_Campanius._ _Thomas._ _Zeisberger._ _Whipple._ 1645. 1695. 1750. 1855.
1 Ciútte Kooty Ngutti Co´te 2 Nissa Nisha Nischa Ni´sha 3 Náha Natcha Nacha Naha´ 4 Nævvo Neo Newo Ne´ewah 5 Pareenach Pelenach Palenach Pahle´nah'k 6 Ciuttas Kootash Guttasch Cot´tasch 7 Nissas Nishash Nischasch Ni´shasch 8 Haas Choesh Chasch Hasch 9 Paeschum Peshonk Peschkonk Pes´co 10 Thæren Telen Tellen Te´len
I have âpéno doubt that if a Swede, a German and an Englishman were to-day to take down these words from the mouth of a Delaware Indian, each writing them in the orthography of his own tongue, the variations would be as numerous as in the above list, except, perhaps, the ancient and now disused _r_ sound. The comparison goes to show that there has probably been but a very slight change in the Delaware, in spite of the many migrations and disturbances they have undergone. They speak the language of their forefathers as closely as do the English, although no written documents have aided them in keeping it alive. This is but another proof added to an already long list, showing that the belief that American languages undergo rapid changes is an error.
The dialect which the Moravian missionaries learned, and in which they composed their works, was that of the Lehigh Valley. That it was not an impure Minsi mixed with Mohegan, as Dr. Trumbull seems to think[163], is evident from the direct statements of the missionaries themselves, as well as from Heckewelder's Minsi vocabularies, which show many points of divergence from the printed books. Moreover, among the first converts from the Delaware nation were members of the Unami or Turtle tribe, and Zeisberger was brought into immediate contact with them[164]. We may fairly consider it to have been the upper or inland Unami, which, as I have said, was recognized by the nation as the purest, or at least the most polished dialect of their tongue. It stood midway between the Unalachtgo and Southern Unami and the true Minsi.
[151] _Transactions of the American Philological Association_, 1872, p. 158.
[152] Penn, Letter to the Free Society of Traders, 1683, Sec. xii.
[153] On the literary works of Zeisberger, see Rev. E. de Schweinitz, _Life of Zeisberger_, chap, xlviii, who gives a full account of all the printed works, but does not describe the MSS.