SPAN364, 1: Columbus and Las Casas

18 SPAN364: COLUMBUS AND LAS CASAS
Note on Columbus’s language
The text is abridged from the edition in Cristóbal Colón, Textos y documentos completos. Nuevas
cartas, ed. Consuelo Varela & Juan Gil, 3rd edn (Madrid: Alianza, 1992; 1st edn 1982), §II, 95–
218. Spelling and punctuation have been regularized, and modern accents added. Some
common Old Spanish words and syntactical features are explained below; however, most of the
linguistic peculiarities were due to Columbus’s imperfect command of Spanish (e.g. confusions
with Portuguese or his native Italian).
(a) Position of object pronouns (me, te, lo, se, etc.): pronouns followed a finite verb when it
came first in the phrase and in certain other situations, e.g. after y or después (y púsole
nombre 30 Oct, envióle un presente 16 Dec, parecíale 14 Feb; Pusiéronle de comer […] y después
dábalo todo 16 Dec); but they preceded infinitives in certain constructions with a preposition
or no (para lo escribir 27 Nov, miedo de no lo conseguir 14 Feb). On one occasion Columbus
even affixes a pronoun to a past participle (lo que había dicho y proferídose a descubrir 14 Feb).
(b) ser and estar: the distinction was not as strict as in Mod Sp, e.g. era lexuelos ’it was a little far
off’ 17 Oct, las otras que son entremedio ‘the other [islands] that are in between’ 21 Oct, eran
contra mí, poniendo este hecho ‘they were against me, putting this fact’ 15 Mar).
(c) haber ‘have’: haber was still occasionally used as a full verb rather than auxiliary (que yo
haya lengua con este rey ‘that I should have a parley with this king’, 21 Oct), though tener was
already common by Columbus’s day.
Glossary
acatadura n.f. face, expression (Mod Sp catadura)
agora adv. now (cf. Mod Sp ahora)
alfaneque n.m. tent
allende de prep. besides
amainar v.tr. & intr. furl, drop (sails)
amostrar v.tr. show
aplacer v.tr. & intr. please (Mod Sp placer)
aqueste adj. & pron. this
baja n.f. shoal, reef
branchete n.m. lapdog (Mod Sp blanchete)
carantoña n.f. mask (of the grotesque kind used for
Carnival figures or by witches, etc.)
carta de navegar n.f. naval chart
consejar v.tr. advise (Mod Sp aconsejar)
contezuela n.f. small bead (dim. of cuenta)
corredío adj. straight (of hair, as opposed to crespo,
‘curly’)
costumbrarse v.refl. be accustomed (de + inf. ‘to’; cf. Mod
Sp acostumbrarse a)
dellos (de ellos, partitive) some of them (dellos ~ dellos
‘some … others’)
dende adv. from there. ~ en adelante from then onwards
deprender v.tr. learn
derredor adv. around (Mod Sp alrededor). en ~ de prep.
around
desmamparar v.tr. abandon, leave defenceless
desque conj. after, since
dizque adv. they say, it is said (that), allegedly
enjerir v.tr. insert, splice, graft
entremedio adv. in between
fugir v.intr. flee, escape (Mod Sp huir)
habemos = hemos ‘we have’ (aux.)
lejuelos adv. a little far off, quite far (dimin. of lejos)
mas conj. but (cf. más, ‘more’)
mapamundo n.m. mappa mundi, medieval world map
menester n.m. need. haber ~ de have need of
multidumbre n.f. multitude (Mod Sp muchedumbre)
nao n.f. ship
nós pron. we, us (Mod Sp nosotros)
pardela n.f. petrel (sea-bird)
partida n.f. part (Mod Sp parte)
porende conj. therefore; nevertheless
puesto que conj. although
real n.m. military encampment, camp
resgatar n.tr. & intr. barter
símplice adj. simple
surgir v.intr. drop anchor
ventar v.intr. blow (of wind)
© Jeremy Lawrance 2002