[42] In a note to Roger Williams,âpé _Key into the Language of America_, p. 22. The tradition referred to is mentioned in the Heckewelder MSS.
[43] Printed in the _Colonial History of New York_, Vol. I. Compare Force, _ubi suprá_, pp. 16, 17.
[44] Rev. J. Morse, _Report on Indian Affairs_, p. 362.
[45] See Gallatin, _Synopsis of the Indian Tribes_, pp. 85, 86.
[46] See _New York Colonial Documents_, Vol. V, pp. 660, 673, etc.
[47] _Pennsylvania Archives_, Vol. I, pp. 299, 300, 302. Gov. Gordon writes to the "Chiefs of ye Shawanese and Assekelaes," under date December, 1731, "I find by our Records that about 34 Years since some Numbers of your Nation came to Sasquehannah," etc. Ibid., p. 302.
Derivation of the Name Lenape.--The Three Sub-Tribes the Minsi or Wolf, the Unami or Turtle, and the Unalachtgo or Turkey Tribes--Their Totems--The New Jersey Tribes the Wapings, Sanhicans and Mantas--Political Constitution of the Lenape--Vegetable Food Resources--Domestic Architecture--Manufactures.--Paints and Dyes.-- Dogs--Interments--Computation of Time--Picture Writing--Record Sticks-- Moral and Mental Character--Religious Belief.--Doctrine of the Soul.-- The Native Priests.--Religious Ceremonies.
The proper name of the Delaware Indians was and is _Lenapé_, (a as in father, é as a in mate). Dr. J. Hammond Trumbull[48] is quite wide of the mark both in calling this a "misnomer," and in attributing its introduction to Mr. Heckewelder.
Long before that worthy missionary was born, the name was in use in the official documents of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania as the synonym in the native tongue for the Delaware Indians,[49] and it is still retained by their remnant in Kansas as the proper term to designate their collective nation, embracing its sub-tribes.[50]
The derivation of _Lenape_ has been discussed with no little learning, as well as the adjective _lenni_, which often precedes it (Lenni Lenape). Mr. Heckewelder stated that _lenni_ means "original, pure," and that _Lenape_ signifies "people."[51] Dr. Trumbull, in the course of a long examination of the words for "man" in the Algonkin dialects, reaches the conclusion that "Len-âpé" denotes "a common adult male," _i. e._, an Indian man; _lenno lenâpé_, an Indian of _our_ tribe or nation, and, consequently, _vir_, "a man of men."[52] He derives these two words from the roots _len_ (= _nen_), a pronominal possessive, and _ape_, an inseparable generic particle, "denoting an adult male."
