Everything about Andr S De Olmos totally explained
Andrés de Olmos (c.
1485 –
1571),
Franciscan priest and extraordinary
grammarian and
ethno-historian of Mexico's Indians, was born in
Oña,
Burgos,
Spain, and died in
Tampico in
New Spain (modern-day
Tampico, Tamaulipas,
Mexico). He is best known for his grammar, the first in the New World, of the
Classical Nahuatl language.
Life
Andrés de Olmos in early youth went to live with a married sister in Olmos, whence his name. He entered the Franciscan convent in
Valladolid and was ordained a priest. He was appointed an assistant to Fray
Juan de Zumárraga in
1527, and accompanied Zumárraga when the latter was sent by the Emperor
Charles V in
1528 to be the first bishop of
New Spain. As early as
1533 Olmos was recognized as unusually adept in the Nahuatl language, and well-informed about the history and customs of the Nahuatl-speaking peoples. He contributed to the founding in
1536 of the
Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, the first European-based institution of higher learning in the New World.
Olmos wrote a book, unfortunately lost, about the pre-Hispanic history, beliefs and religious practices of Mexico (some have suggested that this work might be the mysterious
Crónica X). He also published a collection of
Huehuetlahtolli, moral instruction from Nahuatl-speaking elders to their juniors, expressed in a highly stylized and polished, high-register language. He wrote several sermons in Nahuatl which have survived.
But he's best known for his
Arte para aprender la lengua mexicana, completed in
1547. Although it was based on his own and others' previously written notes about
Classical Nahuatl grammar, this was the first relatively complete grammatical description of an indigenous language of the New World. It antedates, by three years, the first grammatical description of the French language (by in
1550.)
Olmos also published a
Nahuatl Vocabulary. Much of his work on the
Arte and the
Vocabulary was done in Hueytlalpan, in
Totonac country, where he settled ca.
1539. There Olmos learned
Totonac, and published an
Arte and Vocabulary in that language: unfortunately these are lost. In
1554 he moved to the
Huasteca region, where he learned the
Huastec or Teenek language, and wrote yet another
Arte and Vocabulary describing it.
Significance
Nahuatl, Totonac, and Huastec are from completely different linguistic stocks, and represent three of the most important of Mexico's twenty language families. To describe the grammars, and initiate the lexical descriptions, of three such disparate languages is an extraordinary feat; very much more to be the first to do so. Olmos' work, particularly the
Arte para aprender la lengua mexicana, was the model for many other Artes that followed on Nahuatl and other languages of the New World.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Andr S De Olmos'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://andr__s_de_olmos.totallyexplained.com">Andrés de Olmos Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
