Unami

Unami (Unami: Wënami èlixsuwakàn) is an Algonquian language initially spoken by the Lenape people in the late 17th century and the early 18th century, in the southern two-thirds of present-day New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, and the northern two-thirds of Delaware. The Lenape later migrated, largely settling in Ontario, Canada, and Oklahoma. Today, it is spoken only as a second language.

Unami is one of two Delaware languages; the other is Munsee. The last fluent Unami speaker in the United States, Edward Thompson, of the federally recognized Delaware Tribe of Indians, died on August 31, 2002. His sister Nora Thompson Dean (1907–1984) provided valuable information about the language to linguists and other scholars.

Lenni-Lenape literally means 'Men of Men', but is translated to mean 'Original People'. The Lenape names for the areas they inhabited were Scheyichbi (i.e. New Jersey), which means 'water's edge', and Lenapehoking, meaning 'in the land of the Delaware Indians'. It describes the ancient homeland of all Delaware Indians, both Unami and Munsee. The English named the river running through much of the traditional range of the Lenape after the first governor of the Jamestown Colony, Lord De La Warr, and consequently referred to the people who lived around the river as "Delaware Indians".

From Wikipedia · Unami language · CC BY-SA 4.0