Wisconsin Historical Society

Primary source

Book

The language spoken by the Brothertown Indians when Europeans arrived in America

A Key into the Language of America, or an Help to the Language of the Natives in That Part of America Called New-England...

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About this record

Roger Williams (1604?-1683) was the founder of Rhode Island. In this book he detailed the language spoken by the Narragansett Indians and their neighbors, many of whose descendants moved to Wisconsin in the early 19th century as part of the Brothertown Nation. Williams also included a great deal of information on their "customes, manners, and worships... in peace and warre, in life and death" as well as his own "spirituall observations generall and particular." Originally printed in London in 1643, we present here an 1866 facsimile edited by J.H. Trumbull which is the most frequently cited edition. Because it reproduces the original 1643 type fonts, searching its text will be problematic; for example, the 17th-century long 'S', which superficially resembles a modern 'f', will undermine many searches.

Citation

Williams, Roger. A Key into the Language of America (Providence, R.I.: Narragansett Club, 1866).