Pokom Maya and Their Colonial Dictionaries

Research Year:  1998
Culture:  Pokom Maya
Chronology:  Colonial
Location:  Valley of Guatemala
Site:  Guatemala

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction:
The Documents of the "Viana" Dictionary
The Authors
The Copies and Further Work with the Documents
Other Early Poqom Dictionaries and Word Lists
Orthography
Cultural Content
Friar Francisco Viana and his Dictionary
Sources Cited

Sample Sorted by Words in Poqom:
A
B
C
E
G-H
I
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
T
U
V
X
Y
Z

Appendices:
Appendix 1.   Family Names
Appendix 2.   Places mentioned in the Dictionary
Appendix 3.   Languages
Appendix 3a. Words identified as Cholti in the text
Appendix 3b. Words identifed as Mexicano in the text
Appendix 4.   Quotes from Friar Dionisio de Zúñiga
Appendix 5.   Quotes from Friar Diego Ximenes
Appendix 6.   Sample Index of Spanish Terms

Preface

The following report is the result of two years of work with unpublished colonial dictionaries of the Poqom Maya language. Almost all of this time was devoted to making a transcription from photocopies and copy flows of the documents. The following report is the result of editing and reorganizing these transcriptions.

I want to thank the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc. (FAMSI) for the opportunity, after 30 years of wanting to study and transcribe the Viana et al. vocabularies for publication, by providing the financial support, to make this dream a reality. If all goes as I hope, I should be able to provide a copy of the published work for the FAMSI library before another year has passed. With the hope and desire that the works of these Dominican linguists of long ago once more get used by those who will find them useful, I present this final report as requested under the terms of my grant.

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A Dictionary of Poqom Maya in the Colonial Era. Compiled by Lawrence H. Feldman.
Publication now available from Labyrinthos, 3064 Holline Court, Lancaster, CA 93535.

Submitted 01/01/1999 by: