In connection with dialectic variation, the interesting question arises as to the rapidity of change in language. With regard to the Lenape we are enabled to compare this for a period covering more than two centuries. To test it, I have arranged the subjoined table of words culled from three writers at about equidistant points in this period. Each wrote in the orthography of his own tongue, and this I have not altered. The words from Campanius are from the southern dialect, which preferred the r to the l, and this substitution should be allowed for in a fair comparison.

COMPARISON OF THE DELAWARE AT INTERVALS DURING 210 YEARS.

Campanius.ZeisbergerWhipple.
164517781855
SwedishGermanEnglish
Orthography.Orthography.Orthography.

Man
 rhenus
 lenno
 lenno
Woman âquaeo ochque h'que'i
Father nωk nooch (my) nuuh
Mother kahaess gahowes gaiez
Head kwijl wil wil
Hair mijrack milach milakh
Ear hittaock w'hittawak (pl.) howitow
Eye schinck w'ushgink tukque´ling
Nose wiküwan w'ikiwan ouiki´o
Mouth tωn w'doon ouitun
Tongue   hijrano w'ilano ouilano
Tooth wippit w'epit ouipita
Hand alænskan w'anach puck-alenge
Foot zijt sit zit
Heart chitto, kitte ktee (thy) huté
House wickωmen wiquoam ouigwam
Pipe hopockan hopenican haboca
Sun chisogh gischuch kishu'h
Star aranck alank alanq'
Fire taenda tindey tundaih
Water bij mbi bih
Snow kuun guhn ku´no

COMPARISON OF THE DELAWARE NUMERALS.

Campanius.Thomas.ZeisbergerWhipple.
1645169517501855
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 no 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.

§ 4. Special Structure of the Lenape.

The Root and the Formation of the Theme.—As they appear in the language of to-day, the Lenape radicals are chiefly monosyllables, which undergo more or less modifications in composition. They cannot be used alone, the tongue having long since passed from that interjectional condition where each of these roots conveyed a whole sentence in itself.