| Nansemond | |
|---|---|
| Native to | United States |
| Region | Virginia |
| Ethnicity | Nansemond |
| Era | attested 1901 |
unclassified (Algonquian?) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | None (mis) |
TheNansemond language is an extinct language that was spoken by theNansemond people ofVirginia, United States.
The Nansemond language may have been a member of theAlgonquian 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.[1]
The six Nansemond words, which may have been corrupted in memory by the time they were written down in 1901, are:[2]
| English | Nansemond |
|---|---|
| one | nĭkătwĭn |
| two | näkătwĭn |
| three | nikwásăti |
| four | toisíaw’ |
| five | mishä́naw |
| dog | marímo |
Below is a comparison of Nansemond words and selectedproto-languages from Zamponi (2024).[3]
| language | one | two | three | four | five | dog |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nansemond | nĭkătwĭn | näkătwĭn | nikwásăti | toisíaw’ | mishäʹnaw | marímo |
| Proto-Algonquian[4] | *nekwetwi | *nyi·šwi | *neʔθwi | *nye·wi | *nya·θanwi, pale·neθkwi | *aθemwa |
| Proto-Iroquoian (PI)/ Proto-Northern Iroquoian (PNI)[5] | *õskat (PNI) | *tekniːh (PNI) | *ahsẽh (PNI) | *kajeɹi (PNI) | *hwihsk (PI) | *kiːɹ (PI) |
| Proto-Siouan[6] | *rų·sa | *rų́·pa | *rá·wrį | *tó·pa | *kiSų́· | *wašų́ke/*wišų́·ke |
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