draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

Chantre y Herrera (1901:93) similarly indicates that the Jesuits had created grammars and
dictionaries for at least 20 languages in Maynas, including ‘...Omagua, which now has a grammar
[lit. arte] and a large dictionary, and is one of the easiest to learn: sweet, soft, and harmonious’
(ibid: 92).
The role of both the descriptive linguistic resources and ecclesiastical texts that were developed
as part of the Jesuit linguistic project in Maynas is clear in Juan de Velasco’s description, reported
by Hervás y Panduro (1800:271-272, emphasis ours), of Jesuit linguistic policy in the reino de Quito,
which encompassed Maynas:
Sobre las gramáticas de las lenguas del reino de Quito, el señor Abate Velasco me escribe
en estos términos: «Habiéndose hecho común por órden de los superiores seglares la
lengua quichua en la misiones del reino de Quito, y siendo muchísmos y diversísimos
los idiomas de las naciones quiteñas, los misioneros formaban la gramática y el
catecismo del idioma de la respectiva nación que empezaban a catequizar;
y estas gramáticas y catecismos quedaban manuscritos en la librería de la
misión para instrucción de los que sucedían en ésta. 346
Materials in and on lenguas particulares were archived in both the regional Jesuit headquarters
in Santiago de la Laguna (modern-day Lagunas, Department of Loreto) and at the Jesuit college in
Quito. In this way, Jesuit priests arriving to Quito to begin their period as missionaries in Maynas
were able to begin learning the languages spoken in the mission settlement to which they would be
deployed. In 1724, Francisco Javier Zephyris (b. 1695 Brixen, Austria – d. 1769 Vienna) 347 wrote
to his brother portraying this undertaking:
Todavía me encuentro en Quito rompiéndome la cabeza con el aprendizaje de las diversas
lenguas indígenas, que son por entero extrañas para un misionero europeo. Un sacerdote
experimentado como es el P. Juan Bautista Julián de la provincia de Alemania superior,
nos escribía que al llegar a su reducción no había podido hablar ni una sola palabra con
los indios, ni menos entenderlos.
(Matthei (1972:134), excerpted in Downes (2008:71)) 348
manuscripts on some languages: Father Matías Lazo, who entered the missions in 1700, was the first
to write a grammar of Yurimagua [unclassified]: Father Wilhelm Grebmer, who entered the missions
in 1700, left many manuscripts on some languages, principally Omagua and Kokama. Father Adam
Widman, who entered the missions in 1728, remained there until the year of our expulsion, and died
a prisoner in Lisbon, perfected the grammars of many languages, and with respect to these, he left
excellent manuscripts”.
346 Translation (ours):
Regarding the grammars of the languages of the Kingdom of Quito, abbot Velasco [Juan de Velasco]
writes to me in the following way: “Quechua having been made the standard in the Kingdom of
Quito by order of the lay superiors, and the languages of the nation of Quito being many and highly
diverse, the missionaries formed a grammar and catechism of the language of the relevant
nation that they began to catechize; and these grammars and catechisms remained in
manuscript form in the mission library for the instruction of those that followed in this
[undertaking].
347 Jouanen (1943:749). Brixen is today located in Italy.
348 Translation (ours):
128