The idea of making or creating is at the bottom of many native titles to supernatural powers, as the Shawnee We-shellaqua, "he that made us all." (Rev. David Jones, Journal of Two Visits, etc., p. 62.) See notes to line four. The Algonkin root, etu, he does, he acts, he makes, would therefore seem to be a radical of the word. (See Howse, Gram. of the Cree Lang., p. 160.)
Dr. Trumbull, on the other hand, believes the only radical to be an, = el or al, in the sense of "to be more than," "to surpass," "to exceed;" and maintains that the syllable it, of the theme manit, is a formative suffix. (In Old and New, March, 1870.)
Heckewelder, in his translation "wonder-doer," recognizes the force of both elements, and from the analogous expressions I have quoted, is probably correct. The element an is thus an intensive prefix to the real root it, and the compound radical thus formed in the third person, singular, månito, means "he or it does or acts in a surpassing or extraordinary manner."
Essop, pl. essopak, frequently recurring words, are suppositive ([see p. 90]) forms of the verb lissin, "to be or do so, to be so situated, disposed, or acting" (Zeisberger, Gram. p. 117). The terminal p is the sign of the preterite. They are dialectic for elsitup and elsichtitup.
The symbol of a head with rays represents a manito. Schoolcraft, Synopsis, Fig. 10.
3. Squier omits the word elumamek. These terms are formal epithets applied to the highest divinity. [See page 158].
Squier also adds that Fig. 3 represents the sun, and is the symbol of the Great Spirit. Both these statements are incorrect. The oval is the earth-plain, with its four cardinal points, and the dot in the centre signifies the spirit. See Copway, p. 135.
4. Sohalawak is not a Delaware form, but is a true Algonkin word, as seen in the Cree ooseh-ayoo, animate, ooseh-taw, inanimate, he, it, makes, produces. (Howse, Cree Grammar,p. 166.) It appears in the Shawnee w'shellaqua, quoted in notes to verse 2; in the Minsi dialect the corresponding word is kwishelmawak; owak is a mistake for woak, and Rafinesque translates it "much air." Awasagamak, heaven, sky, literally, "the land or place beyond," from awossi, beyond; but Dr. Trumbull prefers a derivation from a root signifying "light," Del. waseleu, it is clear or bright (Trans. Am. Philol. Soc., 1872, p. 164); this latter appears to me overstrained. The symbol is the earth surmounted by the sky.
5. The symbol represents the sun, moon and stars in the sky, which is repeated with change of relative positions in the next verse. In Minsi, the fifth line would read, Kwishelmawak kischohk nipahenk alankwewak.
7. On the termination wagan [see page 101]. The prefix ksh, properly k'sch, is intensive, as it is an abbreviation of kitschi, great, large. Thus sokelan, it rains, k'schilan, it rains very hard.