Great Tzotzil Dictionary of Santo Domingo Zinacantán, with Grammatical Analysis and Historical Commentary, Volume II: English-Tzotzil

Abstract

This dictionary of Tzotzil (Mayan) vocabulary from the town of Zinacantán, Chiapas, Mexico, was edited by the author over a period of nine years. The original manuscript, compiled by an anonymous Dominican friar, probably at the close of the 16th century, disappeared during the Mexican Revolution, but a manuscript copy of 351 pages survives. It was made around 1906 at the behest of the Bishop of Chiapas, Francisco Orozco y Jiménez. The approximately 11,000 Spanish-Tzotzil entries have been translated into English. Following the format of <i>The Great Tzotzil Dictionary of San Lorenzo Zinacantán</i>, the colonial Tzotzil has been ordered by roots. The spelling has been corrected and modernized. Doubtful interpretations are stated and problems are brought to the reader's attention, with frequent reference to the existing colonial Tzeltal dictionaries. Each entry is analyzed grammatically according to a system devised by John B. Haviland. All entries are keyed to their original location in the manuscript copy. A second section provides an English-Tzotzil dictionary and index for the thesaurus that follows. To make the cultural contents of this dictionary more readily available to anthropologists and historians, the thesaurus groups the Tzotzil terms under 36 cultural categories such as world, movement, life cycle, emotions, agriculture, ailments, religion, etc. Of special interest is metaphoric speech, subdivided into 10 categories. A third section presents the Spanish-Tzotzil dictionary slightly abbreviated and with the spelling of both languages modernized. A facsimile of the manuscript copy is also offered. Preceding the dictionaries is a historical sketch that places the original in its colonial setting, compares it to other 16th and 17th century lexicographic efforts, and suggests a possible author. The lives of the five individuals responsible for the preservation of the manuscript copy are traced. John B. Haviland, drawing upon the contents of the manuscript, provides a detailed analysis of the grammatical changes that have occurred in Tzotzil over the past four centuries.