Nanticoke is an extinct
Algonquian language formerly spoken in
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacen ...
and
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
. The same language was spoken by several neighboring tribes, including the
Nanticoke, which constituted the paramount
chiefdom
A chiefdom is a form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies usually based on kinship, and in which formal leadership is monopolized by the legitimate senior members of select families or 'houses'. These elites form a ...
; the
Choptank, the
Assateague, and probably also the
Piscataway and the
Doeg.
Vocabulary
Nanticoke is sometimes considered a dialect of the
Delaware language, but its vocabulary was quite distinct. This is shown in a few brief glossaries, which are all that survive of the language. One is a 146-word list compiled by
Moravian missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
John Heckewelder in 1785, from his interview with a Nanticoke chief then living in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...
. The other is a list of 300 words obtained in 1792 by
William Vans Murray, then a US Representative (at the behest of
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the nati ...
.) He compiled the list from a Nanticoke speaker in
Dorchester County, Maryland
Dorchester County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. At the 2020 census, the population was 32,531. Its county seat is Cambridge. The county was formed in 1669 and named for the Earl of Dorset, a family friend of the Calverts ...
, part of the historic homeland.
Nanticoke vocabulary
These words are some of the listings in Murray's glossary. In the letter that accompanied his glossary, Murray noted that the Nanticoke were "not more than nine in number," and also stated that "they have no word for the personals 'he' and 'she.'" The exclamation point (!) indicates a "peculiar, forcible, explosive, enunciation" of a syllable in this phoneticization.
Modern Nanticoke
With the assistance of a native speaker, Myrelene Ranville née Henderson of the Sagkeeng First Nation in Manitoba Canada, who speaks a similar language,
Anishnabay, a group of
Nanticoke people
The Nanticoke people are a Native American Algonquian people, whose traditional homelands are in Chesapeake Bay and Delaware. Today they live in the Northeastern United States and Canada, especially Delaware; in Ontario; and in Oklahoma.
...
in
Millsboro, Delaware, assembled to revive the language in 2007, using the vocabulary list of Thomas Jefferson. It had been "more than 150 years since the last conversation in Nanticoke took place." Similar efforts made by the
Nanticoke Indian Association are also being taken through partnership with local linguists.
See also
*
Piscataway language
Piscataway is an extinct Algonquian language formerly spoken by the Piscataway, a dominant chiefdom in southern Maryland on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay at time of contact with English settlers.Raymond G. Gordon Jr., ed. 2005. '' ...
Notes
*
External links
Custom lexicon: The Interactive ALR– includes all known Nanticoke data
*
ttp://www.bigorrin.org/archive26.htm Nanticoke Language [archive/nowiki>">rchive.html" ;"title="ttp://www.bigorrin.org/archive26.htm
Nanticoke Language [archive">ttp://www.bigorrin.org/archive26.htm Nanticoke Language [archive/nowiki>br>OLAC resources in and about the Nanticoke language
{{Native Americans in Maryland
*
Eastern Algonquian languages">Nanticoke tribe">*
Eastern Algonquian languages
Indigenous languages of the North American eastern woodlands
Native American history of Delaware
Native American history of Maryland
Native American history of Virginia
Native American language revitalization
Extinct languages of North America
Indigenous languages of Maryland
Languages extinct in the 1840s