Vocabulario de la lengua de los Viceitas en Costa Rica / por Ph[ilipp] Valentini ; Costa de Limón, 1866.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Valentini, Philipp J. J. (Philipp Johann Josef), 1828-1899.

Contributor:

Berendt, C. Hermann (Carl Hermann), 1817-1878, former owner.

Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison), 1837-1899, former owner.

Language:

Central American Indian (Other)

English

German

Mayan languages

South American Indian (Other)

Spanish

Subjects (All):

Bribri dialect--Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.

Bribri dialect.

Cuna language--Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.

Cuna language.

Maya language--Texts.

Maya language.

Indians of Central America.

Language and languages.

Costa Rica.

Indians of Central America--Costa Rica--Languages.

Costa Rica--Languages.

Genre:

Texts.

glossaries

prayers (compositions)

Manuscripts, Spanish.

Manuscripts, Latin American.

Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.

Controlled vocabularies.

Penn Provenance:

From the collection of C. Hermann Berendt, later acquired by Daniel Garrison Brinton (ex libris stamp on title page).

Physical Description:

61 leaves : paper ; 182 x 152 mm bound to 187 x 155 mm

Contained In:

Berendt-Brinton Linguistic Collection. Item 156

Place of Publication:

[New York?], [between 1866 and 1868]

Language Note:

Spanish, Bribri, and English, with one text (Lord's prayer) in Maya and German, and scattered vocabulary in Cuna.

Summary:

C. Hermann Berendt's transcription of a vocabulary of approximately 283 words (f. 1-15), and 67 phrases (f. 16-19), in Spanish and the language of the Viceita Indians of Costa Rica, apparently corresponding to Bribri dialect of Cabecar. According to the title page, the vocabulary was recorded by Philipp J. J. Valentini, in 1866. Indian words noted in red ink next to some of the entries are not identified. This first vocabulary list is followed by a second list (f. 20-32) of the same vocabulary given in the alphabetical order of the Spanish; a separate title page reads: Coordinaccion alfabetica de los mismos vocablos (f. 20). The second version contains only about 220 entries. English equivalents are noted in pencil. Additional vocabulary from other languages is included on the facing pages, with the sources in some instances identified by a system of symbols. A legend is provided (f. 20v), listing sources that include the following material transcribed by Berendt and represented in Ms. Coll. 700 (item numbers noted): Tule (San Blas Indians; Cuna language) from Edward Cullen (Item 174); Bayano from Seemann (Item 170); Darien from Wafer (Item 169); Suere from Benzoni (Item 155); San Blas from Haly (Item 164); and Blancos and Talamancos (Bribri) from Scherzer (Item 158 and Item 159). The symbols for Cullen and Scherzer are the most frequently used. The words are given with Spanish equivalents that do not occur in the alphabetical list of Valentini's vocabulary. Following the vocabulary lists is a comparative chart (f. 32v-33r), with 7 columns headed: Blancos, Talamancos; Tule; Cunacuna (Balbi) (see Ms. Coll. 700, Item 167); Caneta [illegible]; Wafer; San Blas (Haly); and Bayano. The fourth document (f. 34r-39r) appears to be a draft of introductory remarks by Berendt, in which he touches upon the history, locations and languages of Indian tribes of Costa Rica. A note on the title page (f. 34r) refers to the Conquistadors having found a number of independent tribes in what constitutes the southern half of Costa Rica. Names of tribes that occur are: Teribe, Talamanca, Viceita (Vizeita), Cabecar, Blanco. Bribri is mentioned in connection with the Viceitas (f. 38r). Karl Scherzer's article Sprachen der Indianer Central-Amerika's (1855) is cited (f. 39r). The last document included is a handwritten copy of an essay by Berendt entitled: Dr. C. H. Berendt's analytical alphabet for Mexican and Central American languages (tipped in, inside lower cover). The essay was submitted to the meeting of the American Ethnological Society held in New York on 10 November 1868 (it was published in facsimile by the Society in 1869). At the back of the essay is the text of the Lord's prayer in Maya, Spanish and German (f. 61v). An afterword by Berendt is signed by him and dated 30 June 1868 (f. 61r). An attestation signed by the recording secretary, Henry R. Stiles (copied by Berendt), quotes resolutions adopted at the meeting, one thanking Berendt and the other referring to the intention to have the essay photolithographed for the Society.

Contents:

1. ff. 1r-19r: Vocabulario de la lengua de los Viceitas en Costa Rica / Philipp J. J. Valentini.

2. ff. 20r-32r: Coordinación alfabética de los mismos vocablos/ [Philipp J. J. Valentini].

3. ff. 32v-33r: [Comparative chart of Indian languages of Costa Rica] / [C. Hermann Berendt].

4. ff. 34r-39r: Vocabularios de lenguas indigenas de la parte sureña de la Republic de Costa Rica, colectado por [Philipp J. J.] Valentini / [C. Hermann Berendt].

5. ff. 58r-61v: Dr. C. H. Berendt's analytical alphabet for Mexican and Central American languages / [C. Hermann Berendt].

Notes:

Ms. codex

Title from title page (f. i recto)

Foliation: i + 57 + i + 4; [i], 1-19, [20], 21-57, [58-61]. F. 40-57 are blank; f. 58-61 are tipped in (inside lower cover). Contemporary foliation in ink, upper right recto; modern foliation in pencil. The last 4 leaves of the manuscript (f. 58-61) have contemporary pagination in ink, upper center: [1-2], 3-6, [7-8].

Layout: Vocabulary written in 2 columns of 19 lines, with Spanish on the left and Bribri on the right, on the rectos of leaves, with versos reserved for annotations; accompanying notes written in varying numbers of long lines (f. 34-39) on rectos only. Essay on analytical alphabet (f. 58-61) written in 30 long lines, on rectos and versos.

Script: Written in the hand of C. Hermann Berendt.

Binding: Contemporary boards. Tears in spine covering, with small pieces wanting; inner hinges cracked. Toward the front of the book, several gatherings and some individual leaves are detached.

Origin: Begun sometime after the collection of the vocabulary by Philpp J. J. Valentini in 1866, and probably completed ca. November 1868.

Cited in:

Described in Brinton, Daniel Garrison. Catalogue of the Berendt Linguistic Collection (Department of Archaeology and Paleontology, University of Pennsylvania, 1900), p. 29 (no. 156).

Described in Weeks, John M. "Karl Hermann Berendt: Colección de manuscritos lingüistícos de Centroamérica y Mesoamérica," Mesoamérica 36 (Dec. 1998), p. 680 (no. 168).

Described in Weeks, John M. The Library of Daniel Garrison Brinton (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2002), p. 372 (no. 4269).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Coll. 700, Item 156

Contains:

Lord's prayer. Maya.

Lord's prayer. Spanish

Lord's prayer. German.

Dr. C. H. Berendt's analytical alphabet for Mexican and Central American languages.

OCLC:

63635904