Stories and Teachings from the Earth, part 23: A Brief History of the Algonkian language

zhaawano

2 days ago6 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Migiziwi-giizis (Bald Eagle Moon) - March 6, 2025

Madweyaashi Manidookewin Nanaandawi'iwed "The wind Medicine Healer" painting by Zhaawano Giizhik — Madweyaashi Manidookewin Nanaandawi'iwed ("The Wind Medicine Healer") ©2025 Zhaawano Giizhik

Boozhoo! Welcome again to my storytelling lodge, where there is love and learning!

In a previous post, I recounted a tale about the beginnings of the Algonkian language, which is spoken by many Indigenous tribes throughout Turtle Island, or North America. The tale involves a wind medicine healer who summons a stone from the lake's depths, thereby unleashing the "language of the earth"—the precursor to the Algonkian language as we recognize it today.

The story is an aadizookaan, meaning it is of a traditional nature, conveyed through a magical Indigenous viewpoint, and does not reflect the development of the Algonkian language in a more "scientific" sense. I have set the tale in an Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) context, and it is essentially cross-cultural, drawing inspiration from a traditional Mushkegowuk (Swampy Cree) teaching shared by my friend, Michel Sutherland from Ft. Albany, Ontario. In this traditional story, Michel explains how the “mathou asini” (similar to “manidoo asin” in the Ojibwe language) created the Algonkian language. He told me: "Mathou asin…strange, unusual, mystical...its role or function or purpose is to interpret and translate other languages, the core of the earth sent a molded rock up onto the surface, through rock, water, and to air... To be the interpreter of her voice. To translate many other languages...Aki Inwewin, Algonkian..."

It is highly likely that Michel's People, the Ininewak, commonly referred to by the exonym "Cree," were the original speakers of Algonkian as it is currently spoken in Canada and the northern United States. It is possible that, in ancient times, the Ininewak and the ancestors of today's Ojibwe Anishinaabeg were a single group; indeed, the Inninew/Cree language is much older than Anishinaabemowin – the language spoken by the Ojibweg, Odaawaag, Bodewadmig, Anishininiwag (Oji-Cree), and Omàmiwininiwak (Algonkin). The Ojibweg traditionally refer to the Ininewak as Ginishtinoog, or Ginishtinoowag: "They Who Were First." (Later, the name was altered by the French to "Cree.")

As recounted in a well-known Ojibwe aadizookaan, long ago, after the land, shaped like a turtle shell, emerged following a massive flood, Wenabozho, the kind and androgynous spirit-human, traversed the land naming everything in nature. As he/she explored, he/she became acquainted with all aspects of it, including the mountains, rivers, lakes, trees, plants, animals, insects, birds, and fish. By leaping into each new creation, he/she fully experienced its essence, sometimes even multiple existences simultaneously. This was possible because he/she is a shapeshifter, unrestricted by the physical confines of the human body due to his/her supernatural powers. Wenabozho's act of naming everything in nature bestowed upon the Ojibweg their richly descriptive language, Anishinaabemowin. Thanks to Wenabozho, Anishinaabemowin, or Ojibwemowin, is a language characterized by action, relationship, unity, and connection. Unlike English, Ojibwemowin isa verb-action based language, with over 4,000 verb forms, where nearly two-thirds of Ojibwe words are verbs.

What is the ancient history of the ancestors of the Ojibwe Anishinaabeg? According to an ancient Midewiwin allegory, long before the Ojibwe Anishinaabeg recognized themselves as a unique cultural group, a community living in the area now known as Sault Ste. Marie embarked on a significant eastward migration in search of Waabanaki, a distant Land of Sunrise. After many winters and summers of traveling, these people (who were the distant ancestors of the Anishinaabeg and possibly closely related to the forebears of today's Ininewak/Cree) finally reached the Promised Land on the northern shore of the Great Salt Sea (Atlantic). Enchanted by the beauty and richness of this land, they decided to settle there. Over time, many forgot their origins and began to call themselves Waabanakiig, People of The Dawn Land. The language they spoke might have been the forerunner to what is now known as the Eastern Algonkian language group.

The Algonkian languages (also known as Algonquian) form a family of languages spoken throughout Turtle Island (North America). Prominent nations and tribes that speak these languages include, from east to west, Alnôbak (Abenaki), Lenni Lenape, Mi'kmaq, Ininewak (Cree), Shaawanwaki (Shawnee), Omàmiwininiwak (Algonquin), Ojibweg, Odaawaag, Bodéwadmik, Myaamiaki (Miami), Mamaceqtaw (Menominee), Thâkîwaki (Sauk), Meshkwahkihaki (Fox), Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), Só'taétaneo'o/Tsétsėhéstȧhese (Cheyenne), and Hinono'eiteen (Arapaho). The name Algonkian comes from Algonkin/Algonquin, which itself originates from the Wəlastəkwewiyik (Maliseet) word elakómkwik ("they are our relatives/allies.")

Speakers of Algonkian languages are located from the eastern coast of Turtle Island to the Rocky Mountains. The ancestral language of this family, Proto-Algonkian—a "reconstructed" language believed to be the origin of all Algonkian languages—was spoken around 3,000 to 7,500 years ago. (Two languages from the region now known as California, Wiyot and Yurok, are distantly related to the Algonkian languages. These two languages and the Algonkian group are thought to have originated from a language even older than Proto-Algonkian, called Proto-Algic.)

Algonkian (Algonquian)*
- Plains
  - 1. Blackfoot
  - Arapahoan (including Nawathinehena (†), and Besawunena (†))
    - 2. Arapaho proper
    - 3. Gros Ventre (†)
  - 4. Cheyenne
- Central
  - 5. Cree–Innu–Naskapi
  - 6. Menominee (severely endangered)
  - Ojibwe–Potawatomi
    - 7. Ojibwe
    - 8. Potawatomi (nearly extinct)
    - 9. Sauk–Fox–Kickapoo (severely endangered)
    - 10. Shawnee (severely endangered)
    - 11. Miami–Illinois–Peoria (†)
- Eastern
  - 12. Miꞌkmaq
  - Abenaki
    - 13. Western Abenaki (nearly extinct)
    - 14. Eastern Abenaki (†)
  - 15. Maliseet-Passamaquoddy
  - 16. Massachusett
  - 17. Narragansett (†)
  - 18. Mohegan–Pequot (†)
  - 19. Quiripi-Naugatuck-Unquachog (†)
  - 20. Mohican (†)
  - Lenape
    - 21. Munsee (nearly extinct)
    - 22. Unami (†)
  - 23. Nanticoke (†)
  - 24. Piscataway (†) (uncertain)
  - 25. Carolina Algonquian (†)
  - 26. Powhatan (†)
  - 27. Etchemin (†) (uncertain – See Eastern Algonquian languages)
  - 28. Loup A (†) (probably Nipmuck (†), uncertain – See Eastern Algonquian languages)
  - 29. Loup B (†) (uncertain – See Eastern Algonquian languages)
    
    * Source: Wikipedia

Approximately 7,500 years ago, Proto-Algonkian, the predecessor of today's Algonkian languages, is thought to have been spoken in the region of what is now western Idaho by people linked to the Western Idaho Archaic Burial Complex . Earlier speakers of the Algonkian language might have lived on the Columbia Plateau. By three thousand years ago, or possibly earlier, Proto-Algonkian divided into branches known as Ininewak/Cree, who hunted caribou in forest areas, and Niitsitapi (Blackfoot), who hunted bison on the northern Plains. Ininewak caribou hunters spread throughout Canada, forming the Maritime Archaic Complex in eastern Canada around 3,000 to 4,500 years ago. Simultaneously, these groups established the Shield Archaic Complex across northern Canada. The former languages developed into the Ilnu-Aimûn (Western Montagnais)-Innu-Aimûn (Eastern Montagnais)-Naskapi dialects of Ininew/Cree, while the latter evolved into Ililîmowin (Moose Cree), Nêhinawêwin/Ininîmowin (Western and Eastern Swampy Cree, respectively), and Nīhithawīwin (Woods Cree). Nêhiyawêwin (Western Plains Cree) is of similar age but may have been influenced linguistically by neighboring Dene and Dakota groups.

All Algonkian languages, except for Niitsitapi/Blackfoot, developed at different times as offshoots of Ininew/Cree, including the Adena language, also known as Core Central Algonkian, which began to emerge in the Ohio Valley around 3,500 years ago. Shaawanwaki (Shawnee), Myaamiaki-Illiniw (Miami-Illinois), Thâkîwaki/ Meshkwahkihaki (Sauk-Fox), Bodéwadmik (Potawatomi), Anishinaabeg (Ojibweg), Odaawaag, and Omàmiwininiwak (Algonquin) all emerged as branches from the division of Adena that started around 1,500 years ago. The Ojibweg did not move north and west into Ininew/Cree territory until the historical period, driven by the fur-trapping economy of the French and English.