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BULLETIN OF THE MASSACHUSETTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, VOLUME 54(1), 1993
SCHMICK'S MAHICAN DICTIONARY, EDITED BY CARL MASTHAY, 1991.
PHILADELPHIA: AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.
Mahican is a now-extinct Eastern Algonquian
language that was originally spoken in the
upper Hudson River area, Le., in parts of western
Vermont, western Massachusetts, western Connecticut,
and eastern New York state. By the
mid-eighteenth century, some Mahicans had
moved out of this original territory for various
reasons, and white missionary activity had become
increasingly important. As a result, there were
two major groupings of Mahicans: one centered
around Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and the
Reverend John Sergeant, the other around Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, and the Moravian missionaries.
Eventually, this situation gave rise to the two
major dialects of Mahican --- Stockbridge Mahican
and Moravian Mahican. One of these Moravian
missionaries, Johann Jacob Schmick (1714­
1778), working from perhaps 1753 to about 1755,
compiled the bulk of a 378-page manuscript ofthe
Moravian dialect of Mahican, to which he may
have added for several more years. Although
scholars have long been aware of the existence of
the Schmick manuscript --- it is cited in Pilling
(1891:444), for example --- it has never been
published. In the case at hand, it is important to
point out that, although Masthay's title is somewhat
ambiguous, his book is a reworking of the
Schmick manuscript rather than a faithful reproduction
of the original.
After a brief Preface (page ix) and a
miniature reproduction of the entire Schmick
manuscript (pages x-xi), Masthay begins with a
Copyright 1993 George Aubin
Reviewed by George F. Aubin
section entitled, Background and ExplanatOl)'
Description For This Mahican Dictionary, which
contains a discussion of several relevant topics:
the Moravian missions (pages 2-3); an outline of
Schmick's life, work, and probable language
background (pages 3-6); some historical and
linguistic considerations (pages 6-10); a description
of the manuscript itself (pages 10-12); and,
finally, a brief discussion of the spelling system
used by Schmick (pages 12-13).
The next section is devoted to an extended
and detailed study of Mahican historical phonology
by David Pentland (pages 15-27), preceded by
an outline of Pentland's discussion and a key to
the various Schmick spellings treated therein (page
14). Pentland first considers the general Eastern
Algonquian linguistic situation, pointing out that
Mahican shows many similarities with Munsee
and Unami Delaware, comments next on the
dialectal situation within Mahican itself, and then
proceeds to his analysis. Although non-linguists
will no doubt find this paper to be quite demanding,
it is a solid, up-to-date piece of work, showing
both depth and breadth, and those who persevere
will not go unrewarded.
Following Pentland's paper is the Mahican
dictionary proper (pages 29-154). It is here that
Masthay makes clear just how far he has deviated
from the original manuscript: rather than follow
Schmick's order (or lack thereof), he has added
English glosses to the original German glosses and
has alphabetized all entries by the English gloss.
In addition, long sentences and texts in the manu-
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