draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley
draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley
draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley
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Chapter 5<br />
Catechism Fragment<br />
5.1 Bibliographic History and Previous Linguistic Study<br />
5.1.1 González Suárez (1904)<br />
The catechism fragment that we analyze in this chapter was first published in 1904 by Federico<br />
González Suárez (b. 1844 Quito – d. 1917 Quito), then Bishop <strong>of</strong> Ibarra, 147 as an appendix to his<br />
Prehistoria ecuatoriana, which sought to clarify the pre-Colombian history <strong>of</strong> the region that would<br />
later become the nation <strong>of</strong> Ecuador. 148 Other appendices to this work include ecclesiastical texts<br />
and wordlists in Quechua and a number <strong>of</strong> other lowland languages (González Suárez 1904:43-75).<br />
González Suárez simply presents the texts, without word-by-word translations or other linguistic<br />
treatment.<br />
Regarding the provenance <strong>of</strong> the <strong>manuscript</strong> on which the catechism fragment is based, González<br />
Suárez remarks:<br />
El manuscrito de donde hemos tomado estas piezas de la doctrina en los idiomas de<br />
las tribus salvajes del Oriente perteneció, indudablemente, a algún misionero jesuita del<br />
siglo décimo octavo: creemos, sin peligro ninguno de equivocarnos, que fue del Padre<br />
De Franciscis, siciliano, que estaba en Mainas, cuando los jesuitas fueron<br />
expulsados de las misiones por orden de Carlos tercero en 1767, pues de ese Padre<br />
poseemos algunos manuscritos, con los cuales tiene mucha semejanza.<br />
Conociendo en Quito nuestra afición a recoger papeles antiguos, nos fue obsequiado este<br />
manuscrito, diciéndonos: “Quizá esto le servirá a Ud.: es cosa vieja, y parece que sólo a<br />
Ud. le servirá”.<br />
(González Suárez 1904:75, emphasis ours) 149<br />
147 Ibarra was an Ecuadorean diocese within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction <strong>of</strong> the Archdiocese <strong>of</strong> Quito.<br />
148 González Suárez was Archbishop <strong>of</strong> Quito from 1905 onwards. For more biographical details, see Saville (1918).<br />
149 Translation (ours):<br />
The <strong>manuscript</strong> from which we have taken these pieces <strong>of</strong> doctrine in the languages <strong>of</strong> the savage tribes<br />
<strong>of</strong> the East belonged, undoubtedly, to some Jesuit missionary <strong>of</strong> the 18th century: we believe, without<br />
danger <strong>of</strong> being in error, that it was from Father de Franciscis, a Sicilian, who was in Mainas<br />
when the Jesuits were expelled from the missions by order <strong>of</strong> Carlos III in 1767, since from<br />
that Father we possess some <strong>manuscript</strong>s with which it shares a striking resemblance.<br />
Our habit <strong>of</strong> collecting old documents being known in Quito, this <strong>manuscript</strong> was turned over to us,<br />
it being said: “Perhaps this may be <strong>of</strong> use to you: it’s an old thing, and it seems that it will only be<br />
<strong>of</strong> use to you”.<br />
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