Pigafetta's Dictionary is the first Italian–Malay vocabulary written by the chronicler
Antonio Pigafetta
Antonio Pigafetta (; – c. 1531) was an Venetian scholar and explorer. He joined the expedition to the Spice Islands led by explorer Ferdinand Magellan under the flag of the emperor Charles V and after Magellan's death in the Philippine Islands, ...
. These are the list words of the languages of various natives he met during his journey with Ferdinand Magellan.
Background
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Port ...
explorer
Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians.
Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the Eas ...
( pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) led about 270 men on five ships from the port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
to look for the Spice Islands of Maluku. The Venetian chronicler Antonio Pigafetta (; c. 1491 – c. 1531) was with the expedition from which he served as assistant to Magellan and to keep records and the voyage's journal, and was fortunate to be one of the 18 men who have returned to Spain in 1522.
One of his notable works in the voyage was his narrative and the list of words of various languages of natives during the long journey which includes:
Brazilian native language – 8 words, Patagonian language – 90 words, Philippine language – 160 words, Malay – more than 400 words, which Pigafetta calls as Moorish (Muslim people of Moluccas)
In Pigafetta's book, ''Primo viaggio intorno al mondo'', ( en, First Voyage Around the World) he takes care to record as many words as he can.The chronicle of Pigafetta was one of the most cited documents by historians who wished to study the precolonial Philippines. As one of the earliest written accounts, Pigafetta was seen as a credible source for a period, which was prior unchronicled and undocumented.
Some list of words
Below are some list of words as translated by Pigafetta on the third column, fourth column is the equivalent
Philippine language that can be found from ''Diccionario bisaya-español y español-bisaya'' (Manila, 1885) by Juan Félix de la Encarnación and from ''Diccionario Hispano-bisaya y bisaya-español'' (Manila, 1895) by Antonio Sanchez de la Rosa and/or the equivalent
Visayan
Visayans ( Visayan: ''mga Bisaya''; ) or Visayan people are a Philippine ethnolinguistic group or metaethnicity native to the Visayas, the southernmost islands of Luzon and a significant portion of Mindanao. When taken as a single ethnic group, ...
word. It is regarded as the first European record of the
Cebuano language
Cebuano ([Cebuano]
on Merriam-Webster.com ), natively called by its generic term Bisaya or Binisaya (bot ...
and the oldest dictionary in the Philippines. Some words can be distinguished as
Malay.
Notes
References
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Further reading
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Vocabulary
Dictionaries
Primary sources for early Philippine history
Primary sources on Philippine history in the 16th century