II. _The Sioux._--I have little to say respecting these families
except that they appear to belong to some higher class,--a class
which, without being raised to any inordinate value, may eventually
include not only these two now distinct families, but also the Catawba,
Woccoon, Cherokee, Choctah, and (perhaps) Caddo groups,--perhaps also
the Pawni and its ally the Riccaree.
III. THE ALGONKIN GROUP.--The present form of this group differs
from that which appears in the Archæologia Americana, by exhibiting
larger dimensions. Nothing that was then placed within has since been
subtracted from it; indeed, subtractions from any class of Gallatin's
making are well-nigh impossible. In respect to additions, the case
stands differently.
Addition of no slight importance have been made to the Algonkin group.
The earliest was that of--
_The Bethuck._--The Bethuck is the native language of Newfoundland. In
1846, the collation of a Bethuck vocabulary enabled me to state that
the language of the extinct, or doubtfully extant, aborigines of that
island was akin to those of the ordinary American Indians rather than
to the Eskimo; further investigation showing that, of the ordinary
American languages, it was Algonkin rather than aught else.
A sample of the evidence of this is to be found in the following table;
a table formed, not upon the collation of the whole MS., but only upon
the more important words contained in it.
_English_, son.
Bethuck, _mageraguis_.
Cree, _equssis_.
Ojibbeway, _ninqwisis_}
---- _negwis_ } = my son.
Ottawa, _kwis_.
Micmac, _unquece_.
Passamaquoddy, _n'hos_.
Narragansetts, _nummuckiese_ = myson.
Delaware, _quissau_ = his son.
Miami, _akwissima_.
----, _ungwissah_.
Shawnoe, _koisso_.
Sack & Fox, _neckwessa_.
Menomeni, _nekeesh_.
_English_, girl.
Bethuck, _woaseesh_.
Cree, _squaisis_.
Ojibbeway, _ekwaizais_.
Ottawa, _aquesens_.
Old Algonkin, _ickwessen_.
Sheshatapoosh, _squashish_.
Passamaquoddy, _pelsquasis_.
Narragansetts, _squasese_.
Montaug, _squasses_.
Sack & Fox, _skwessah_.
Cree, _awâsis_ = child.
Sheshatapoosh, _awash_ = child.
_English_, mouth.
Bethuck, _mamadthun_.
Nanticoke, _mettoon_.
Massachusetts, _muttoon_.
Narragansetts, _wuttoon_.
Penobscot, _madoon_.
Acadcan, _meton_.
Micmac, _toon_.
Abenaki, _ootoon_.
_English_, nose.
Bethuck, _gheen_.
Miami, _keouane_.
_English_, teeth.
Bethuck, _bocbodza_.
Micmac, _neebeet_.
Abenaki, _neebeet_.
_English_, hand.
Bethuck, _maemed_.
Micmac, _paeteen_.
Abenaki, _mpateen_.
_English_, ear.
Bethuck, _mootchiman_.
Micmac, _mootooween_.
Abenaki, _nootawee_.
_English_, smoke.
Bethuck, _bassdik_.
Abenaki, _ettoodake_.
_English_, oil.
Bethuck, _emet_.
Micmac, _memaye_.
Abenaki, _pemmee_.
_English_, sun.
Bethuck, _keuse_.
Cree, &c., _kisis_.
Abenaki, _kesus_.
Mohican, _kesogh_.
Delaware, _gishukh_.
Illinois, _kisipol_.
Shawnoe, _kesathwa_.
Sack & Fox, _kejessoah_.
Menomeni, _kaysho_.
Passamaquoddy, _kisos_ = moon.
Abenaki, _kisus_ = moon.
Illinois, _kisis_ = moon.
Cree, _kesecow_ = day.
Ojibbeway, _kijik_ = day and light.
Ottawa, _kijik_ = ditto.
Abenaki, _kiseoukou_ = ditto,
Delaware, _gieshku_ = ditto.
Illinois, _kisik_ = ditto.
Shawnoe, _keeshqua_ = ditto.
Sack & Fox, _keeshekeh_ = ditto.
_English_, fire.
Bethuck, _boobeeshawt_.
Cree, _esquitti_, _scoutay_.
Ojibbeway, _ishkodai_, _skootae_.
Ottawa, _ashkote_.
Old Algonkin, _skootay_.
Sheshatapoosh, _schootay_.
Passamaquoddy, _skeet_.
Abenaki, _skoutai_.
Massachusetts, _squitta_.
Narragansetts, _squtta_.
_English_, white.
Bethuck, _wobee_.
Cree, _wabisca_.
----, _wapishkawo_.
Ojibbeway, _wawbishkaw_.
----, _wawbizze_.
Old Algonkin, _wabi_.
Sheshatapoosh, _wahpou_.
Micmac, _ouabeg_, _wabeck_.
Mountaineer, _wapsiou_.
Passamaquoddy, _wapiyo_.
Abenaki, _wanbighenour_.
----, _wanbegan_.
Massachusetts, _wompi_.
Narragansetts, _wompesu_.
Mohican, _waupaaeek_.
Montaug, _wampayo_.
Delaware, _wape_, _wapsu_, _wapsit_.
Nanticoke, _wauppauyu_.
Miami, _wapekinggek_.
Shawnoe, _opee_.
Sack & Fox, _wapeskayah_.
Menomeni, _waubish keewah_.
_English_, black.
Bethuck, _mandzey_.
Ojibbeway, _mukkudaiwa_.
Ottawa, _mackateh_.
Narragansetts, _mowesu_.
Massachusetts, _mooi_.
_English_, house.
Bethuck, _meeootik_.
Narragansetts, _wetu_.
_English_, shoe.
Bethuck, _mosen_.
Abenaki, _mkessen_.
_English_, snow.
Bethuck, _kaasussabook_.
Cree, _sasagun_ = hail.
Ojibbeway, _saisaigan_.
Sheshatapoosh, _shashaygan_.
_English_, speak.
Bethuck, _ieroothack_.
Taculli, _yaltuck_.
Cree, _alhemetakcouse_.
Wyandot, _atakea_.
_English_, yes.
Bethuck, _yeathun_.
Cree, _ahhah_.
Passamaquoddy, _netek_.
_English_, no.
Bethuck, _newin_.
Cree, _namaw_.
Ojibbeway, _kawine_.
Ottawa, _kauween_.
_English_, hatchet.
Bethuck, _dthoonanyen_.
Taculli, _thynle_.
_English_, knife.
Bethuck, _eewaeen_.
Micmac, _uagan_.
_English_, bad.
Bethuck, _muddy_.
Cree, _myaton_.
Ojibbeway, _monadud_.
----, _mudji_.
Ottawa, _matche_.
Micmac, _matoualkr_.
Massachusetts, _matche_.
Narragansetts, _matchit_.
Mohican, _matchit_.
Montaug, _mattateayah_.
Montaug, _muttadeeaco_.
Delaware, _makhtitsu_.
Nanticoke, _mattik_.
Sack & Fox, _motchie_.
----, _matchathie_.
_The Shyenne._--A second addition of the Algonkin class was that of
the Shyenne language--a language suspected to be Algonkin at the
publication of the Archæologia Americana. In a treaty made between the
United States and the Shyenne Indians in 1825, the names of the chiefs
who signed were Sioux, or significant in the Sioux language. It was not
unreasonable to consider this a _primâ-facie_ evidence of the Shyenne
tongue itself being Sioux. Nevertheless, there were some decided
statements in the way of external evidence in another direction. There
was the special evidence of a gentleman well-acquainted with the fact,
that the names of the treaty, so significant in the Sioux language,
were only translations from the proper Shyenne, there having been
no Shyenne interpreter at the drawing-up of the document. What then
was the true Shyenne? A vocabulary of Lieut. Abert's settled this.
The numerals of this were published earlier than the other words,
and on these the present writer remarked that they were Algonkin
(Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science,
1847,--Transactions of the Sections, p. 123). Meanwhile, the full
vocabulary, which was in the hands of Gallatin, and collated by him,
gave the contemplated result:--"Out of forty-seven Shyenne words for
which we have equivalents in other languages, there are thirteen which
are indubitably Algonkin, and twenty-five which have affinities more or
less remote with some of the languages of that family." (Transactions
of the American Ethnological Society, vol. ii. p. cxi. 1848.)
_The Blackfoot._--In the same volume (p. cxiii), and by the same
author, we find a table showing the Blackfoot to be Algonkin; a fact
that must now be generally recognized, having been confirmed by later
_data_. The probability of this affinity was surmised in a paper in the
28th Number of the Proceedings of the present Society.
_The Arrapaho._--This is the name of a tribe in Kansas; occupant of a
district in immediate contact with the Shyenne country.
But the Shyennes are no _indigenæ_ to Kansas. Neither are the
Arrapahos. The so-called Fall Indians, of whose language we have
long had a very short trader's vocabulary in Umfreville, are named
from their occupancy which is on the Falls of the Saskatshewan. The
Nehethewa, or Crees, of their neighbourhood call them so; so that it
is a Cree term of which the English is a translation. Another name
(English also) is _Big-belly_, in French _Gros-ventre_. This has given
rise to some confusion. _Gros-ventre_ is a name also given to the
Minetari of the Yellow-stone River; whence the name Minetari itself
has, most improperly, been applied (though not, perhaps, very often or
by good authorities) to the Fall Indians.
The Minetari _Gros-ventres_ belong to the Sioux family. Not so
the _Gros-ventres_ of the Falls. Adelung remarked that some of
their words had an affinity with the Algonkin, or as he called it,
Chippeway-Delaware, family, _e. g._ the names for _tobacco_, _arrow_,
_four_, and _ten_.
Umfreville's vocabulary was too short for anything but the most general
purposes and the most cautious of suggestions. It was, however, for a
long time the only one known. The next to it, in the order of time,
was one in MS., belonging to Gallatin, but which was seen by Dr.
Prichard and collated by the present writer, his remarks upon it being
published in the 134th Number of the Proceedings of this Society. They
were simply to the effect that the language had certain miscellaneous
affinities. An Arrapaho vocabulary in Schoolcraft tells us something
more than this; viz. not only that it is, decidedly, the same language
as the Fall Indian of Umfreville, but that it has definite and
preponderating affinities with the Shyenne, and, through it, with the
great Algonkin class in general.