THE LENAPE ◦The Lenape are of the Delaware Indian Nation, named for the river that flowed through a portion of their land ◦Lenape is translated as “common person” ◦ The whole region which the Lenape lived in is known as “Lenapehoking” ◦Lenapehoking roughly translates to “land of the common people” ◦This region encompasses the lands which are now Delaware, western Connecticut, eastern New Jersey, New York, and parts of eastern Pennsylvania ◦According to most Lenape people, they entered the lands of Lenapehoking about 10,000 years ago, and came from the west

LENAPEHOKING

LANGUAGES OF THE LENAPE ◦ The two main Language groups of Lenape are in the Algonquian language family. ◦These two groups are known as Munsee and Unami ◦Munsee means ‘people from minisink’ [the stony country]. These people lived in the northern portion of Lenapehoking, which is the lower Hudson Valley and upper Delaware River region. Speakers of Munsee belonged to the Wolf Clan ◦Unami is the language which was spoken by those residing on the Atlantic coast and in the Delaware Bay area, which was the southern portion of Lenapehoking ◦Within the Unami language, there are two sub-languages. ◦These are: Southern Unami, spoken by those living in the southern reaches of Lenapehoking. These Lenape belonged to the Turtle Clan Northern Unami/Unalachtigo, spoken by those living in the northern reaches of the Unami region. These Lenape belonged to the Turkey Clan ◦ Unami and Munsee are about as different from one another as Spanish and Portuguese are.

ALGONQUIAN DELAWARE MUNSEE UNAMI SOUTHERN UNAMI NORTHERN UNAMI [UNALACHTIGO] BREAK UP OF LENAPE LANGUAGES

LENAPE LANGUAGE LINK