Colenda Digital Repository

Language of the Darien Indians

Alternate Title:
Darien--Cueva ó Coiba
Contributor:
Brinton, Daniel G. 1837-1899 (former owner)
Name:
Berendt, C. Hermann 1817-1878
Date:
1873
Description:
C. Hermann Berendt's notes, from various sources, on languages of the Darien Indians, in eastern Panama and northern Colombia (Choco), with inclusion of vocabularies of various Cuna dialects, as well as notes and vocabulary labeled Cueva (f. 6v-7r). Lacking a title page, the manuscript begins with a page headed References, which cites An Essay on the Antiquities of Great Britain and Ireland (by David Malcolm); and a presentation by J. H. Trumbull at the American Philological Society in 1873 (f. 1r). The manuscript proper consists of 40 vocabulary entries in a Darien language (Cuna) and English, from Lionel Wafer's A new voyage and description of the Isthmus of America (f. 2r-3r). For another version of that vocabulary, see Ms. Coll. 700, Item 169. The remainder of the manuscript comprises notes on separate leaves that have been tipped in, as follows: 1) A comparison of the numbers 1 to 10 in Cullen's Yule (Tule) and Balbi's Cunacuna, with reference to Cholo (Choco), and a few Darien-English samples from the Mithridates (f. 3v, 4r), transcribed from R. G. Latham (Transactions of the Philological Society, London, 1856, p. 113-114). 2) Three words labeled Uraba (uru, chebi, hobba) from Peter Martyr (De novo orbe, dec. 2, cap. 4), along with a note citing Lorenzo Hervás, Catálogo de las lenguas de las naciones conocidas (f. 4r). 3) Darien words from Antonio de Ulloa, and from Berthold Seemann, as presented by William Bollaert in his Antiquarian, ethnological, and other researches in New Granada, Equador, Peru and Chile (f. 4v). 4) A comparative chart compiled by Berendt from various sources, with the headings: Darien (Wafer), Cunacuna (Estala, El viagero), Careta (Joaquin Acosta), Bayano (Seemann), Tule (Cullen), San Blas, Cuna (Puydt) (f. 5r). 5) Geographical names in the district of Panamá from Lloyd's Notes on the Isthmus of Darien, as found in Bollaert (f. 6r). 6) Words labeled as Cueva and as Lengua de castilla del oro, extracted from Oviedo, Historia general y natural de las Indias, vol. IV (f. 6v). 8) Other material from Oviedo, taken from Ternaux-Compans, Recueil de documents et mémoires originaux sur l'histoire des possessions espagnoles dans l'Amérique (f. 7r). 8) Notes on the names coiba, cueva, and chiru (from Oscar Peschel, Geschichte des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen), and on the word beraqua (from Martyr). Much of the material in this manuscript is reflected in Berendt's paper The Darien language, presented in New York, in November 1873, and published in American Historical Record (vol. 3, no. 26, Feb. 1874, p. 54-59).
Language:
English
Provenance:
From the collection of C. Hermann Berendt, later acquired by Daniel Garrison Brinton (ex libris stamp on verso of front free endpaper of bound volume).
Subject:
Cuna language -- Glossaries, vocabularies, etc; Cueva language -- Glossaries, vocabularies, etc; Indians of Central America -- Panama -- Languages; Indians of South America -- Colombia -- Languages; Indians of South America; Indians of Central America; Language and languages; Cueva language; Cuna language
Resource Type:
Text
Form/Genre:
Glossaries; Manuscripts, American; Manuscripts, Latin American; Glossaries, vocabularies, etc; Controlled vocabularies
Physical Description:
8 leaves : paper; 204 x 125 mm bound to 215 x150 mm
Geographic Subject:
Colombia; Panama -- Languages; Panama; Colombia -- Languages
Rights:
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Notes:
Ms. component part.; Title from component caption title (f. 2r).; Item 173, in contemporary paper covers, is the 12th of 15 manuscripts (Items 162-165, 167-171, 172-175, 218, and 219) bound together in a volume with the spine title: Languages of Chiriqui and Darien.; Foliation: Paper, 8; i (paper endleaf) + 7; [1-7]; modern foliation in pencil, lower right recto; f. 1v and 5v are blank. A total of 8 leaves (some folded) tipped in (f. 3v-5r, 6r-7v).; Script: Written in the hand of C. Hermann Berendt.; Origin: Probably written in New York in 1873.; English, Spanish, Cuna, and Cueva.
Physical Location:
Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscripts, Ms. Coll. 700
Collection:
Languages of Chiriqui and Darien; Berendt-Brinton Linguistic Collection