[162] The native name of William Penn offers an instance of this phonetic alteration. It is given as _Onas_. The proper form is _Wonach_. It literally means the tip or extremity of anything; as _wonach-sitall_, the tips of the toes; _wonach-gulinschall_, the tips of the fingers. The inanimate plural form _wolanniall_, means the tail feathers of a bird. To explain the name _Penn_ to the Indians a feather was shown them, probably a quill pen, and hence they gave the translation _Wonach_, corrupted into _Onas_. [163] _Trans. Am. Philol. Assoc._, 1872, p. 157. [164] De Schweinitz, _Life of Zeisberger_, p. 131. § 4. _Special Structure of the Lenape._ _The Root and the Formation of the Theme._--As they appear in the language of to-day, the Lenape radicals are chiefly monosyllables, which undergo more or less modifications in composition. They cannot be used alone, the tongue having long since passed from that interjectional condition where each of these roots conveyed a whole sentence in itself. Whether they can be resolved back into a few elementary sounds, primitive elements of speech, I shall not discuss. This has been done for the Cree roots by Mr. Joseph Howse[165], and most of the radicals of that tongue are identical with those of the Lenape. Some of his conclusions appear to me hazardous and hypothetical; and certainly many of his supposed analogies drawn from European tongues are extravagant. As in other idioms, so in Lenape, two or more radicals may be compounded to form a combination, which, in turn, performs the offices of a radical in the construction of themes. This combination is formed either by prefixes or suffixes. The prefixes are generally adjectival in signification, while the suffixes are usually classificatory. A number of these are secondary roots, which are themselves capable of further analysis. As so much of the strength of the languages depends on this plan of word building, I have drawn off a list of a few of the more frequent affixes of the Lenape, with their signification:-- _Lenape Prefixes._ _awoss-_, beyond, the other side of. _eluwi-_, most, a superlative form. _gisch-_, see page 102. _kit-_, great, large. _lappi-_, again, indicates repetition. _lenno-_, male, man. _lippoe-_, wise, shrewd; as _lippoeweno_, a shrewd man. _mach-_, evil, bad, hurt. _matt-_, negative and depreciatory; as _mattaptonen_, to speak uncivilly. _ni-_, see page 101. _ochque-_, she, female. _pach-_, division, separation; _pachican_, a knife; _pachat_, to split. _pal-_, negative, as dis- or in-, from _palli_ otherwheres. _tach-_, pairs or doubles. _tschitsch-_, indicates repetition. _wit-_, with or in common. _wul-_, or _wel-_, see page 104.