‘The Matagalpan Linguistic Stock of Central America Daniel G. Brinton Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 34, No. 149. (Dec., 1895), pp. 403-415, Stable URL: hitp://lnks,jstor.org/sieisici=0003-049X%28 1895124203443 149%3C403%3ATMLSOC%3E2,0,CO%3B2-5 Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society is curently published by American Philosophical Society ‘Your use of the ISTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use, available at hhup:/www.jstororg/about/terms.huml. JSTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at hup:/www.jstor.org/journalsvamps.humnl. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the sereen or printed page of such transmission, JSTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support @jstor.org. bhupulwww jstor.org/ Wed Jun 28 14:53:05 20061605) 403 (Banton, The Matagalpan Linguistic Stock of Central America. By Daniel G. Brinton, M.D. (Read before the American Philosophical Society, December 6, 1895.) Geographical. — peculiar native idiom prevails—or fifty years ago did prevail—among the aboriginal population of that portion of the State of Nicaragua where are situated the city of Matagalpa and the towns of San Ramon, Muymuy, Sébaco and others in the department of Matagalpa ; and in the towns of Telpaneca, Palaca- ‘guina, Yalaguina, Condega, Tologalpa, Somato Grande and others Of the department of Segovia. That at one time it extended into the former department of Chontales is proved by the numerous geo- ‘graphical names which remain and by the traditions of those who yet speak it. ‘The people who use this idiom seem to have had no collective name of their own, ‘They have been called by the Spanish writers, and by others who have followed them, “Chontales”” and ““ Popo- lucas." It is now fully recognized by competent ethnographers that these terms have not, and never did have, any ethnic signi cance, They are borrowed from the Nahuatl language (spoken by the Aztecs and others), in which they are common nouns, chontalli meaning a rude, rustic person ; pepolocatl, a stranger or foreigner. Many different tribes, who did not speak Nabuatl, were so called both in Mexico and Central America. Mr. E. G. Squier, in his description of the tribes and languages of Nicaragua, gives the location of a tribe of “Chontales,”” and adds a short vocabulary of their language,” which enables us to as- sign them without hesitation to the Ulvan linguistic stock, one widely different from which I present in this paper. In the later work by Don Pablo Levy on Nicaragua, the author informs us that the Chontales spoke Maya and were descendants of the Phoenicians. In the Correspondensblatt der deutschen Anthropologischen Gesell schaft, for September, 1874, is an article based on the researches of ‘Dr. Carl Hermann Berendt, which distinctly repudiates the use of the term Chontal in an ethnic sense, and states that the Chontales and Popolucas at Nicaragua speak various tongues, having nothing ‘quit, erapua, Pepi, Srey, Momus, Yol 4 (em York, 16 + Nate oeta Rpaen de argu y., 3 (Pate),‘inton,) 404 mo clse in common than that they are not Aztec, and, therefore, all were called by the Aztecs foreign and barbarous. The article further mentions that Dr. Berendt had succeeded in obtaining 2 vocabulary of the *Chontales of Matagalpa,"” and reported that, while he found in it various words identical with those in neigh- Doring tongues, he saw no reason to believe it related to any of them.* The number of natives speaking it he estimated at 10,000 Dr. Berendt never published any portion of this material, and after his death it came into my possession. I found it to consist of a vocabulary of ninety-four words and a few phrases furnished by the Rev. Victor Noguera, a priest ordained in 1853, and who had partially learned the tongue while curate at Matagalpa and San Jorge shortly after that date. T studied it sufficiently to be persuaded that Dr. Berendt was probably right in considering it a tongue without genealogical rela- tions to its neighbors, though deeply indebted to them lexico- ‘graphically. These neighbors, I may here say, were the Nahuatl for Aztec on the south, the Lencan to the west, the Ulvan to the north and the Moscan or Musquito to the east. Other stocks are not far off, as the Chortis of Honduras speaking a Maya dialect, the ‘Xicaques in the same State, and the Mangues in Nicaragua. In accordance with this view, in my linguistic classification of the American race, published in 1891, I placed it as a separate stock, giving it the name of * Matagalpan.”” To illustrate its character, I inserted a vocabulary of sixteen nouns and the first five numerals.} Previousto this, in the Appendix to an article pub- lished in the Compte-rend of the Congrés International des Ameri- ccanistes of 1890, concerning the true meaning of the names Chon- tales and Popolucas and a specification of the diverse tribes in~ cluded under them, I inserted a portion of Noguera’s list. ‘Knowing the somewhat uncertain source ofthe material, and hav- ing no other authority with which to compare it, Ideemed it in- sufficient for a special study. Iam glad to say that now that dif calty has been removed, and Iam able to present an enlarged and corrected vocabulary and a brief grammatic analysis of the tongue. doch git daslbe Kelnen Anbalspankt fr Scidam auf Verwandichaf mit saeren Suchen.” "WD G. Brion, The Aneroan Rae A Lingle Clanton end eoyrephca De serine th Bat ten of Noh end Sut ere, pp. 0, 9 (NeW Vor, 121) "VemarsIatratonl der tmereaiaes, Compe at de YUL Stn, 86.15) 405 (Benn. ‘The material for this is supplied by an article from an intelligent instructor, Don Jeremias Mendoza, of Yoloaiquin, published in the journal La Universidad, at San Salvador, Central America, in June last (1895). The discovery was to me unexpected, as Mendoza’s article is descriptive of the Indian town of Cacaopera, which lies in the Sierra of San Salvador, a hundred and fifty miles from Mata- sgalpa ; nor does he express any knowledge that the dialect of this ‘mountain hamlet is identical with that of much of the native popu lation of the departments of Matagalpa and Segovia in Nicaragua ‘The village of Cacaopera is in the department of Morazan, six- teen kilometers from its capital, and is noteworthy for the tenacity with which its inhabitants have preserved the purity of their blood and also their ancient customs, usages and language. They have always occupied the locality, so far as written history goes. Ac- cording to their own traditions, their ancestors before the conquest ‘occupied a site about three kilometers to the west of the present village. At that spot an enclosure about one square kilometer in area is still visible, within which are mounds and ruins of ancient edifices. ‘The ground is rich in fragments of pottery, some bearing “hieroglyphs” and painted figures upon their surfaces ; and frag- ‘ments of carved stones have also been exhumed. This spot is known as the “pueblo viejo,” old town. ‘These facts are important, both as showing the long occupancy of the region by these people and as evidence of the grade of cule ture they attained. ‘They number now about three thousand souls, most of whom are ‘engaged in the cultivation of the maguey and the manufacture of ropes and cords from its fibres. These they color, and with thera make hammocks, harness, halters, nets and the like, which are highly esteemed by their neighbors. ‘They are industrious and temperate, all good Catholics, of course, Dut mingling with the rites of the Church many strange elements from their ancient cult, as dances and masked dramatic per- formances. Puoxerics. ‘The sounds of the tongue appear to offer little difficulty to a Spanish student, The words furnished by Mendoza are written according to the Spanish alphabet, the only point he notes being that the # and the & should be pronounced forcibly.oto} 406 (re. ‘The words from Noguera are in the phonetic system devised by Dr. Berendt, which, as far as practicable, follows the Spanish values. Concerr or Nuwper. ‘As in most American languages, the idea of plurality is not ex- pressed unless the content would be insufficient to convey it Noguera gives : Libra buys, two pounds. When expressed, itis by the suffix gud/tara, as guapuegualtara, hats. This apparently means, “hats, many.” ‘The same construction is in the Mus- vito. This sfx appears as an infix in plurlizing the pronouns; as Sing., cara, he Plur, cara-gualeara ji, they. In an abbreviated form in the second person, ¢. Sing, mang, thon, Plar,, mani-guatji, you. ‘And probably still further incorporated in the first person : Sing. yams, 1 Plur, yamta-caji, we. [As will be shown later, the plural of verbs is based on these pro- nominal forms. ‘The notion of exclusive and inclusive plural, or of the dual num- ber, does not appear. Coxcerr or Gexpen. ‘There seem to exist but few independent words denoting sex. Even for “father” and “mother,” the same term, amis, is em ployed (hence =" parent”). Where it is necessary to define the gender, the words, au, male, and mayrro, female, are added, ¢. g., piyurapu, cock; piyumayrro, hhen, ‘The latter is almost certainly the Musquito, mairin, which hhas precisely the same grammatical use and significance,® and is a compound of the feminine yorra, with a prefix denoting “human. Proxouns. ‘The personal pronouns are : T, yom or yamijh We, yamtacoj ‘Thou, mani. You, manigualgé. He, carajt ‘They, earaguat-caraj ‘Lucien Adam, Langue Mong, p12 (Pa 81).— 407 tara. ‘The possessives are: 7 ph; of, kikara. ‘Thine, yma ; oF, makara, His or other's, Ani. In construction, the possessive pronoun of the second form fol- lows the thing possessed ; a5 : My hat, quapue kibarés ‘Thy dish, darrén makard. ‘Tuy hale, biti makaré. In the abbreviated forms, Ae, my, ma, thy, they are postfixed to ‘the nouns, forming, in connection with names of parts of the body, etc., inseparables ;.a5 is generally the case in American languages. ‘The personal pronouns have considerable similarity to those of the Musquito language, which are: yang, 1; man, thou. This re- semblance extends also to the possessives, Mus., Zufi-ti, son mine (any son); mitam (= mita-m), hand thy (thy hand, etc.) (Adam, Langue Mosquito, pp. 16-18). ‘The identity is so striking that it would induce me to claim a relationship between the two tongues, especially as they have cer- tainly many other words in common ; but as I have elsewhere ed out, the personal pronouns and their derivations belong to ‘a class of words which must be excluded from lingui son for ethnographic purposes.* ‘The demonstratives are: ‘The second of these, it will be observed, is identical second person singular of the personal pronoun thou.’ Another demonstrative, which has sometimes the sense of a definite article is midare. It is appended to names borrowed from the Spanish, as, drawers (Span. calzones), kalsoma midkare ; but is not confined to these, as the name of the cotton tree is man dapan mitkare, ‘The suffix 5as appears to be another demonstrative of a similar character, a5, yorrabas, the girl, the 800 Proving of to Amerian Oriental Society, March, 160. have ber shown that there Ioan extensive ppsoiogeal errltontateen the sounds f many mors ‘ad the concepts they dnote, so that snilaro rented are aut wae Wo reeat ‘emis in stocks Whelly discounted, ‘PHOC. AMER, PHILO. €06, XXXIV, 149,22, PRINTED FER, 8, 1898,Frinton} 408 (Dees, Nomeats. ‘The numerals, as given by the two authorities, areas follows 1 an 2 uy a guatia, 4 fea. 5, ‘These have some affinities with the Ulvan, but also such differ- ences as to prevent us from supposing that they are identical. CanpixaL Pours. ‘These are expressed by phrases in this manner : North, Auin-satndka ; literally, “Wind, whence It comes.”” South, mart.kat 167" + Sea, where iti.” ast, lan-sal-ndta ; ‘ «+8up, whence it comes."" West, lankanndanka; "Sun, where it goes down.” ‘The word mari in the term for south is doubtless Span mountaineers probably in their ancient isolation being ignorant of the ocean. Construction. ‘The subject precedes the verb and often stands in appos pronoun, as: Lan carajéKénnata, Sun, he goes down. “The sua is going down.” ‘The object may either precede or follow the verb. hungry (Lengo hambre), Sepd dainale (Ny. ‘we cut maguey t Guano sirra catjatt? make a hammock, Yami até parr. ‘Take s seat, Anda kutkane (N). ‘Their held adishin herhand, Yorrabas dainate barrambas pénacam, ‘The last word, panacam, should probably be analyzed as pana: ca-m, “hand-in-her,” where postposition and possessive pronoun are incorporated with the noun, Mendoza gives the following verse, composed by a native youth ‘of Cacaopera, I add an interlinear translation of such words as are clear : frajt yaa ‘this beaytful105] 409 Brinton, Guisirré — guotirat butatiquali, Birds “many Yorra— nananguie Aginl Rika tukat engquis —evlaniquiyn. ‘dle. ‘Translation (af Mendoza). Tn thie beautiful eld, sing, ‘young gist, For whom Iam dying. ‘Veerns. According to the examples given, the general formula of the verb is ‘Separable pronoun ++ verbal theme -+ temporal index -+ Inseparnble pro- ‘nominal sux -+ numerical index. ‘The last mentioned is required in the plural only. ‘The uniform personal inseparables are : ‘These are derived from the separable personals by the processes, of suffixation and elision ; and the latter has been carried to such an extent that the original meaning of the sufix has been lost, and the separable personals are now prefixed. This is precisely the process of which we have so many examples in the Romance languages, and is one common to inflectional speech everywhere, if, indeed, it is not the origin of it ‘The temporal indices are Present. ost past.—teal (or, tea). Second past. Fature.— it Gam, ja, oF J). ‘These are subject to various euphonic changes, and are to be ex- plained as infixes denoting time suffixed to the verbal theme and worn down to thei¢ lowest phonetic expression.ston} 410 [rn Substantive Verb, ‘As usual, in these tongues, we find no true substantive verb, Maniji —yalaea aye cari ‘Thou eautlfal moon Uke, “Thou art beautiful as the moon.” ‘ But to be in a place” (Span. estar) is expressed by the verb datiali, Tshall be,” dajint; you will be,” dajamdmbira. Ivrennocartves, ‘Specimens of these are: How do you dot (N.) batsigtia bayamani? Shall we go tothe woods? guano yurra ? Shall we go tothe river? ‘guano yelka? Shall we go to cut maguey 1 guano sir edtjai? Shall we go to bring water? guano i yerdjatt? Do you want to work? natdnji tiquitguanda? Necarivas. ‘The separable term for negative is guaca, no; but special nega tive forms appear to be employed in verbs, as: ‘To wish, nati. Tio not wish, naguisanca, Tid not wish, natiata. ‘These are not clear. arabicus. ‘To have (Sp. tener), dainati Ihave, y. ddinati. Weave, y. dainatéca. ‘Thou hast, m. ddinatam, ‘Youhave, m. dainatanbira, He has, «. ddinata, ‘They havo, ¢. dainaldguati. Lind, y. dainatedt ‘We had, y. datnatedca. ‘Thou hadst, m. datnatedlam. ‘You had, m. dainatealénbira He had, ¢ datnatedla, ‘They had, ¢ dainatealéguali shall have, y. danajin. ‘We shall have, y. danajamdaca. ‘Thou wilt ‘You will have, m. dainajanambira. He will have, ¢. dainajai, ‘They will hve, 6. daina}égual Toweep, — gualeajal. Weeping, gudleata ; To have wept, guateanenata,4i1 295 (isaton, 1, guéteat. 1, guateatéca 2 guéteatam. 2 gualeatinbira, 8, gudlata 8, gualeatéquali, 1, guateatesi. 1, guateatedea, 2, gualeatedlam, 2 gualsatenlanbira, 8 qualeatedla. 2B, gualeatediaguale. 4, putea 1, gualeatéea, i 2, qualealanbira, 8, gualealagual 1, quateajatdica, 2, guategjamémbira, 8, guateajaquatt. ‘secoxD ForoRE. 4, guateanememti, 2, gualeanementam, 8, gualeanenala, 1. gualeanemtéca, 2, gualeanemntdbira. 8, gualeanentdgual. ‘Woop ye, qualeatambira maniguayi ‘Weep thou, guatea mani Let them weep, gualeataca caraguatcaraji Lethim weep, guatoa eargi In the vocabulary, the words from the list by Noguera are marked with an N, ‘Those not so distinguished are from the article of Mendoza. ‘Vocapurany. Abore, rue. Barranco, ev ‘Aleatde, fad. Basin, tapi, ‘Ant, N. mukale, Beans, pée. Anus, N. Beautiful, yélaca (root, yator yala; yubitu, nami; N. panake (md = ). Armadillo, kins (Ulva, uth. ‘Arrow, N. asta (Musqulto, trisha), ‘Ato, eure ‘Ayote fruit, fgua, ‘Bad, ferdeaoa (the root ‘Good and Ugly). tee Good and Bad). Bod, N. ukraske Before, técan, Behind, manaedt Below, batie Belly, N. puke (Ulva, babs), Bench (of wood), N. kul. Bird, guasirr’; N. yulo,eat} 412 (oee.6, Black, mula, Bow, N. up, Bras wood, macds. Breasts, tate (tat probably ‘mother compare manna in Latin), Cat, miché (a foreign word from ‘Nabuath. Chile, cud, Church, tedpan (a Nahuatl word meaning “sacred place”), Cloud, am. Cock (fowl), piyi-apu (see “Hen ; ‘apu must mean “ male”) Cold, tata, olor, alortita probably from Span. “color”) Cotton, dapan. Cunnus (fem.), N. eu. Dark, vinnie. Day, Udataca (from én, sun). Dead, clam. Deer, yin N. yaw Dish, barran, Dog, atu; N. Xieaque, soyo ; Lenea, aut; Mas- Aalto, gud; Carib, aul) Bar, N: fopatte (Ulva, kupate. Earth, land, durrd’; N. doy (comp. Lenca, lu; Kiehe, ulew Maya, tuum). Egg, N. hi. Enclosure, curr. Span.) Enough, yalabeics. Bye, dunkén ; N. hike, Eyebrows, N nalila Eyelashes, N. kite. Father (parent), N. améeke (given for both “futher”*and “mother,” the de is a possessive; the Ulva thas mamaski, mother ; though ‘the nearer relation may be to M, ‘isa, man). Pemale, yorra N. yuaiya (Cari, soiire Musquito, yall, where the frequent r =! may appear) Field, plan, ppt Fire, lagudlé; N.lauale Fireband, N: jokane. Fish, 34; Fly. a; 5 oot, N. napake, Good, bécaea (the root is probably ba or bay vee Bad). Gourd, sna; another kind, N. ‘ita. Green, sdaaea (Lencs, seega, Di Hair, hitima ; N- kite Hamack, parri. Hand, N. panate, Hat, guepte Hawk, ond. Head, guard ; N. méike (swo quive diferent words; guard may be allied to Lenea toro). Heat, N. guayuta. Ten, piysi-mayrro; N. doluko (the latter is the Ulva, Jukuh ; the terminal mayrro=female; see Cock). HIM, earrén j N. Rayan. Hillside, paleo. Hone, darréy ; N. ard. House, «; N. v Game in Ulva). How, carta, Hunger, N. sepa. Iguana, N. jamai (Ulva, Rawal). Large, huilea; N. baibake Leaf, méntaca (comp. Tree). Lett, bésaca. Little (poco), dénmiea. Lizard (garrobo), diuba. Maguey, sirru. Maize, aymd ; N. aima (Lenct, ‘ana ; Ulva, ham). Male (vir), mail; N. maa y Ma Man, dba; tal may bbe allied to amie, father. The1933 a3 trot, Xleaque, fond ; Lenen, omashe, seem related. Tul in ike Ulea ‘Meat (Nesh), nacat ; N. bubal (the former is Nahust! naeadl.) Mezcal, srrika. Money, N. yapé. ‘Moon, dieu; N. Aaito (Ulva, uaige. Mouth, tamagud ; N. tavake, Much, Béydaya. Nails (of lagers, ete), N. musuke ‘Nest (of bird), wd, Net, N. guj Night, érranta, No, guaca, Note, ¥. name, 014, wakén Owl, iakirr. Palo,acdguata, Pents, N. naake, Person, yacirra. Petticoat, yus; N “‘unante," yu, Pigeoo, seuyu Pine knot, N. ku (Nab, oct). Plantain, pa. Pot, sarru (?Span, jarro; N- eeia, Ralo, N. gua, iya (Ulva and Len. ‘eu, quae water). Red, lalé (Lenca, shewla). Ridge pole, du. Right, éyaea, River, yelka, Road (path), tap. Shore (bank), yelba-uriaka, Small, chk; N. Hintze. (Span. Snail, sont Btone, appa; N. * pledra de mo- ler" (comp. Ktesque, pat ; Len- x, tupan ; Musqulto, walpa,) Sagar cane, nand. Sun, lan ; N. lal. Sweet, yayd, ‘Todaceo, N. guilfe (Lenea, gua; ‘Musquto, ) ‘Tongue, N. tomamte. ‘Tooth, N. ninike (Lenes, nigh or ‘Tortilla, Mn s N, tenka (the latter is Nahuatl, dazeat ‘Tree, man; N. man. ‘Turkey buzzard, Aiema, Ugly, arate. Uncle, Aue Water, WN. W (Musquit, 1, fv). ‘Was, N.aimila, White, aaju CLenea, ahogo + Xion. que, Wind, hue (Ulva, win, Woman, mairro (Mosquito, mai- ren). Work, téputguanan. Wood, dine Woods, yurra Yellow, moyr, Yes, ende, apote fruit, topé. Vens. to arrive, wtinajat, to bathe, idiguajati, to-carry, ndiyjalt. tocome, ayrdjal, teu, edjai to draw, yabijals, to drink, dipajati, t0-ent, dir toembrace, bgjaé (an embrace, ‘ka. to give mitgja CN. “give me” quia. ‘to g0, dilsinan ; aso, guate to go away, yopuatégualt,Batson) alt (ee. 6 {olin up, wpsityjate two play, baja. to sing, buta tégual. tosleep, yéunajati to Join, nacadiiajali to KIM, eulindjat. to take, agin. tokindle, péytiatt to wash, sdeajal, tolaugh, tmaguate, to weep, guélbojalk to leave, dastaira to wish, nat Osseevarions on THE VocanutaRy. Man and Woman.—The distinction between homo, vir and mas, seems to be represented respectively by dma or fall; mita or sisi; and apu. Corresponding both to femina and mulier are yorra and mayrro ; the former conveying also the notion of youth (Joven). All these words have numerous similarities in sound to fthers of the same meaning in the dialects of central and north- western South America, the Choco especially, in which «man is ome or umu; woman” muera, etc. Evidently mayrro is nothing more than omba-yorra, the general word for the human species with the feminine termination, ‘That the m sound, in this as in so many other languages, is associated with the human, is to be explained by one of those physiological correlations of articu- late speech, which I have discussed elsewhere*. Dog and Cat.—The word for * dog” in the Cent dialects seems to be generally from the Nahuatl chichi lowing list shows the progressive variations: American ‘The fol- Nan hich, ‘Tequisteean, gi. South Mayan dialects, hit Lenea, on, shud, shah, Xieaque, oye u silo, subi, Musquto, ul If these correspondences show derivation, the knowledge of the dog, along with its name, probably was derived from the Aztecan stock to the north. The pure Mayas had a wholly different word, pet. sn te Pectin ofthe American Ont Society oe are, 180, 4} Stil mnopaphte der Repu uetonl, pS1905 415 (Brtown. ‘The word for * eat" in most of the Central American tongues is some modification of the Nahuatl miston, a diminutive of mizti, the term for the jaguar. Maize and Its Products,—The word for ‘ maize" in several Central American tongues is aima, and it has been plausibly sug- gested that it is from the Maya zim. ‘The Matagalpan word for atole, céurra, is certainly the Cakchiquel ar for the same. ‘There seems little doubt that the knowledge of this food plant ex- tended to this tribe from those of Maya descent. Appexpex. Since the above was in type I have received from Dr, Carl Sapper, of Guatemala, some words from the dialect of Cacaopera, collected by himself ia 1895. I add them for the sake of compari- Man, yévira, Nose, nam. Woman, y6ra. Tongue, ducam, Sun, lawn ‘Tooth, niniea, Moon, ae ‘Ture, euatpa, Mouth, dacaeta, Four, botarru Of these, the word for ‘man’ is from the same root as that for woman; those for “mouth” and “tongue”? are probably vari- ants of those given in the vocabulary ; while that for «foot is a wholly different term. Dr. Sapper adds that at present there is no native word for * five.” ‘consult on ths sujet the exelent monograph of Dr. Joba W. Handlers, "alt af Contain rm the Booed Lateaony ofthe Uneraty of Pexuylania (Pblldelpha, Is)” Ingle ev eneo sven pp 28-18 PROC. AMER. PHILOS. 600, xxxtY. 149, 94, PRINTED PE. 5, 1996