MICMAC

MICMAC ( Mi'kmaq, Restigouche )

Spoken by 7,400 people in central and northern Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, coastal New Brunswick and eastern Gaspe peninsula, Quebec, Canada.
Linguistic Lineage for Micmac
Canada

Source: Carl Faulmann: "Das Buch der Schrift" , Wien, 1880.
"Book of Writing", Vienna, 1880.
Contributed by Wolfgang Kuhl - E-mail WKuhl44238@aol.com

Another version

Nujjinen wa'so'q, epin jiptek,
teluisin mekite'tmek;
wa'so'q ntelitanen jiptek
iknmuiek wla nemulek wletesenen na'te'l.
Wa'so'q eykik,
telisqataskik jiptek;
elp ni'nen ntelisqatulek maqamikek eymek.
Telamukapnikl esemiekl
apj ni'kej kiskuk telamuktej penekenmuin nilunal.
Teliapiksiktaqajik wekwayuinamejik
elp ki'l Niskam tliapiksiktuin.
Elue'lultiek, melkinin me'j;
winsuti'l mu ktika'lin kesinukuamkl,
winjikl koqoe'l jikla'tuin,
na tliaj.

From: "Mi'kmaq Hieroglyphic Prayers: Readings in North America's First Indigeneous Script", edited and translated by David L. Schmidt and Murdena Marshall. Nimbus Publishing, 1995. ISBN 1-55109-069-4. $16.95 Cdn.
Nimbus Publishing can be contacted at (902) 455-4286; buy this beautiful book and support Mi'kmaq language and culture.

Another version spoken in Quebec Province

'Nujjinen ta'n wa'so'q eimn,
gepmite'tmuleg sape'wig gtwisunm.
Pipanimuleg ilgwenan mimajuinu'g glaman majulgwalultaq.
Ta'n te's'g goqwei te'te'tmn na tliaj ugs'tqamug st'ge' ta'n tel tliaq wa'so'q.
Etamuleg ignmuinen gisgug ta'n goqwei nuta'maieg.
Apigsigtuinen ntlue'utinal st'ge' ta'n
teli apigsigtaqatjig ta'nig opla'lugsieg.
Mut ignmuin lta'nen winjigigtug,
awna jigla'lin elue'utigtug.
(Pewatmeg gtelege'wa'gim ms't tami aq iapjiw mawignan.
Apjiw getu' gepmite'luleg.
Na tliaj.)'

Source: The New Testament in Mi'gmaq / English, Canadian Bible Society 1998
ISBN 0-88834-421-X
Contributed by Aleksandr Ermanov, Rostov-na-Donu, Russia - Email ermanov@donpac.ru

Another version

Source: Iogannes Fridrikh, "Istoriya Pis'ma" (Moscow 1979)
Johannes Friedrich "Geschichte der Schrift" (History of Writing)
Contributed by Wolfgang Kuhl - E-mail WKuhl44238@aol.com

Another version - 1905

Source: "The LORD'S PRAYER in Five Hundred Languages comprising the leading languages and their principal dialects throughout the world with the places where spoken - with a preface by Reinhold Rost, C.I.E, LL.D., PH.D.", Gilbert & Rivington Limited, London, 1905.

Another version - 1884

Source: "The Lord's Prayer in the Principal Languages, Dialects and Versions of the World, printed in Type and Vernaculars of the Different Nations, compiled and published by G.F. Bergholtz", Chicago, Illinois, 1884.

Another version - 1870

Source: "ORATIO DOMINICA in CCL (250) linguas versa et CLXXX (180) characterum formis vel nostratibus vel peregrinis expressa, curante Petro Marietti, equite typographo pontificio, socio administro typographei S. Consilii De Propaganda Fide" Romae, anno M.DCCC.LXX (1870).

Another version - 1866

Source: Eugene Vetromile, "The Abnakis and their history or historical notices on the aborigines of Acadia", New York, 1866.
Contributed by Wolfgang Kuhl - E-mail WKuhl44238@aol.com

Another version - 1866

Source: Christian Kauder "Buch, das gut, enhaltend den Katechismus, Betrachtung, Gesang. Die kaiserliche wie auch königliche Buchdruckerei hat es gedruckt in der kaiserlichen Stadt Wien in Oesterreich", 1866.
"The Good Book, containing the Catechism, Meditations, Hymns. Printed by the Imperial and Royal Printing Press in the Imperial City of Vienna, 1866."
Manual of prayers, instructions, psalms & hymns in Micmac ideographs.
Manuel de prières, instructions, et chants sacrés en hiéroglyphes micmacs.
Sapeog Oigatigen, ginamatineoel tan tetli gômgoetjoigasigel alasotmaganel, ginamatineoel ag getapegiemgeoel. (Sape'wik Wi'katikn ta'n teli Komqwejwi'kasikli).
Contributed by Wolfgang Kuhl - E-mail WKuhl44238@aol.com

Another version - 1816

Note - The German text on the bottom of this page refers to an inscription on a tombstone at Gay-Head on Martha's Vineyard Island in New England (according to records of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Vol. I).
The text reads as follows:


"Ywuh      wohhok      sipsin    Sil        Paul          nohtobeyontok       
              nuppoop   tah   1787".
  there     the body      lies     Silas     Paul         an ordinated 
preacher         died        in     1787"

Source: Johann Christoph Adelung: "Mithridates oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde", Berlin, 1816.
"Mithridates or general linguistics". Berlin, 1816".
Contributed by Wolfgang Kuhl - E-mail WKuhl44238@aol.com

Hail Mary! - 1931

Source: "AVE MARIA in 404 lingue", Ordine Equestro del San Sepolcro di Gerusalemme, Milano, 1931.
Contributed by David G. Landsnes, MD - E-mail dgwlmd@superlink.net

Hail Mary! - 1866

A collection of prayers - 1866

Agnus Dei

Gloria in excelsis Dei

Sanctus

Salve Regina

Sign of the Cross

Apostles' Creed

Nicean Creed

Credo in unum Deum

Confiteor

Act of Contrition (long)

Act of Contrition

Act of Faith

Act of Hope

Act of Thanksgiving

Graduale

Grace before Meals

Grace after Meals

Decalogue

Precepts of the Church

The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

The Goodness of God

The Micmac Rosary

Contributed by Helen Sylliboy, Nova Scotia, Canada - Email mikmaq_helen@hotmail.com

THE MICMAC "HIEROGLYPHICS"

The Micmac was an important tribe, occupying all of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward island, the northern part of New Brunswick, and the adjacent part of the province of Quebec, and ranging over a great part of Newfoundland. According to Rev. Silas T. Rand, Megum is the singular form of the name which the Micmacs use for themselves. Re. Eugene Vetromile translates "Micmacs"as "secrets practicing men", from the Delaware and old Abnaki word malike, "witchcraft", and says the name was given them on account of their numerous jugglers; but he derives Mareschite, which is an Abnaki division, from the same word and makes it identical with Micmac. The French called them Souriquois, which Vetromile translates "good canoe men". They were also called Acadians, from their habitat in Acadie, now Nova Scotia. An important printed notice or appearance of the Micmac characters is in the work of Rev. Christian Kauder, a Redemptorist missionary. It was printed in Vienna in 1866 and therefore was about two centuries later than the first recorded invention of the characters. During those two centuries the French and therefore the Roman Catholic influences had been much of the time dormant in the habitat of the Micmacs (the enforced exodus of the French from Acadie being about 1755). Father Kauder was one of the most active in the renewal of the missions. He learned the Micmac language, probably gathered together such "hieroglyphs" on rolls of bark as had been preserved, added to them parts of the Greek and Roman alphabet and other designs, and arranged the whole in systematic and grammatic form. After about twenty years of work upon them he procured their printing in Vienna. A small part of the edition, which was the first printed, reached the Micmacs. The main part, shipped later, was lost at sea in the transporting vessel. The German title of the book reads as follows: "BUCH das gute, enthaltend den Katechismus, Betrachtung, Gesang. Die kaiserliche wie auch königliche Buchdruckerei hat es gedruckt in der kaiserlichen Stadt Wien in Österreich 1866". (The good (?) BOOK, containing the Catechism, reflections, hymns. It was printed by the imperial and royal printing office in the imperial city of Vienna in Austria 1866.) *) The publication of father Kauder was a duodecimo in three parts: Catechism, 144 pages; religious reflections, 109 pages; and hymnal, 208 pages. They are very seldom found bound together, and a perfect copy of either of the parts or volumes is rare. On a careful examination of the hieroglyphs, so called, it seems evident that on the original substratum of Micmac designs or symbols, each of which represented mnemonically a whole sentence or verse, a large number of arbitrary designs have been added to express ideas and words which were not American, and devices were incorporated with them intended to represent the pecularities of the Micmac grammar as understood by Kauder. The explanation of these additions has never been made known. Kauder died without having left any record or explanation of the plan by which he attempted to convert the mnemonic characters invented by the Indians into what may be considered an exposition of organized words (not sounds) in grammatical form. *) Another source quotes that about 5701 characters were used in printing above book and that the stencils of the Micmac script are still existent (this was in 1880 !)