Carolina Algonquian (also known as Pamlico, Croatoan) was an Algonquian language of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup formerly spoken in North Carolina, United States.

Classification

Carolina Algonquian forms a part of the same language group as

Powhatan Powhatan people () are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands who belong to member tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy, or Tsenacommacah. They are Algonquian peoples whose historic territories were in eastern Virginia. Their Powh ...

or ''Virginia Algonquian'', a similarly

extinct language An extinct language or dead language is a language with no living native speakers. A dormant language is a dead language that still serves as a symbol of ethnic identity to an ethnic group; these languages are often undergoing a process of r ...

of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family, itself a member of the Algic language family.

Translation into English

In 1584

Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellio ...

had dispatched the first of a number of expeditions to

Roanoke Island Roanoke Island () is an island in Dare County, bordered by the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was named after the historical Roanoke, a Carolina Algonquian people who inhabited the area in the 16th century at the time of English colonizat ...

to explore and eventually settle the New World. Early encounters with the natives were friendly, and, despite the difficulties in communication, the explorers were able to persuade "two of the savages, being men, whose names were Wanchese and Manteo" to accompany them on the return voyage to London, in order for the English people to report both the conditions of the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

that they had explored and what the usefulness of the territory might be to the English. Once safely delivered to England, the two Indians quickly made a sensation at court. Raleigh's priority, however, was not publicity but rather intelligence about his new land of Virginia, and he restricted access to the exotic newcomers, assigning the brilliant scientist

Thomas Harriot Thomas Harriot (; – 2 July 1621), also spelled Harriott, Hariot or Heriot, was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer and translator to whom the theory of refraction is attributed. Thomas Harriot was also recognized for his con ...

the job of deciphering and learning the Carolina Algonquian language,Milton, p.70 using a phonetic alphabet of his own invention in order to effect the translation.

Legacy

The Carolina Algonquian language is now extinct, and the communities in which it flourished are gone. However, a number of Eastern Algonquian loan words have survived by being absorbed into the English language. Among them are: ''

moccasin A moccasin is a shoe, made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole (made with leather that has not been "worked") and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp (additional pane ...

'', ''

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

'', ''

opossum Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 126 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North A ...

'', ''

papoose Papoose (from the Narragansett ''papoos'', meaning "child") is an American English word whose present meaning is "a Native American child" (regardless of tribe) or, even more generally, any child, usually used as a term of endearment, often in ...

'', ''

pecan The pecan ( , , ; ''Carya illinoinensis'') is a species of hickory native to the Southern United States and northern Mexico in the region of the Mississippi River. The tree is cultivated for its seed primarily in the U.S. states of Georgia ( ...

'', ''

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the North American, northern or common raccoon (also spelled racoon) to distinguish it from Procyonina, other species of raccoon, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest ...

'', ''

skunk Skunks are mammals in the family Mephitidae. They are known for their ability to spray a liquid with a strong, unpleasant scent from their anal glands. Different species of skunk vary in appearance from black-and-white to brown, cream or gi ...

'', ''squash'', ''

squaw The English word squaw is an ethnic and sexual slur, historically used for Indigenous North American women. Contemporary use of the term, especially by non-Natives, is considered derogatory, misogynist, and racist.King, C. Richard,De/Scribi ...

'', and ''

wigwam A wigwam, wikiup, wetu (Wampanoag), or wiigiwaam (Ojibwe, in syllabics: ) is a semi-permanent domed dwelling formerly used by certain Native American tribes and First Nations people and still used for ceremonial events. The term ''wikiup'' ...

''.

Notes

References

* * Feest, Christian. 1978. "Virginia Algonquin." Bruce Trigger, ed., ''Handbook of North American Indians. Volume 15. Northeast,'' pp. 253–271. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. * Lovgren, Stefan. 2006
"'New World' Film Revives Extinct Native American Tongue"
'' National Geographic News'', January 20, 2006. * Marianne Mithun. 1999. ''The Languages of Native North America''. Cambridge Language Family Surveys. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. * Frank Siebert. 1975. "Resurrecting Virginia Algonquian from the dead: The reconstituted and historical phonology of Powhatan," ''Studies in Southeastern Indian Languages''. Ed. James Crawford. Athens: University of Georgia Press. Pages 285-453. *Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. ''Indians and English: Facing Off in Early America''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000. *Mancall, Peter C. ''Hakluyt's Promise: An Elizabethan's Obsession for an English America''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. *Milton, Giles, ''Big Chief Elizabeth – How England's Adventurers Gambled and Won the New World'', Hodder & Stoughton, London (2000) *Vaughan, Alden T. "Sir Walter Raleigh's Indian Interpreters, 1584-1618." The William and Mary Quarterly 59.2 (2002): 341-376.

External links

* Algonquian Derivations at Wiktionary.org Retrieved December 2012
OLAC resources in and about the Carolina Algonquian languageOLAC resources in and about the Lumbee languageOLAC resources in and about the Pamlico language
{{Algonquian languages Eastern Algonquian languages Indigenous languages of the North American Southeast Extinct languages of North America Languages of North Carolina Native American history of North Carolina Native American history of South Carolina Native American history of Virginia Languages extinct in the 18th century 1790s disestablishments in the United States

Classification

Translation into English

Legacy

See also

Notes

References

External links