Colenda Digital Repository

Vocabulary of the Muysca , Mosca or Chibcha language

Alternate Title:
Muisca
Contributor:
Berendt, C. Hermann 1817-1878 (former owner); Brinton, Daniel G. 1837-1899 (former owner)
Name:
Bollaert, William, 1807-1876
Date:
1873
Description:
C. Hermann Berendt's transcription of 154 vocabulary entries, including 19 numbers, for counting 1 to 100, in Chibcha, or Chibchan languages, with English equivalent, from various authors; all of the vocabulary is derived from William Bollaert's book entitled Antiquarian, ethnological, and other researches in New Granada, Equador, Peru and Chile (London, 1860), mainly from a section headed: On the Chibcha, Muisa or Mosca language (Bollaert, p. 60-64), in which Bollaert first cites Hermann E. Ludewig on the topic, and then gives a compendium of vocabularies recorded, from the 16th through 19th century, pertaining apparently to Indians inhabiting the plateau of Bogotá, Colombia. As Berendt recounts in the preface (p. 3), Bollaert includes vocabulary that he compiled himself (based on his reading), as well as vocabularies attributed to the following authors: Ternaux-Compans (quoting from Piedrahita, Simon, and others); Lorenzo Hervás; Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas; Isaac F. Holton; Antonio De Ulloa; Berthold Seemann; José Domingo Duquesne; Edme-François Jomard; and E. G. Squier. Berendt integrates the vocabularies into a unified list alphabetized according to the Chibchan words, while marking the entries according to the source. The words for numbers are integrated alphabetically, but also given again in a separate list (p. 16), in which pictographic symbols are included for the numbers 1 to 10, and 20. On a separate leaf (tipped in, p. 17), Berendt also gives Coconuco and Pubenano words (an additional 15 vocabulary entries), with English equivalents, taken from the same section in Bollaert's book (he remarks that Bollaert did not specify the source), and summarizes information on those groups from elsewhere in the book; there is a list of references on the verso of the same leaf. A small rectangular piece of paper containing another separate list of the numbers 1 to 10 and 20 (with pictographic symbol, numeral, and word), which was originally tipped in (p. 16), has been removed and is housed in a separate folder shelved with the bound volume in which the manuscript is contained.
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:
Chibcha language -- Glossaries, vocabularies, etc; Chibchan languages; Indians of South America -- Colombia -- Languages; Indians of South America; Chibcha language; Language and languages
Resource Type:
Text
Form/Genre:
Glossaries; Manuscripts, English; Manuscripts, Latin American; Glossaries, vocabularies, etc; Controlled vocabularies
Physical Description:
12 leaves : paper; 202 x 125 (150-155 x 100) mm bound to 215 x 150 mm + 1 note
Geographic Subject:
Colombia; Colombia -- Languages
Rights:
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Notes:
Ms. component part.; Title from component title page (p. 1).; Item 175, in contemporary paper covers, is the 15th 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, 12 leaves; ii (paper endleaves) + 9 + i (paper endleaf); [1-5], 6-16, [17, 18 (blank)]; contemporary pagination in ink, upper outer corners. Leaf tipped in (p. 17).; Layout: Vocabulary written in 20-21 lines, with words of Chibcha, or Chibchan languages, on the far left, followed by the English equivalent.; Script: Written in the hand of C. Hermann Berendt.; Watermark: PIRIE'S Old Style.; Origin: Probably written circa 1873; the manuscript uses the same paper and is similar in appearance to other items dating to that time and contained in the same bound volume.; English and Chibcha (or Chibchan languages).
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