The Pamunkey language is an extinct language that was spoken by the Pamunkey people of Virginia, United States.
The Pamunkey language is generally assumed to have been Algonquian. However, only fourteen words have been preserved, which is not enough to determine that the language actually was Algonquian.[1][2]
Word list
The only attested Pamunkey words, which were recorded in 1844 by Reverend E.A. Dalrymple S.T.D., are:[3]
English Pamunkey son tonshee daughter nucksee cat petucka thankfulness kayyo O my Lord o-ma-yah friendship kenaanee thank you baskonee go out dog eeskut one nikkut two orijak three kiketock four mitture five nahnkitty six vomtally seven talliko eight tingdum ten yantay
Lexical comparison
Below is a comparison of Pamunkey words and selected proto-languages from Zamponi (2024).[4]
gloss Pamunkey Proto-Algonquian[5] Proto-Iroquoian (PI)/
Proto-Northern Iroquoian (PNI)[6]Proto-Siouan[7] son tonshee *wekwiʔsema·wa *iyįḱe daughter nucksee *weta·nema·wa *iyų́·ke cat petucka *ka·šake·nsa thankfulness kayyo O my Lord o-ma-yah friendship kenaanee thank you baskonee *hahó go out dog eeskut one nikkut *nekwetwi *õskat (PNI) *rų·sa two orijak *nyi·šwi *tekniːh (PNI) *rų́·pa three kiketock *neʔθwi *ahsẽh (PNI) *rá·wrį four mitture *nye·wi *kajeɹi (PNI) *tó·pa five nahnkitty *nya·θanwi, *pale·neθkwi *hwihsk (PI) *kiSų́· six vomtally *nekweta·šyeka *tsjotaɹeʔ (?) (PI) *aká·we seven talliko *nyi·šwa·šyeka *tsjotaɹeʔ (?) (PI) *ša·kú·pa eight tingdum *neʔneʔšwa·šik, *neʔšwa·šyeka *tekɹõʔ (PI) ten yantay *meta·hθwi, *meta·tahθwi *wahshẽ (PI) *hą
Except for nikkut 'one', which is clearly similar to Powhatan nekut, none of the words correspond to any known Algonquian language, or to reconstructions of proto-Algonquian. Given the extensive ethnic mixing that occurred among the Pamunkey before 1844, it is possible that Dalrymple's list is from an inter-ethnic pidgin or even a language from an otherwise unknown language family, rather than from the original Pamunkey language.[8]
See also
References
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-12-31. Retrieved 2018-12-31.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Howell, Benita J.; Levy, Richard S.; Luckenbach, Alvin (1979). "What is Dalrymple's Pamunkey?". International Journal of American Linguistics. 45: 78–80. doi:10.1086/465576. S2CID 143441104.
- ^ A Vocabulary of Powhatan, compiled by Captain John Smith, with two word-lists of Pamumkey and Nansemond from other sources. Evolution Publishing, 1997.
- ^ Zamponi, Raoul (2024). "Unclassified languages". The Languages and Linguistics of Indigenous North America. De Gruyter. pp. 1627–1648. doi:10.1515/9783110712742-061. ISBN 978-3-11-071274-2.
- ^ Hewson, John. 1993. A computer-generated dictionary of Proto-Algonquian. Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization.
- ^ Julian, Charles. 2010. A history of the Iroquoian languages. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Ph.D. dissertation.
- ^ Rankin, Robert L., Richard T. Carter, A. Wesley Jones, John E. Koontz, David S. Rood & Iren Hartmann (eds.). 2015. Comparative Siouan dictionary. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Accessed 31 January 2023.
- ^ Benita Howell, Richard Levy & Alvin Luckenbach, 'What Is Dalrymple's Pamunkey?', International Journal of American Linguistics, vol. 45, no. 1 (Jan. 1979), pp. 78–80