Nansemond language
{{Short description|Extinct unclassified language of Virginia, United States}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Nansemond
| nativename =
| states = United States
| region = Virginia
| era = attested 1901
| familycolor = American
| family = unclassified (Algonquian?)
| iso3 = none
| glotto =
| glottorefname =
| ethnicity = Nansemond
}}
The Nansemond language is an extinct language that was spoken by the Nansemond people of Virginia, United States.
The Nansemond language may have been a member of the Algonquian language family, similar to that of many other Atlantic coastal tribes. However, only six words have been preserved, which are not enough to identify and classify it.{{Cite web |url=http://www.italian-journal-linguistics.com/wp-content/uploads/Volume_29_Issue2_Appendice_Zamponi.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2018-12-31 |archive-date=2018-12-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231092715/http://www.italian-journal-linguistics.com/wp-content/uploads/Volume_29_Issue2_Appendice_Zamponi.pdf |url-status=dead }}
Word list
The six Nansemond words, which may have been corrupted in memory by the time they were written down in 1901, are:A Vocabulary of Powhatan, compiled by Captain John Smith, with two word-lists of Pamunkey and Nansemond from other sources. Evolution Publishing, 1997.
:
| class="wikitable sortable"
! English !! Nansemond | |
| one | nĭkătwĭn |
| two | näkătwĭn |
| three | nikwásăti |
| four | toisíaw’ |
| five | mishä́naw |
| dog | marímo |
Lexical comparison
Below is a comparison of Nansemond words and selected proto-languages from Zamponi (2024).{{cite book |last=Zamponi |first=Raoul |title=The Languages and Linguistics of Indigenous North America |chapter=Unclassified languages |publisher=De Gruyter |date=2024 |isbn=978-3-11-071274-2 |doi=10.1515/9783110712742-061 |pages=1627–1648 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110712742-061/html}}
:
| class="wikitable sortable"
! language !! one !! two !! three !! four !! five !! dog | ||||||
| Nansemond | nĭkătwĭn | näkătwĭn | nikwásăti | toisíaw’ | mishäʹnaw | marímo |
| Proto-AlgonquianHewson, John. 1993. A computer-generated dictionary of Proto-Algonquian. Hull: Canadian Museum of Civilization. | *nekwetwi | *nyi·šwi | *neʔθwi | *nye·wi | *nya·θanwi, pale·neθkwi | *aθemwa |
| Proto-Iroquoian (PI)/ Proto-Northern Iroquoian (PNI)Julian, Charles. 2010. A history of the Iroquoian languages. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Ph.D. dissertation. | *õskat (PNI) | *tekniːh (PNI) | *ahsẽh (PNI) | *kajeɹi (PNI) | *hwihsk (PI) | *kiːɹ (PI) |
| Proto-SiouanRankin, Robert L., Richard T. Carter, A. Wesley Jones, John E. Koontz, David S. Rood & Iren Hartmann (eds.). 2015. [http://csd.clld.org Comparative Siouan dictionary]. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Accessed 31 January 2023. | *rų·sa | *rų́·pa | *rá·wrį | *tó·pa | *kiSų́· | *wašų́ke/*wišų́·ke |
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Algonquian languages}}
{{North American languages}}
Category:Unclassified languages of North America
Category:Extinct languages of North America
Category:Indigenous languages of the North American eastern woodlands