Heckewelder (MSS.) distinguishes between the synthetic form,âpé _ketanittowit_, which he translates "Majestic Being," and the analytic form, _kitschi manito_, which he renders "Supreme Wonder-doer." In the latter, the sense of _manito_ is brought out. In the Delaware and related dialects it conveys the idea of making, or doing (_maniton_, to make, Zeisberger, _Gram._, p. 222; _maranito taendo_, make a fire, Campamus; Chipeway, _win ma-nitawito_ he himself makes it, or, can make it).
The idea of making or creating is at the bottom of many native titles to supernatural powers, as the Shawnee _We-shellaqua_, "he that made us all." (Rev. David Jones, Journal of Two Visits, etc., p. 62.) See notes to line four. The Algonkin root, _etu_, he does, he acts, he makes, would therefore seem to be a radical of the word. (See Howse, _Gram. of the Cree Lang_., p. 160.)
Dr. Trumbull, on the other hand, believes the only radical to be _an_, = _el_ or _al_, in the sense of "to be more than," "to surpass," "to exceed;" and maintains that the syllable _it_, of the theme _manit_, is a formative suffix. (In _Old and New_, March, 1870.)
Heckewelder, in his translation "wonder-doer," recognizes the force of both elements, and from the analogous expressions I have quoted, is probably correct. The element _an_ is thus an intensive prefix to the real root _it_, and the compound radical thus formed in the third person, singular, _månito_, means "he or it does or acts in a surpassing or extraordinary manner."
_Essop_, pl. _essopak_, frequently recurring words, are suppositive (see p. 90) forms of the verb _lissin_, "to be or do so, to be so situated, disposed, _or_ acting" (Zeisberger, _Gram._ p. 117). The terminal _p_ is the sign of the preterite. They are dialectic for _elsitup_ and _elsichtitup_.
The symbol of a head with rays represents a manito. Schoolcraft, _Synopsis_, Fig. 10.
3. Squier omits the word _elumamek_. These terms are formal epithets applied to the highest divinity. See page 158.
Squier also adds that Fig. 3 represents the sun, and is the symbol of the Great Spirit. Both these statements are incorrect. The oval is the earth-plain, with its four cardinal points, and the dot in the centre signifies the spirit. See Copway, p. 135.