Nansemond language
Extinct unclassified language of Virginia, United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nansemond language is an extinct language that was spoken by the Nansemond people of Virginia, United States.
| Nansemond | |
|---|---|
| Native to | United States |
| Region | Virginia |
| Ethnicity | Nansemond |
| Era | attested 1901 |
unclassified (Algonquian?) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
The Nansemond language may have been a member of the Algonquian language family, similar to that of many other Atlantic coastal tribes. However, only six words have been preserved, which are not enough to identify and classify it.[1]
Word list
The six Nansemond words, which may have been corrupted in memory by the time they were written down in 1901, are:[2]
- There are a few Nansemond words that were historically documented by John Smith, including:
English Nansemond one nĭkătwĭn two näkătwĭn three nikwásăti four toisíaw’ five mishä́naw dog marímo
- fishing point Nansemond
- ??? Mattanock
- ??? Chuckatuck
- ???
- ???
- ??? Weyhohomo
- non-Christian/Nansemond Pochick[citation needed]
Lexical comparison
Below is a comparison of Nansemond words and selected proto-languages from Zamponi (2024).[3]
language one two three four five dog Nansemond nĭkătwĭn näkătwĭn nikwásăti toisíaw’ mishäʹnaw marímo Proto-Algonquian[4] *nekwetwi *nyi·šwi *neʔθwi *nye·wi *nya·θanwi, pale·neθkwi *aθemwa Proto-Iroquoian (PI)/
Proto-Northern Iroquoian (PNI)[5]*õskat (PNI) *tekniːh (PNI) *ahsẽh (PNI) *kajeɹi (PNI) *hwihsk (PI) *kiːɹ (PI) Proto-Siouan[6] *rų·sa *rų́·pa *rá·wrį *tó·pa *kiSų́· *wašų́ke/*wišų́·ke
See also
- Pamunkey language
- Chickahominy language
- Rappahannock language
- Mattaponi language
- Patawomeck language