'God' Entry From Du Ponceau's Comparative Vocabulary of Algonquian Languages Abstract: 'God' entry from Du Ponceau's "Comparative Vocabulary and Discussion of Languages of the Algonquian Family" in Dissertation on the Grammatical System of the Languages of Some Indians of North America, (Paris, 1938) by Peter Stephen Du Ponceau (1760-1844).
I. GOD The Indians do not give the divine their own discrete names as we do. They refer instead to the star, the sun, the great, the good spirit, the true spirit, that which never fails. Or else they designate it by some of its attributes, as we will see.
1. Star, Sun
See the entry for this word.
The vocabularies indicate but a few nations which designate the Supreme Being in this way. They are northern nations.
The Micmacs or Souriquois, who inhabit Nova Scotia say: Keyshourk, the sun. (See Mass. Hist. Col., vol. 6, p. 18.) One vocabulary manuscript has it Keysourk. The Skoffies, a neighboring tribe, say Sheyshourk. (Mass. Coll.)
The Montagnais of Canada, according to the same source, also say Sheyshourk. The small vocabulary included in the P. Lejeun account says that they call God Atahocam, Creator of the world. This is very probable, as we have subsequently verified.
In the south, the Indians who formerly inhabited Virginia but are now extinct, the Powhatans, called God or the gods okees (okis) , according to Capt. Smith. They called the sun keshowges (kichôguis or kichokis). The name given to God is probably an abridgement of that word. We do not find another nation that calls God star or sun.
2. Spirit
In all the languages in the Algonquian family, the word manitto or manitou signifies the spirit. Some nations use this word principally to designate the evil spirit or the devil. Thus, in the small vocabulary of P. Lejeune, one finds manitou, spirit, devil; manitousiouats , sorcerers; manitouhhati, leg of the devil. But in general, the Indians in this family distinguish between the great and good and the evil spirit by calling both manitou and then adding a modifier. Kitchi and ketsi (the great) designate the good spirit and matchi or matsi (bad) the evil spirit. The Shawnee say wissé or wishé manitou, the good spirit.
We have not found an exception to this rule except in the language of the Abenakis where, according to P. Rasles, God is called Ketsinioueskou the great genie or spirit, and the devil is called Matsinioueskou , the evil genie. We do not know the derivation of the word nioueskou.
Many nations, using the word manitou, form names in their own manner to designate the divinity. Thus, in the Lenape language God is called Getanittowit, or rather Kittaniltowit. The Germans, who do not have this word, switch the G with the K. This word is formed from kitta or kita, great and from manitou , from which is removed the first syllable ma. Added to the end of the word is wit, a termination adjective which indicates a mode of existence. By the same process is made kittakima, a grand chief or prince, from kitta and sakima, from which we form the word sachem. Kittahican, the sea or the great ocean, is one of many other similar examples.
3. Names given to the Supreme Being
Patamowos (Lenape), Pachtamoawos (Mohican) is the name which the Moravian missionaries most often use to designate God. This word, in Lenape, is derived from patamauwan, to adore (Latin: adorare, colere illum) and signifies that worthy of adoration. In the hymns, the Bible stories and lives of saints, in the Lenape language, God is constantly called Patamawos, when it is simply a matter of the name. But there are also, as in other languages, other different names such as Gischelemuschquenk , our Creator, and other similar instances.
It is amazing that, in spite of the richness of the American languages and the great number of ways that are offered to designate the divine, most of the European missionaries, in their religious books in Indian languages, use their own name for God, each in the language that comes natural to them. P. Brébeuf uses the French word Dieu, which the Indians are not able to pronounce. The venerable Elios himself, in his translation of the Bible into the Massachusett language, rejected the words of Indian origin in order to introduce the word God. Dios and Deos are found in almost all the Indian books published by the Spanish and Portugese missionaries. There are very few exceptions to this rule, and they are recent. One forgets that the word Dieu, Dios, Deos comes from the Latin Deu, from the name the Greek pagans gave their Jupiter, and that the word God is another instance of the name changed a little from Woden, the idol of the ancient Scandinavians. But every one seems to believe that God listens better to the European languages than to the American, and that he will not recognize the prayers made under the name of Patamawos or Kitchi manitou. Where is this national pride going to rest? The good Zimmerman said that this pride existed everywhere, except with the Swiss. Zimmerman was Swiss.
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Translated by: Jim Fay, Ph.D.
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