The Hebrew and Indian words, which express delineating, writing, decyphering, marking, and painting, convey the same literal meaning in both languages; as Exod. xvii. 14. כתב שפר (Chethéba Sepháre) “delineate this with delineations;” and, with the Indians, Hoorèso is, in like manner, the radical name of books, delineating, &c.; and Ootehna that for numbering, instead of reading. The nearest approach they can make to it, is, Anumbōle hoorèso Ishanumbōlas, “You shall speak the speech, which is delineated.”
They call a razor, Baspoo Shaphe, “A shaving knife:” and Shaphe always signifies to shave; probably, because when they first began to shave themselves, they were ridiculed by the higher, or more religious part of the people, for imitating that heathenish custom. The Hebrew שפּה (Shaphe) signifying lip, confession, or worship; which divine writ assures us, the descendants of Noah changed, when they opposed the divine will of settling various parts of the earth, and built the great tower of Babel, as an emblem of greatness, to get them a name[[X]]. {43}
[X]. Skin signifies an eye; and Skeeshāpha, one-eyed; as if proceeding from the divine anger. They often change i into ee.
Loak signifies fire, and Loak Ishtohoollo, “the holy or divine fire,” or the anger of Ishtohoollo, “the great, holy One;” which nearly agrees with the Hebrew להט, that which flames, or scorches with vehement heat. And it is the scripture method of conveying to us a sensible idea of the divine wrath, according to the cherubic name אש, which likewise signifies fire. But the Persians worshipped the burning fire, by the name of Oromazes; and darkness, or the spirit, by that of Aramanius; quite contrary to the religious system of the Indian Americans: and the aforesaid Indian method of expression, seems exactly to coincide with the Hebrew idiom.
Buk-she-ah-ma is the name of their Indian flap, or broad slip of cloth with which the men cover their nakedness; but the word they use to express our sort of breeches, is a compound, Bala-phooka, derived from the Hebrew באל, which signifies, behind; and the Indian Naphooka, a coat, any kind of clothes, or covering; Baloka signifies, behind; silently telling us, they formerly wore a different sort of breeches to what they use at present. They likewise say, Neeppe-Phú-ka, “A flesh-covering.”
The father of King Saul was called Kish, “podex;” which signifies also the rear of an army, or the hindermost person, according to the Hebrew idiom. Thus the Indians, by Kish, express the podex of any animal—the hindermost person—the gavel-end of an house, and the like. Kish Kish, is with them a superlative, and, as before hinted, used to convey the contempt they have for that proper name. May not the contemptible idea the West-Florida-Missisippi Indians affix to the name of Kish, be on account of his son’s succession to the throne, at the end of the theocracy of Israel, and beginning a despotic regal government?
The Indians, according to the usage of the Hebrews, always prefix the substantive to the adjective; as Netak Chookòma, “A good day;” Nakkàne and Eho Chookòma, “A goodly man and woman.” The former of which is termed, in Hebrew, Yoma Tobe, signifying, according to our method of salutation, a good-day, a merry season, a festival day, &c. And the Indian appellatives are similarly exprest in Hebrew, Behtobe and Ashe-Tobe, “A good, goodly, discreet, or wise man and woman.” Chookoma, with the Indians, is the proper name of a comely woman, when A is prefixed to it; as A-chookòma, “My goodly, or beautiful:” they use it for a warrior, {44} when it is compounded without the A; as Chookòma hummáshtàbe, “One who killed a beautiful, great, red, or war-chieftain;” which is compounded of Chookoma, comely, Humma, red, אש, Ash, fire, and Abe, a contraction of אבל, Abele, signifying grief, or sorrow. Hence it appears, that because the Hebrews affixed a virtuous idea to Tobe, goodly; the Indians call white by the same name, and make it the constant emblem of every thing that is good, according to a similar Hebrew custom. Of this the sacred oracles make frequent mention.
The Jews called that, which was the most excellent of every thing, the fat; and the Indians, in like manner, say, Oosto Neehe, “The fat of the pompion,” Tranche Neehe, “The fat of the corn.”[corn.”] Neeha is the adjective, signifying fat, from which the word Neeta, “a bear,” is derived. They apply the word heart, only to animate beings.
As the Deity is the soul of every system—and as every nation, from the remotest ages of antiquity, believed that they could not live well, without some god or other; when, therefore, we clearly understand the name, or names, by which any society of people express their notions of a deity, we can with more precision form ideas of the nature of their religious worship, and of the object, or objects, of their adoration. I shall therefore here give a plain description of the names by which the Indian Americans speak of God.
Ishtohoollo is an appellative for God. Ishtohoollo points at the greatness, purity, and goodness, of the Creator in forming איש[איש] and אישא: it is derived from Ishto, GREAT, which was the usual name of God through all the prophetic writings; likewise, from the present tense of the infinitive mood of the active verb, Ahoollo, “I love,” and from the preter tense of the passive verb, Hoollo, which signifies “sanctifying, sanctified, divine, or holy.” Women set apart, they term, Hoollo, i. e. sanctifying themselves to Ishtohoollo: likewise, Netakhoollo signifies “a sanctified, divine, or holy day;” and, in like manner, Ookka Hoollo, “water sanctified,” &c. So that, Ishtohoollo, when applied to God, in its true radical meaning, imports, “The great, beloved, holy Cause;” which is exceedingly comprehensive, and more expressive of the true nature of God, than the Hebrew name Adonai, which is applicable to a human being. Whenever the {45} Indians apply the epithet, compounded, to any of their own religious men, it signifies the great, holy, beloved, and sanctified men of the Holy One.