To every one of these objections the general principles developed in the previous pages will be found to involve a complete answer. 1. The differences apparently fundamental in the words of American languages may be accounted for in the same manner as similar differences in the languages of the old world (the Gothic and Celtic for example,) have already been explained, viz. by the tendency to abandon different synonymes. 2. That attempts to prove a close specific relation between the North American dialects and any one Asiatic language, such as the Chinese or the Hebrew, should have failed, was to be expected as a consequence of the same tendency. 3. Finally, differences of Grammar have been shown to be fallacious evidence viewed separately and without due regard to other features of language.[137] Moreover, it will [pg 159] presently appear clearly that, even as regards the Grammar of the Indian Dialects, Du Ponceau's impressions can be distinctly proved to be erroneous, an extended comparison serving to render manifest the interesting fact that, as respects the elements of Grammar, these dialects perfectly agree with the Asiatic and European languages, while in the mode of combining those elements, they do not differ from those languages more widely than the latter differ among themselves.
If the ancestors of the American Indians emigrated at a remote period from the opposite Asiatic Coasts, we have no right to anticipate in their dialects a complete conformity to any one language of the old world, but general and varying features of resemblance to several. The kindred dialects of the same Continent after the lapse of a considerable time do not exhibit any other kind of resemblance! Now this is the species of relation which the North American Indian dialects actually display when compared to the Languages of the Old World!
The chief examples which I have selected as illustrations of this proposition have been taken from the Algonquyn dialects, the very class examined by Du Ponceau himself, to which I have added a few corroborative instances from those of the tribes of the regions to the west of the Mississippi which have been lately described by Mr. Catlin. The dialects termed Algonquyn by Du Ponceau were formerly spoken by numerous tribes who, though not the sole inhabitants, were originally spread through the whole of the present territory of the United States, including the “Lenni Lenapé,” the “Chippeways,” and other powerful septs.
With regard to this class of Indian Dialects I propose to show: 1. That as regards Words they bear a close resemblance to a great variety of Asiatic and European languages. 2. That their grammatical peculiarities, in like manner, combine [pg 160] those of various languages of the Old World, as in the instance of their Verbs and Pronouns, in which the inflections of the Greek and other Indo-European Tongues are found united with separate Pronouns identical with those common to the Welsh on the one hand and the Hebrew and its kindred Semetic dialects on the other.
Words from the North American Indian Dialects of the Algonquyn Class compared with analogous Terms in Asiatic and European Languages.
Man ittou, “The Deity, a Spirit,” (Ind.,[138]) Mouno he ka, “Ghosts,” (Mandan,[139]) Manes, “The Spirits of the Dead,” (Latin,) Manus, “The Mind,” (Sanscrit,) Mēn, “The Mind,” (Greek,) Mens, Ment-is (Latin), Pata-maw-os, “The Deity,” from Pata-maw-an, “To adore,” (Ind.,) Poth-ēmenai, “To seek, or pray to,” (Doric,) for Poth-ein (Greek), Peton, “To worship,” Peta, “A Prayer,” (Old High German,) Bet-en, Bitte (German); see, as to N'iou and Nioueskou, two remarkable words for “The Deity,” (Ind.,) pages [22], [23], [24]. For names of the Heavenly Bodies, see [Appendix A].
“Father,” Ooch, Oss (Ind.), Ozha (Sclavon.), Otze (Dalmatian), Wosch (Lusatian), Otzie (Bohemian), Nosa (Ind.), Niza, Niesee (Samoieds).
“Mother,” Anna (Ind.), Ana (Turkish), Anya (Hungarian), Nanna (Ind.), Nain[140] (Welsh), Ningé (Ind.), Naing (Irish), Nik, Nêkaoui (Ind.), N.k.be[141] (Hebrew).
“A Woman,” Panum, Phanem (Ind.), Banen (Cornish), Been (Welsh), Pin, “A Female,” applied to animals, (Chinese.)
“A Girl,” Kan-isswah (Ind.), Gen eez (Pers.), Nunk-shoué, Nunk[142] (Ind.), Neang (Chin.), Non (Mantschu).