Susquehannock language

Susquehannock is an extinct language that once was spoken by the Native American Susquehannocks. It is a part of the Iroquoian language family.

Susquehannock
Native toNortheastern United States
Extinct1763
Iroquoian
  • Northern
    • Lakes Iroquoian
      • Five Nations
        • Susquehannock
Language codes
ISO 639-3sqn
sqn
Glottologsusq1241
pre-contact distribution of the Susquehannock language

Little of the Susquehannock language has been preserved. The only source is a Vocabula Mahakuassica compiled by the Swedish missionary Johannes Campanius during the 1640s and published with additions in 1696[1] and 1702.[2] The 1702 book was translated into English in 1834 by Peter S. du Ponceau.[3]

Campanius's vocabulary contains only 89 words but is sufficient to show that Susquehannock was a Northern Iroquoian language closely related to those of the Five Nations.[4] Surviving remnants of the Susquehannock language include the river names Conestoga, Juniata, and Swatara.

Notes
  1. Johan Campanius. 1696. Catechismvs Lutheri Lingva Svecico-Americana: Lutheri Catechismus/ Öfwersatt på American-Virginiske Språket. Stockholm: Burchardi Tryckeri af J. J. Genath. (Reprinted 1937 in Stockholm by Ivar Haeggström)
  2. Thomas Campanius Holm. 1702. Kort beskrifning om provincien Nya Swerige uit America: Som nu förtjden af the Engelske kallas Pensylvania. Stockholm: J.H. Werner for Sal. Wankijfs.
  3. Peter S. Du Ponceau. 1834. "A Short Description of the Province of New Sweden, Now Called, by the English, Pennsylvania, in America." Compiled From the Relations and Writings of Persons Worthy of Credit, and Adorned With Maps and Plates. By Thomas Campanius Holm. Translated from the Swedish, for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. With Notes. By Peter S. Du Ponceau. Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania 3:1-166. (Reprinted 1834 in Philadelphia by McCarty & Davis)
    cited in Marianne Mithun. The Languages of Native America (1999, Cambridge University Press).
  4. Marianne Mithun. 1981. "Stalking the Susquehannocks," International Journal of American Linguistics 47:1-26.

References
  • "A Vocabulary of Susquehannock", 2nd edition, Thomas Campanius Holm, Evolution Publishing & Manufacturing, 2007.


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