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Delaware Native Animal Words

Here are the American Indian names of six native animals of Delaware. We have given their names in two different Indian languages: Lenni Lenape and Nanticoke. As you can tell by looking at some of these words, Lenape and Nanticoke were related to each other. They both belong to the Algonquian language family.

Can you find one of these animal names that sounds similar in the Native American languages and English? English colonists borrowed the word for this new animal from Algonquian speakers!

Delaware Native Animal Names

Lenape: ahtú (pronounced ah-too) Nanticoke: attque (pronounced aht-kwuh)	Lenape: nahënëm (pronounced nah-huh-num) Nanticoke: echsup (pronounced etch-sup)
Lenape: òkwes (pronounced oh-kwase) Nanticoke: waaks (pronounced wawks)	Lenape: škakw (pronounced shkock) Nanticoke: tzuckquaak (pronounced chuh-kwawk)
Lenape: chëmamës (pronounced chuh-mah-muss) Nanticoke: timihawque (pronounced tih-mih-haw-kwuh)	Lenape: xkuk (pronounced kh-kook) Nanticoke: ashquoke (pronounced ash-quoke)