Reseña de: Galeote, Manuel (ed.); Fray Alonso de Molina. 2001[1555]. Aquí comiença vn Vocabulario en la lengua castellana y mexicana. Málaga: Universidad de Málaga, pp. LXVII, 535 (= Analecta Malacitana, Anejo XXXVII)

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Aquí comiença vn Vocabulario en la lengua castellana y mexicana. Fray Alonso de Molina. Ed. by MANUEL GALEOTE. Málaga: Universidad de Málaga, 2001, Pp. LXVII, 535 (= Analecta Malacitana, Anejo XXXVII). Reviewed by MIGUEL ÁNGEL ESPARZA TORRES, Universidad de Vigo With this publication, Manuel Galeote offers the facsimile edition of the first writing of Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana [VCM] (1555) by fray Alonso de Molina, preceded by a short, precise, documented and seriously prepared introduction. This ‘Preliminary Study’ describes the main characteristics of this work by Molina, which is regarded as the basis upon which it was settled the subsequent flourishing of grammatical and lexicographical works whose aim was that of describing the American languages. Due to several reasons, it was convenient to tackle the task of publishing this work. First of all, we must take into account the fact that Molina’s Vocabulario (1555) is the first dictionary — and the first especifically linguistic work — on an American language. As a matter of fact, we relied on some meritorious studies about Molina’s pioneering work, some of them by Manuel Galeote (1993, 2001), an experienced expert in the native and American contribution to the Spanish lexical patrimony (cf. Galeote 1997). It is also true the fact that the text has been available in software for a short time (Hernández de León-Portilla 1998) and that, finally, researches had at their disposal the second writing of Molinas’s work (1571), which was longer and extended with the Mexican-Spanish part (cf. for example León-Portilla 1977, Hernández 1996). But we did not have an edition which made 1555’s Vocabulario accessible. I refer not only to the text itself, even though it is not easy to find any copy of that edition of this Spanish and Mexican linguistics classic, but rather to the fact of having the text available along with a good introduction which shows its most relevant aspects accurately and in detail. And this is exactly what Galeote provides. On the other hand, the condition of being the 1555´s Vocabulario the first work containing the Spanish-Mexican combination has deeper implications than those concerning mere chronological details. Thus, for instance, it is worth wondering how it would be possible to fairly appreciate the contributions of 1571’s edition without having a deep knowledge of that published about fifteen years earlier. One also wonders why we should stop studying this first result of the American adaptation of Nebrija’s Vocabulario de romance en latín in order to measure the degree of innovation or

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acceptance of the pattern; or even, why shouldn’t one identify the native loans present in this text since, as Galeote proves, they do anticipate the dates for the first appearance of quite a few terms. The ‘Preliminary Study’ of around fifty pages offered by Galeote contents the following sections: ‘Introducción’, ‘La obra lexicográfica y gramatical de Alonso de Molina’, ‘Presencia de Nebrija en la obra de Molina’, ‘El vocabulario en la lengua castellana y mexicana: entradas castellanas e indigenismos’ and ‘Clave bibliográfica’. Two appendices must be added to these sections: ‘Indigenismos en la sección castellana del VCM [55] and VCM [71]’ and ‘Indigenismos en la sección castellana del VCM [71]’. In the ‘Introducción’ we are provided with some information about the published work and its relevance, in contrast with the little interest aroused among researchers (p. XII): A este «primer diccionario de una lengua americana» —en palabras de Menéndez Pidal—, inexplicablemente se le han dedicado escasos estudios y muy poca atención.

Certainly, researchers have focused their attention on the examination of the reelaboration and extension of this work which was published in Mexico (1571) along with the absolutely original Vocabulario en lengua mexicana y castellana (p. XII): No obstante, seguimos sin comprender la preferencia de los especialistas por el Vocabulario de 1571 y el olvido del VCM [55], que es menos copioso —sin ninguna duda—, pero no deja de ser el primero. Por ello nos hemos decidido a publicar una reimpresión facsimilar de este «clásico en sentido estricto», dicho con palabras de León-Portilla, que constituye el «primer léxico de la lengua náhuatl y también el primero que de cualquier idioma indígena se imprimió en el Nuevo Mundo o fuera de él».

Galeote’s decision will be fully justified by some details, mainly with those supplied in the final ‘Apéndices’. Furthermore, in this first introductory section we are also shown some details about the author’s life and his linguistic activity. It is also interesting to point out the fact that the latter is examined in the light of some discord existing between Carlos V’s royal provisions, which tended to increase the Spanish-speaking population, and the ‘Náhuatl’ divulgation programs carried out by the franciscans. In the next heading, which generally deals with ‘La obra lexicográfica y gramatical de Alonso de Molina’, Galeote proves that he has intensely worked on the prefaces and out of them he makes judicious and precise remarks about the linguistic ideas and the fundamental principles guiding Molina’s grammatical and lexicographical works. Molina’s approaches bear a certain relation not only with the specific field of the missionary linguistics, but also

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with the wider context of the linguistic ideas of the Spanish humanism. In the section devoted to the ‘Presencia de Nebrija en la obra de Molina’, the debt the franciscan author contracted with Nebrija is analysed in detail, as far as both grammar and lexicography are concerned. To what extent was Nebrija original in his Vocabulario? Galeote’s opinion on this matter is summarised as follows (p.XXIII): Como puede comprobarse sin dificultad, Molina tiene presente en todo momento el Vocabulario de Nebrija y su labor es similar, en cierta manera, a la de fray Pedro de Alcalá, que en 1505 había publicado el Vocabulista de Romance en Arauigo…

The ‘substantial difference’ between Nebrija and Molina’s respective works obviously lies in the presence of the American realities (p. XXIV): Molina recoge 111 ocurrencias de términos indígenas en las entradas castellanas del VCM [55], que se convertirán en 233 ocurrencias cuando se publica el VCM [71].

Galeote goes through the different judgements made by researchers about the ‘criterios latinocéntricos’ used by missionaries in his description and assesses its positive aspects. Thus, he agrees with Quilis (1998) when highlighting that aquellos hombres formados en las universidades y conventos de España desarrollaron una ingente labor —de proyección mundial— en relación con unas lenguas, algunas de las cuales «sólo tienen el estudio que de ellas se hizo en aquel Siglo de Oro español, o poco después» (p. XXVII),

and further on, specifying a series of positive aspects which are remarkably relevant (XXX): No puede olvidarse que las lenguas indígenas carecían de alfabeto, que los frailes debieron inventar métodos de campo intercomunicativos para aprender la lengua, obtener los datos lingüísticos, entenderse con los indígenas y, posteriormente, lograr redactar los datos reunidos, exponer sus observaciones lingüísticas y dar a la imprenta estos trabajos.

The last heading, the most extensive and rich in its contribution of new lexical data, and, together with the final ‘Apéndices’, the most outstanding for those researches interested in lexicographical information, deals with the Indoamerican words which are regarded as Spanish in the Vocabulario entries. Here, Galeote introduces the results of the comparison between the 1555 and 1571’s editions of Vocabulario de Molina, and Nebrija’s Vocabulario de romance en

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latín. The conclusions drawn from the comparison are clear (p. XXXI): Molina nos ofrece una obra de un valor incalculable para profundizar en los orígenes del español de América con unos materiales lexicográficos hasta ahora sin explotar desde el punto de vista histórico y sociolingüístico.

The material is shaped into different tables which organise the abundant, well classified and commented information. Once these data have been studied, it is difficult not to share Manuel Galeote’s opinion (p. XLI): Quizá encontremos pocos casos como este, donde pueda verse con tanta claridad y con datos fiables el avance en el contacto interlingüístico del español y las lenguas americanas, así como la inmediata entrada de neologismos indígenas en la lengua durante el s. XVI.

It is not possible here to go further into detail about every single interesting aspect that Galeote analyses particularly in this section. Nevertheless, I cannot help drawing the reader’s attention to his explanations concerning the way in which the American lexicon makes its way into the entries of VCM [55], on the grounds of certain resources derived from the lexicographical technique that Molina uses to elaborate the entries in his Vocabulario: a) The opposition between “de la tierra” and “de Castilla”: açucar negro desta tierra / açucar de castilla...; b) co-existence of the syntagma “de la tierra” and native loan: pimienta de la tierra, axi; c) Romance shape and expression: axedera yerua (xoxocoyolli)...; d) Romance shape (or expression) and native loan: pan y tamales (“amassado pan”, “amassar tamales”; e) Indoamerican term: mayz, maiz, cacao, maguey, etc.; f) hispanicized native loan of which its náhuatl equivalent is estated: buhio, xacalli; canoa, acalli; mecapal, mecapalli (cf. p. XXXVII). Galeote observes two relevant facts: ‘que los más numerosos pertenecen a los campos onomasiológicos de la flora y la fauna’, as regards the specific character of the native loans, and ‘que los indoamericanismos adaptados a la estructura del español a mitad del XVI ya aparecen sin indicaciones ni determinaciones de ningún tipo en la sección castellana del diccionario’. The Estudio Preliminar rounds off with both the bibliographical references section, which collects the large documentation used in this work, constituting an elaborated bibliographical selection, and with two new tables including the native loans that are present in the Spanish section of Vocabulario castellano-mexicano in 1555 and 1571’s editions and the native loans existing in the Spanish section of Vocabulario mexicano-castellano (1571).

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Undoubtedly, this brief review of the contents of Galeote’s introduction has omitted quite a few interesting points, but I think that what has been already commented is enough to conclude that the edition offered by Manuel Galeote implies a suitable answer to a research task which was necessary to tackle and that the book he offers is, certainly, a valuable and convenient contribution.

REFERENCES Galeote, Manuel. 1993. “El ‘Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana’ (1555, 1571) de Fray Alonso de Molina”. Homenaje José Mondéjar, 273-300. Granada: Universidad (Servicio de Publicaciones). Galeote, Manuel. 1993. “Presencia de indigenismos en el Vocabulario mexicano-castellano (1571) de Alonso de Molina”. Actas del III Congreso Internacional de Historia de la Lengua Española. Salamanca, 22-27 de noviembre de 1993, ed. by Alonso González, A. & Castro Ramos, L., & Gutiérrez Rodilla, B. & Pascual Rodríguez, José A., 667-676. Salamanca: Asociación de Historia de la Lengua Española & Arco/Libros, S.L. & Fundación Duques de Soria. Galeote, Manuel. 1997. Léxico indígena de flora y fauna en tratados sobre las Indias occidentales de autores andaluces. Granada: Universidad (Publicaciones de la Cátedra de Historia de la Lengua Española. Series Léxica; 7). Galeote, Manuel. 2001. “Proyección Lingüística de Nebrija en las Indias: La obra de Alonso de Molina”. Actas del II Congreso Internacional de la Sociedad Española de Historiografía Lingüística, León, 2-5 de marzo de 1999, ed. by Maquieira Rodríguez, Marina & Martínez Gavilán, Mª Dolores & Villayandre LLamazares, 423-433. Madrid: Arco/Libros. Hernández de León-Portilla, Ascensión (comp.). 1998. Obras Clásicas sobre la Lengua Náhuatl. (CD-ROM). Madrid: Publicaciones de la Fundación Histórica Tavera. Hernández, Esther (ed.); Molina, Alonso de. 1996[1571]. Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana de Fray Alonso de Molina. Estudio de los indigenismos léxicos y registro de las voves españolas internas. Madrid: CSIC. León-Portilla, Miguel (ed.); Molina, Alonso de. 1977[1571]. Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana. Edición facsímilar de la facsimilaria de Julius Platzmann (1880) de la ed. de 1571. Estudio preliminar de Miguel León-Portilla. (= Biblioteca Porrua; 44.) México: Porrúa.

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Quilis, Antonio. 1998. “Los estudios sobre las lenguas americanas y filipinas en los siglos XVI y XVII”. Estudios de lingüística y filología españolas. Homenaje a Germán Colón, 405-413.

Miguel Ángel Esparza Torres Universidad de Vigo Facultad de Filología y Traducción Lagoas-Marcosende s/n E-36200 Vigo. España