Quiripi language

Quiripi is the name of a Native American language (also known as the Proto Eastern Algonquian – Archaic (PEA-A) R-Dialect), spoken by the Quinnipiac - the indigenous people of Connecticut, Long Island, eastern New York, and northern New Jersey.

One of the earliest Quiripi vocabularies was compiled by Rev. Abraham Pierson in 1658, during his ministry at Branford, Connecticut. His work consisted of a 67-page bi-lingual collection of indigenous words. [Rev. Abraham Pierson, "Some Helps for the Indians", 1658, Cambridge; reprinted by the Connecticut Historical Society Collections, vol. III, 1895, Hartford; and reprinted by Gaynell Stone Levine & Nancy Bonvillain in “Languages and Lore of the Long Island Indians” "Readings in Long Island Archaeology and Ethnohistory", Vol. IV, 1980, Suffolk County Archaeological Association, Stony Brook, NY.] In 1997, Blair A. Rudes identified the dialect as Wampano (Quiripi). He recognized that the language had been spoken by indigenous people all “ [a] long Long Island Sound … from the Connecticut River … to at least as far as Norwalk … possibly up to the Hudson in the west, and included a portion of land in present-day New York State … [as well as] south central and western Long Island.” [Blair A. Rudes, “Resurrecting Wampano (Quiripi) from the Dead: Phonological Preliminaries,” "Anthropological Linguistics", Volume 39, Number 1, Spring 1997, Department of Anthropology, American Indian Studies Research Institute, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.]

Quiripi/Wampano words have been preserved through deeds and place names and through individual efforts. In 1791, President Thomas Jefferson preserved a 202-word vocabulary from Long Island. [Honorable Thomas Jefferson, Esquire, "UNQUACHOG VOCABULARY" (collected June 13. 1791), printed by American Philosophical Society Library, "Freeman Guide" no. 2335, Philadelphia, n.d.] Three early hymns written circa 1740 in the r-dialect (at the Moravian Shekomeko mission near Kent, Connecticut) have been translated by Carl Masthay. [Carl Masthay, “Mahican-Language Hymns, Biblical Prose, and Vocabularies from Moravian Sources, with Eleven Mohawk Hymns (Transcription and Translation).” St. Louis, MO: Carl Masthay, 1980.] In 1787, Ezra Stiles recorded a 44-word Quinnipiac word list from a woman named Sarah Maweeh (Mauwee) at Nau-ka-tungk (Naugatuck), who was born at East Haven, Connecticut. [Ezra Stiles, “Vocabulary of the Language Spoken at Darby and East Haven and Hereabouts” "Itineraries and Memoirs" 4:143-44. Ms. in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT.]

The Algonquian Language Family

The Indigenous Tribal Nations of North America spoke 150 language dialects in USA/CANADA, with 300 dialects in Mexico and 1,000 dialects throughout South America. In the USA and Canada, all but about 60 are endangered.

These indigenous dialects were grouped into seven (7) major linguistic super-families, called phylum. The largest of the Native American Phyla in the USA/Canada is the Algonquian linguistic-cultural family. According to glottochronology, the Algonquian language family is thousands of years old and once covered one-third of the USA/Canada. [Iron Thunderhorse, "A Complete Language Guide & Primer to the Wampano/Quinnipiac R-Dialect of Southwestern New England", ACQTC/ACLI, 2000, p. 2.]

The Algonquian family is divided into four major regional divisions:
# the Northern Region (Canada, Labrador and Upper Great Lakes), where it has its roots;
# the Central Region (Lower Great Lakes);
# the Western Region (Rocky Mountain Divide), and
# the Eastern Region (Atlantic Maritimes).

Indigenous People

The PEA-A (Proto Eastern Algonquian – Archaic) R-Dialect, known today as Wampano-Quiripi, was spoken by the Algonquian tribes of the Wappinger-Mattabesec Confederacy. These were the Renapi (pre-Lenape Munsee/Muncee and Quiripi/Quinnipiac).

The dialect was spoken throughout Connecticut, eastern New York, northern New Jersey, and western Long Island between AD 0 to AD 1500. After 1600 AD, it became pidginized into a "lingua-franca", combining elements of the l, n, y, and r dialects into a limited vocabulary. [“UNDERSTANDING THE UNQUACHOG VOCABULARY” American Philosophical Society Library, Philadelphia, n.d. (introduction to “Vocabulary of Unquachog” "op.cit.").]

Several recorded vocabularies, word lists, prayers, etc. survived into the 20th century, yet the best source is the bi-lingual catechism compiled in 1658 by Reverend Abraham Pierson at the Quinnipiac’s TOTOKET sub-sachemship (Branford, Connecticut). This was actually a debate between Puritan ministers and Quinnipiac elders about converting to Christian religion. [Pierson, "op.cit."] This source was used by ACLI (Algonquian Confederacies Language Institute) to reconstruct, resurrect and revive the Wampano-Quiripi PEA-A R-Dialect. [Thunderhorse, "op. cit."]

Geographic Region

The PEA-A R-Dialect was spoken throughout the eastern maritimes (prior to 1500) from Nova Scotia to New Jersey and Long Island Sound to Illinois. Traces of this archaic dialect survive in numerous Treaty-Deeds and place-names.

As the Algonquian people migrated and came into contact with other languages and regional dialects – pidginized forms ("lingua-francas") developed. Two dominant groups spoke the PEA-A R-Dialect, i.e., the Munsee-dominant WAPPINGER (or Wampano), and the Quinnipiac-dominant QUIRIPI (sometimes spelled Quiripey). Their combined Sachemdoms formed a regional confederacy (WAPPINGER-MATTABESEC) that covered all of Connecticut, eastern New York (below Esopus and the Shawangunk Mountains), northern New Jersey (Ramapo Mountains), and the western half of Long Island (Unquachog dominant).

Historical Timeline

References

Quiripi Language Resources

* "The Complete Guide for Learning, Speaking, and Writing the PEA-A Wampano-Quiripi R-Dialect" (Revised and Expanded Edition), QTC Press, ACLI SERIES #4, copyright ACQTC, Inc., 201 Church Street, Milltown, IN.
* [http://www.native-languages.org/quiripi_prayer.htm Quiripi Lord’s Prayer]

* Rev. Abraham Pierson’s 1658 bi-lingual catechism – "Some Helps for the Indians", available as reprint in “ Language and Lore of the Long Island Indians,” by Gaynell Stone-Levine and Nancy Bonvillain, Eds., "Readings in Long Island Archaeology and Ethnohistory", Volume IV, Suffolk County Archaeological Association, 1980, Stony Brook, NY.

* Blair A. Rudes, Ph.D. “Resurrecting Wampano (Quiripi) from the Dead: Phonological Preliminaries,” in "ANTHROPOLOGICAL LINGUISTICS", Vol. 39, No. 1, Spring 1997.

* “Indian Names of Places, etc. In and Around the Borders of Connecticut…” by James Hammond Trumbull (1881); 1974 reprint Archon Books, Hamden, CT.

* “Word List of Sarah Mahwee” compiled by Ezra Stiles 12-6-1787 (reprinted with many other Quiripi reprints in “LANGUAGE AND LORE OF LONG ISLAND INDIANS…” "supra").

* “The Naticoke and Conoy Indians with a Review of Linguistic Material from Manuscript and Living Sources: An Historical Study,” by Frank G. Speck, 46. Papers of the Historical Society of Delaware n.s. 1. Wilmington.

* "Western Abenaki Dictionary" by Gordon M. Day, Canadian Ethnology Service, Paper 129, 1995. Canadian Museum of Civilization.

* “New England Indian Place Names” in "Rooted Like the Ash Trees", by Carl Masthay, Ph.D., 1987 Eagle Wing Press, Naugatuck, CT.

* "Understanding Algonquian Indian Words (New England)" Revised Edition, by Dr. Frank O’Brien and Julianne Jennings. 2000. Aquidneck Indian Council, Newport, RI.

Quiripi History and Culture Resources

* "We the People Called Quinnipiac" by Iron Thunderhorse, QTC PRESS, E-media e-book on CD-ROM (available at the [http://www.acqtc.com/Store/HomePage ACQTC Trading Post] ).

* “Setting the Record Straight: A Linguistic-Ethnographic Study of the True Identity of the Quinnipiac/Quiripi/Renapi Nation Structure,” by Iron Thunderhorse (available online at [http://www.acqtc.com/articles/SettingtheRecordStraight ACQTC.com] ) - Copy available for study at the Quinnipiac Dawnland Museum & Library, Rte 77 at Rte 80, Guilford, CT.

* Quinnipiac Dawnland Museum & Library, Guilford, CT (see [http://www.acqtc.com/NewsEvents200606 museum grand opening article at ACQTC.com] ).

* For more resources, see the Quinnipiac article Bibliography.