Alënixsitàm! 

Let's Talk Lenape!

Lesson #8

More Kinship Terms:

In lesson 7 we discussed some basic kinship terms and here are some more:

Note:  All the following terms for brother or sister are also used for cousins of all degrees.  The ones ending with an exclamation mark (!) are vocative forms used in speaking to your relative:

Older Brother  -(na)xans

 naxans                        my older brother

 kxans  [ kënaxans]        your older brother

 xònsa                          his/her older brother

 xansa                          Older brother!

Older Sister    -mis

 nëmis                          my older sister

 këmis                          your older sister

 mwisa                         his/her older sister

 mësa                           Older sister!

Younger Sibling (Brother or Sister)   -(na)xisëmës

 naxisëmës                            my younger brother or sister

 kxisëmës [ kënaxisëmës]       your younger brother or sister

 xwisëmësa                           his/her younger brother or sister

 xisëmësa  ~   xata  ~   xatash  ~   xatas   Younger brother! or Younger sister!

Aunt   -kahètët  (literally:  “little mother”)

 nkahètët                             my aunt

 kahètët                               your aunt

 kohètëta                             his/her aunt

 kahèti  ~   nkahèti                Aunt!

Uncle   -shis  (mother’s brother only)

 nshis                                  my mother’s brother

 kshis                                  your mother’s brother

 wshisa                                his/her mother’s brother

 shësa                                  Mother’s brother!  Uncle!

Uncle    -uxtët  (father’s brother only) (literally:  “little father”)

 nuxtët                                 my father’s brother

 kuxtët                                 your father’s brother

 uxtëta                                 his/her father’s brother

 nuxtëta                               Father’s brother!  Uncle!

Grandchild   -uxwis  (male or female)

 nuxwis                              my grandchild

 kuxwis                              your grandchild

 uxwisa                             his/her grandchild

 nuxwiti                            Grandchild!

And one strange Lenape kin term:

 nuxwisxàm                  my child’s pet (literally: “my grandchild animal.”  Mainly used when speaking of a dog.)

Imperative Forms:

Some of the verb forms are classed as Imperative which often means they are a command but depending on how they are said they could also be considered as a request. 

All Delaware verbs are built around a ROOT, which carries the basic meaning of the verb.  A verbalizing suffix is added to the root to form a STEM.  In the examples below the basic root of the verb is shown by the third person imperative which takes no prefix or suffix.  We will begin with a very simple one and that is the Lenape verb, To Give, and the basic form is, Mil.  In Lenape that is the form that is called third person imperative and what it literally is saying is, Give it/them to Him or Her. That could be written something like:

         VERB + -0  =  VERB him or her.

 Mil             Give him/her

The imperative form for, VERB me, could be written as

         VERB + -i   =  VERB me

 Mili             Give me

And the imperative form for, VERB us, could be written as:

         VERB + -inèn   =  VERB us

 Milinèn        Give us

 Now that we know the root of the verb we can look at other words that can be added on in this imperative format.  Sample usage:

 Mili në shukël.              Give me the sugar. 

 Mili në ahpon               Give me the bread.

You can also say:

 Mili ahpon                   Give me some bread.

 Mil ahpon                    Give him some bread.

Other examples:

 Wichëm                       Help him

 Wichëmi                      Help me

 Wichëmikw                  Help me, you people

 Wichëminèn                 Help us

 Witkèm                       Dance with him/her

 Witkèmi                      Dance with me

 Witkèmikw                  Dance with me, you people

 Witkèminèn                 Dance with us

These forms might be useful to you:

 xàm                            Feed him

 xami                           Feed me

 xamikw                     Feed me, you people                    

 xaminèn                    Feed us

In Lenape it is often common to use a verbal form which includes the noun which it is built around.  An example might be taking the word,  Alukwèpi = Hat, and using it in a verb.  An example would be:

 alukwèpisu                        He is wearing a hat

Another example using a word that we have already had is the word,  Hèmpës = A shirt or a dress.  In Lenape you can combine different word elements into a single word because Lenape is what linguists call a polysynthetic language. 

If we take the prefix Aon- which means, Blue, we can combine it with the Lenape word for a shirt or a dress and make it is: 

 aonhèmpës                   blue dress or shirt                                                

         And it can be made into a verb:

 aonhèmpse                 She is wearing a blue dress, or He is wearing a blue shirt

You might think that it is confusing whether that can mean a shirt or a dress and wonder why it can be used that way.  Remember that at the time the Lenape people adopted the word Hèmpës their clothing was made of deerskin so this was somewhat of a catchall term for something made of cloth.  If you have to be specific in Lenape about it being for a man you can say:

 lënuwahèmpës             A man’s shirt