirit, the Devil_, &c.

You will naturally observe that the words derived from the root _Wulit_, imply in general the idea of what is good, handsome, proper, decent, just, well, and so pursuing the same general object to _happiness_ and its derivatives; _happiness_ being considered as a good and pleasant feeling, or situation of the mind, and a person who is _happy_, as being well. This does not, as you might suppose, make the language ambiguous; for the Indians speak and understand each other with great precision and clearness.

I have yet to answer your question about the _f_ and _w_. There are in the Delaware language no such consonants as the German _w_, or English _v_, _f_, or _r_. Where _w_ in this language is placed before a vowel, it sounds the same as in English; before a consonant, it represents a _whistled_ sound of which I cannot well give you an idea on paper, but which I shall easily make you understand by uttering it before you when we meet.

_I am, &c._