The Mvskoke (Seminole/Creek) Language and Alphabet

By Edwin Marshall, Director
Seminole Nation Family Services

The Mvskoke language, as it is spoken by the Oklahoma Seminoles, is the same as the Mvskoke (Creek) language. This is due, particularly, to the fact that most Seminoles who were removed to Oklahoma, after the Treaty of Payne’s Landing in the 1830’s and subsequent “Great Seminole War,” were descended from the lower Creeks who had migrated to Florida in the 1700s.

Following removal, The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, through their principal missionary, Rev. R.M. Loughridge, already had an active ministry in the Creek Nation, and was educating their children in Boarding Schools. In 1846, the Board instructed Loughridge to visit the recently arrived Seminole Chiefs to inquire of them regarding their willingness to have schools and allow preaching in their Nation. Most were supportive, and thus began the formal education and conversion of many Seminoles in Oklahoma.

Rev. Loughridge, with the assistance of a Mvskoke interpreter, Rev. David Winslett, developed a Mvskoke alphabet which was adopted by many Creek and Seminole interpreters and Chiefs in 1853. The following is presented as it appears in the ENGLISH AND MUSKOKEE DICTIONARY, which wasn’t actually formally published until 1890.

“Mvskoke oponvkv vcayecet, estofis pohose’karen okis’ce. Cen’hopuetakeu esemvhayet, kerrvkuecvktcvs! Mvt pum’vhesaketv’t ontos’ce.”

“Let us always protect the Mvskoke language so that we will never forget. Teach your children as well so that they may learn. That is the key to our survival.