N’mitzi, I eat.[284] N’mamitzi, I am eating, or am in the act of eating. N’mitzihump, I have eaten. Metschi n’gischi mitzi, I am come from eating. N’dappi mitzi, I am returned from eating.
The first two n’mitzi and n’mamitzi, both mean I eat, but the one is used in the indefinite, and the other in the definite sense, and a good speaker will never employ the one instead of the other. The three last expressions are all past tenses of the verb “I eat,” and all mean, “I have eaten,” but a person just risen from table, will not say, “n’dappi mitzi;” this expression can only be used after leaving the place where he has been eating, in answer to a person who asks him “where he comes from.” The word “n’dappi” is connected with the verb apatschin, to return. There is another distinction, proper to be mentioned here. If the place where the person comes from is near, he says “n’dappi,” if distant “n’dappa.” Thus:
N’dappi pihm, I am come from sweating (or from the sweat oven.)
N’dappihackiheen, I am come from planting.
N’dappi wickheen, I am come from building a house.
N’dappimanschasqueen, I am come from mowing grass.
N’dappi notamæsin, I am come from striking fish with a spear.
N’dappallauwin, I am come (returned) from hunting.
N’dappachtopalin, I am come (returned) from making war.
In the future tense I could shew similar distinctions, but it would lead me too far.
I must now take notice of what Father Sagard says, as you have mentioned in your letter of the 13th inst., that the Indian languages have “no roots, and that there is no regularity in the formation of their words.” It is certain that the manner in which the Indians in general form their words is different from that of the Europeans, but I can easily prove to you that they understand the manner of forming them from “roots.” I take, for instance, the word wulit, good, proper, right, from which are derived:
Wulik, the good. Wulaha, better. Wulisso, fine, pretty. Wulamoewagan, truth. Wulatenamuwi, happy. Wulatenamoagan, happiness. Wulapensowagan, blessing. Wulapan, fine morning. Wuliechen, it is good, or well done. Wulittol, they are good. Wuliken, it grows well, thrives. Wuliechsin, to speak well. Wulelendam, to rejoice. Wulamallsin, to be well, happy.
Wulandeu,} Wuligischgu,}a fine day.
You will naturally observe that the words derived from the root Wulit, imply in general the idea of what is good, handsome, proper, decent, just, well, and so pursuing the same general object to happiness and its derivatives; happiness being considered as a good and pleasant feeling, or situation of the mind, and a person who is happy, as being well. This does not, as you might suppose, make the language ambiguous; for the Indians speak and understand each other with great precision and clearness.
I have yet to answer your question about the f and w. There are in the Delaware language no such consonants as the German w, or English v, f, or r. Where w in this language is placed before a vowel, it sounds the same as in English; before a consonant, it represents a whistled sound of which I cannot well give you an idea on paper, but which I shall easily make you understand by uttering it before you when we meet.
I am, &c.