Whether they can âpébe resolved back into a few elementary sounds, primitive elements of speech, I shall not discuss. This has been done for the Cree roots by Mr. Joseph Howse[165], and most of the radicals of that tongue are identical with those of the Lenape. Some of his conclusions appear to me hazardous and hypothetical; and certainly many of his supposed analogies drawn from European tongues are extravagant.
As in other idioms, so in Lenape, two or more radicals may be compounded to form a combination, which, in turn, performs the offices of a radical in the construction of themes.
This combination is formed either by prefixes or suffixes. The prefixes are generally adjectival in signification, while the suffixes are usually classificatory. A number of these are secondary roots, which are themselves capable of further analysis.
As so much of the strength of the languages depends on this plan of word building, I have drawn off a list of a few of the more frequent affixes of the Lenape, with their signification:--
_awoss-_, beyond, the other side of. _eluwi-_, most, a superlative form. _gisch-_, see page 102. _kit-_, great, large. _lappi-_, again, indicates repetition. _lenno-_, male, man. _lippoe-_, wise, shrewd; as _lippoeweno_, a shrewd man. _mach-_, evil, bad, hurt. _matt-_, negative and depreciatory; as _mattaptonen_, to speak uncivilly. _ni-_, see page 101. _ochque-_, she, female. _pach-_, division, separation; _pachican_, a knife; _pachat_, to split. _pal-_, negative, as dis- or in-, from _palli_ otherwheres. _tach-_, pairs or doubles. _tschitsch-_, indicates repetition. _wit-_, with or in common. _wul-_, or _wel-_, see page 104.
Many of these are abbreviated to the extent that a single significant letter is all that remains, as _min_ in _msim_, hickory nut; _pakihm_, cranberry; and so _acki_ to _k_, _hanne_ to _an_, as _kitanink_ (Kittanning), from _gitschi_, great; _hanne_, flowing river; _ink_, locative, "at the place of the great river."
_-ak_, wood, from _tachan_; _kuwenchak_, pine wood. _-aki_, place, land. _-ammen_, acceptance, adoption; _wulistamen_, I accept it as good, I believe it. See page 104. _-ape_, male, man. From a root _ap_, to cover (carnally). In Chipeway applied only to lower animals. _-atton_, or _hatton_, to have, to put somewhere. The radical is _ãt_. Also a prefix, as, _hattape_, the bow; lit., what the man has. _-bi_, tree; _machtschibi_, papaw tree. _-chum_, a quadruped. _-elendam_, a verbal termination, signifying a disposition of mind. The root is _en, ne, ni_, I; "it is to me so." _-goot_, a snake; from _achgook_, a serpent. _-hanna_, properly _hannek_, a river; from the root, which appears in Cree as _anask_, to stretch out along the ground; _mechhannek_, a large stream.