An Investigation of Muskogee Creek Indian Counting Words

Richard DeCesare
Southern Connecticut State University

About the Source

Except where noted, the main source for this paper was a Muskogee Creek Indian named Cheneya. She provided historical information about her tribe, as well as comments about their language. Cheneya provided me with a lengthy list of Muskogee Creek counting words, which we analyzed together.

This paper was originally prepared as part of the World Counts symposium that was organized at Teachers College, Columbia University by Joel Schneider.

Background of the Tribe and Language

The Muskogee Creek Indians originated in Georgia and Alabama, and are related to the Seminoles. Approximately 30,000 are listed on the tribal rolls, including those who are not full-blooded Creek. Less than 7,000 still speak the language (Census Bureau, 1990), which contains dialects and a ceremonial language as well. The written language was developed in 1853. Prior to that, pictures were used to express words. Seven letters are not used in their alphabet: b, d, g, j, q, x and z. The Creek use the letters 'k' and 'v' frequently; 'v' sounds like 'u' in 'put'. Hence, one spelling of the tribe would be Mvskogee, but there are others. In this paper, we will use 'Muskogee' for simplicity, but all other words will be spelled as they appear in the language.

Forms of the First 10 Counting Words

In 1775, James Adair published his History of the American Indians, in which he lists the first ten counting words in the Muskogee Creek language. Below we compare them with the modern list supplied by Cheneya :

	Adair (1775)	Cheneya (1997)
1	hommai	hvmken
2	hokkóle	hokkolen
3	tootchena	tutcenen
4	ohsta	osten
5	chakápe	cahkepen
6	eepáhge	epaken
7	hoolapháge	kulvpaken
8	cheenépa	cenvpaken
9	ohstápe	ostvpaken
10	pokóle	palen

There are similarities between most of the words. Of course, we must remember Adair wrote down what he heard, not what he read.

"I am sorry that I have not sufficient skill in the Mushohge dialect, to make up useful observations on this head," Adair wrote (Williams, 1986)

Building Numbers

The Muskogee employ a base ten counting system, as can be seen by examining numbers above ten. For example, 'eleven' is palen-hvmken-tvlaken (hyphens are mine). The words for 'ten' and 'one' are clearly evident. Tvlaken is a form of 'great', hence 'eleven' is translated as 'one greater than ten'. Interestingly, the idea of 'greater than' is discontinued with numbers from 'twelve' to 'nineteen', and a more colorful expression is used. 'Twelve' is palen-hokkol-ohkaken, which contains the words for 'ten' and 'two', and thirteen is palen-tutcen-ohkaken, which contains the words for 'ten' and 'three'. All the words from 'twelve' to 'nineteen' end with oskaken, which means 'sit upon'. Hence, thirteen is translated as 'three sit upon ten'.

Multiples of ten are formed by using pale with the appropriate counting word from 'one' to 'nine', hence, 'twenty' becomes pale-hokkolen, or literally, 'two tens', as the words are read from right to left. 'Thirty' is pale-tutcenen, and so on. 'Twenty-two' becomes pale-hokkolen-hokkol-ohkaken, or literally, 'two sit upon two tens'.

The word for 'one hundred' is cukpe-hvmken. Since cukpe means 'a hundred' and hvmken means 'one', the complete word is translated as 'one a hundred'. Similarly, 'two hundred' is written and translated as 'two a hundred'.

For 'one thousand', cukpe-rakko-hvmken, a new root word is introduced. The words for 'one hundred' and 'one' are evident, but I wondered if rakko had some significance. Cheneya supplied the answer, translating rakko as 'large'; hence, 'one thousand' is essentially 'one large hundred'. 'Ten thousand' is cukpe-rakko-palen, that is, 'ten large hundreds'. 'One hundred thousand' is cukpe-rakko-cukpe-hvmken, which is 'one hundred large hundreds'.

When we reach 'one million', which is cukpe-rakko-vcule-hvmken, we can see 'one hundred', 'large' and 'one'. Again, Cheneya provided a translation for the word vcule: 'old' or 'aged'. Thus 'one million' is translated as 'one old large hundred'. Using the word 'old' or 'aged' to amplify the size of a number is not unique: in the Cherokee language, Adair translated 'one thousand' as 'the old one's hundred' (Williams, 1986).

Unanswered Questions and Conclusions

The words 'six' through 'nine' contain paken, which could suggest a form of counting up from 'five' or down from 'ten'. I asked Cheneya if the word had some significance (since it is similar to 'ten', palen), but she had no idea. Also, it was not clear to Cheneya why the word for 'eleven' uses the idea of 'one greater than' while 'twelve' through 'nineteen' use the idea of 'sit upon'.

This was an interesting collaboration between two cultures. As I looked for patterns in the number words, Cheneya reflected on her own language and was able to view her words in a different light often mentioning she had never thought of the words 'that way' before. Without her help, I would not have been able to give the appropriate meaning to many of the number words.

Reference

Williams, S. (ed.). (1986). Adair's History of the American Indians, New York: Promontory Press.