draft manuscript - Linguistics - University of California, Berkeley

Chapter 6
Full Catechism
6.1 Bibliographic History and Previous Linguistic Study
6.1.1 Espinosa Pérez (1935)
The complete Omagua catechism presented here was first published in 1935 by Lucas Espinosa Pérez
(b. 1895 Villabasta, Spain – d. 1975 Guecho, Spain), as part of of his historical, ethnographic, and
linguistic treatise on the Kokamas and Omaguas of Peru, Los tupí del oriente peruano. Espinosa
Pérez was a Augustinian missionary of Spanish origins who began missionary work in northern
Peruvian Amaznia in 1920, working closely with the Omagua and Kokama-Kokamilla communities
of the Huallaga, Ucayali, Marañón, Amazon, Itaya and Nanay river basins, and eventually becoming
a fluent speaker of both languages.
Espinosa first obtained the text through Constantino Bayle (b. 1882 Zarza de Granadilla, Spain
– d. 1953 Madrid), a Spanish Jesuit who was preparing for publication the manuscript of the
diaries of Manuel Joaquín Uriarte (b. 1720 Zurbano, Spain – d. ∼1802 Vitoria, Spain), 173 a Spanish
Jesuit missionary who worked in the Maynas missions prior to the Jesuit expulsion. Bayle sought
Espinosa’s help in transliterating a set of ecclesiastical texts in lowland Amazonian languages 174
that accompanied the diaries, one of which was the complete catechism in Omagua that we analyze
here (see §6.1.2). 175
It is clear that Espinosa’s version of the catechism represents a significant, but not entirely
consistent reworking of the original manuscript. Espinosa Pérez (1935:146, emphasis ours) characterized
his editorial work in preparing the original manuscript for publication in the following
way:
173 Uriarte’s exact date of death remains elusive. Bayle ([1952]1986:57) claims that a margin note in the volume
containing Uriarte’s original 1720 baptismal record indicates that he died “sobre el año 1802” (“around the year
1802”). Jouanen (1943:747) gives 1800, but indicates that he is uncertain. Various authors appear to have simply
chosen a date (e.g., Cipolletti (2001:241), Downes (2005:156), Negro Tua (2007:106)).
174 Within the appendices to Uriarte’s diaries, Quechua texts far outnumber texts in any other indigenous languages
(Omagua (Tupí-Guaraní), Tikuna (isolate, see footnote 261) and Yameo (Peba-Yaguan, extinct)), and include
(with Spanish titles): El “pater noster”; El ave maría; El credo; La salve regina; Los mandamientos de la ley
de Dios; Los mandamientos de la santa madre iglesia son cinco; Los siete sacramentos de la santa iglesia; La
confesión general que se dice después del rezo; Acto de contrición que dice el padre y repiten todos, acabada la
misa, los domingos, fiestas, sábados y antes del rosario, a la tarde; Canciones que cantaban los niños, en tiempo
de misa, en Omaguas, después de rezar con los misterios de fe; De la confesión y dolor; Del santísimo sacramento
– jueves; De la santísima virgen – sábado; Sobre los novísimos; Del purgatorio – el lunes; Sobre el cielo – en las
fiestas; Acto de contrición – viernes; Otro en otro tono (Uriarte ([1776]1952a:211-227, [1776]1986:598-613)).
175 The puzzling outcome that Espinosa’s publication of the text preceded Bayle’s is likely due to the disruptive effects
of the Spanish Civil War, which delayed Bayle’s preparation of Uriarte’s diaries.
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