Details

Other Title:

Arte y confesionario en lengua zapoteca

Subjects:

Confession -- Catholic Church -- Handbooks, manuals, etc. -- Early works to 1800.
Sacraments -- Catholic Church -- Early works to 1800.
Sacraments -- Catholic Church.
Zapotec language -- Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.
Zapotec language -- Texts.
Zapotec language -- Grammar.
Mixtec language -- Texts.
Missions -- Mexico -- History -- 17th century.
Indians of Mexico -- Languages -- Early works to 1800.
Language and languages.
Indians of Mexico -- Languages.
Missions.
History.
Mixtec language.
Zapotec language.
Confession -- Catholic Church.
Mexico -- Languages -- Early works to 1800.
Mexico.

Form/Genre:

Glossaries.
Grammars (instructional materials)
Translations (documents)
Manuscripts, Spanish.
Manuscripts, Mexican.
Texts.
Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.
Handbooks and manuals.
Controlled vocabularies.

Language:

Spanish and Zapotec, with 2 passages in Mixtec (p. 65-66), and use of Latin for a preamble (p. [1]), a theological precept (p. 20) and a prayer (p. 24).

Summary:

C. Hermann Berendt's transcription, made in a notebook of lined paper, of parts of a larger manuscript by Alonso Martínez. In a preliminary note (Advertencia; p. iii) Berendt indicates that the larger manuscript was 83 leaves, had no title page, and contained, besides religious material, notes on natural historical topics and poetry, in Spanish and Latin. Berendt copied the following parts: 1. a manual in Zapotec and Spanish for the Catholic sacrament of confession; 2. a grammar of the Zapotec language; and 3. an untitled section resembling a journal entry that describes a visit by a certain Reverendo Padre Fray Juan Martínez to Yanhuitlán (location of a Dominican priory), in the Mixtec region of Oaxaca, and including 2 passages apparently in Mixtec, which possibly represent orations of Juan Martínez. In the preliminary note, Berendt states that the confession manual and the grammar constituted f. 13-29 and f. 36-48, respectively, of the original manuscript; and that his copy follows the original line for line and page for page. In a later note introducing part 3 (p. [63]) he says that those passages were found on f. 53 verso and f. 54 of the original manuscript. In Part 1, individual entries modelling language in Zapotec are followed by the Spanish equivalent. The manual is constructed from the perspective of the confessor, providing language to question and instruct the penitent. It begins with short phrases for repetition, and proceeds topically, with sections devoted to each of the ten commandments, and as well as to special topics, such as intoxication (p. 16), cursing (p. 19), exercise of authority (alcades y mandones execer su comission; p. 21), and shamans (hechizeros; p. 23). Included are 2 longer passages described as sermons (plática; p. 25-27, 31-33). One section consists of grammatical notes (p. 28-29). Part 2 includes explanations of nouns, pronouns, verb tenses, irregular verbs, temporal adverbs, and other adverbs. It ends with a brief prayer in Zapotec that is not translated (p. 62). In Part 3 the writer begins by saying that just as he finished writing the preceding he received a letter from a friend; it appears that he then quotes from the letter, beginning with the name Padre Fray Alonso (p. [63]), presumably his own name as used in the greeting. The subsequent narrative about the visit of Fray Juan Martínez in Yanhuitlán (Yanguitlan) mentions Pentecost (dia de Pascua de espiritu santo) 15 May 1633, apparently the day of the visit. Berendt provides 2 footnotes (p. [63]): the first explains that what preceded this section was a treatise (not contained in his copy) with the title Casos estraños de muelas y dientes; and the second clarifies the place name Yanguitlan. Following the conclusion of a 2-page Spanish narrative (p. 63-64) are two passages in an Indian language, separated by a line in Spanish (phrasis misteco dice ansi y bien; p. 65) that seems to indicate that the Indian language used here is Mixtec. After the latter passages, the copy concludes with a brief passage in Spanish that praises Fray Juan Martínez as a learned man and a great preacher, with good abilities in Mixtec (supo bien la lengua misteca); he is referred to with the title vicario prior y provinc̦ial (p. 66). On the tipped in leaf (preceding front endpapers) is a different version of the preliminary note, with additional details about where in the manuscript Berendt found the information for the title and statement of responsibility that he supplies on the title page. A note under the heading Nota del copiante (partial leaf preceding p. 1) concerns orthography, with an added line (in red ink) explaining that the annotations in red ink constitute a comparison to the work Cuaderno de Tilcaxete, 1793; for Berendt's transcription of that work, under the title Reglas mas comunes del arte del idioma zapoteco del Valle, see Ms. Coll. 700, Item 105.

Contents:

1. p. 2-33: Confesionario breve en lengua zapoteca.
2. p. 35-62: Algunos rudimentos faciles para en pezar a aprender la lengua c̦apoteca a modo del arte.
3. p. 63-66: [Journal entry about Fray Juan Martínez].

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from title page (f. 1r).
Pagination: Paper, ii + 36 + v leaves; [i-vi], 1-33, [34], 35-62, [63], 64-66; contemporary pagination in ink, upper outer corners. The third leaf is partial (the remainder cut away), with notes by Berendt on the recto (p. v). Stub of a leaf cut out (preceding p. 1). 2 leaves tipped in (before front and back endpapers, respectively): the first with text; the second with ruled lines and columns (recto) and a draft of a note about a different manuscript (verso).
Layout: Generally written in 19-22 long lines, with portions of part 2 (grammatical charts and adverbial expressions) written in 2-4 columns.
Script: Written in the hand of C. Hermann Berendt, with Zapotec-language text written in rounded letters (letra redonda), and the Spanish in an ordinary script.
Binding: Contemporary notebook with marbled cardboard cover; spine covering partially wanting; binding partially detached from gatherings.
Origin: Written in Veracruz (Veracruz-Llave, Mexico), on 22 January 1871 (p. iii, 66).

Penn Provenance:

Copied from a manuscript at that time in the possession of José Maria Melgar, in Veracruz, Mexico (p. iii).
From the collection of C. Hermann Berendt, later acquired by Daniel Garrison Brinton (ex libris stamp on title page).

Related Collections:

Codex/Ind/40, held by the John Carter Brown Library, is a copy of the same manuscript also made by C. Hermann Berendt, and dated 1871-1872.

Cited in:

Described in Brinton, Daniel Garrison. Catalogue of the Berendt Linguistic Collection (Department of Archaeology and Paleontology, University of Pennsylvania, 1900), p. 22 (no. 103).
Described in Weeks, John M. "Karl Hermann Berendt: Colección de manuscritos lingüistícos de Centroamérica y Mesoamérica," Mesoamérica 36 (Dec. 1998), p. 664 (no. 111).
Described in Weeks, John M. The Library of Daniel Garrison Brinton (University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2002), p. 243 (no. 2616).

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Coll. 700, Item 103

Contributor:

Berendt, C. Hermann (Carl Hermann), 1817-1878, former owner.
Brinton, Daniel G. (Daniel Garrison), 1837-1899, former owner.

OCLC:

63636021