A CONTRIBUTION TO MEXICAN ETHNOGRAPHY
By Prof' Daniel G. BRINTON, M. D.
At this day the students of Mexican ethnography need not be warned that a number of nomina gentilia derived from the Nahuatl tongue and foiind in the old writers are not tribal désignations, but common nouns, usually terms of dépréciation, applied to a number of différent tribes nowise connected. I refer to such words as Chontales, Popolocas, Chochonos, Tenimes, and the like. No one, I hope, would now repeat the mistake of the meritorious Orozco y Berra, and assert that the various bands in différent parts of the map spoken of as Chontales or Popolocas are parts of one nation, driven asunder by some conquering horde and forced to save themselves by flight in various directions. It is now well enough understood by students of the subject that the word chontalli in nahuatl means simply « stranger », « foreigner » ; that popoloca has the sensé of speaking unintelligibly ; and that chochol or chochona conveyed merely the idea of rude, uncultured people. But no sufficient identification of the various tribes to whom thèse and similar terms were applied by the Nahuas has yet been offered, and it is to this task that I address myself.
First, as to the Chontales. We fînd them mentioned as residing in the States of Mexico, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Tabasco, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras. Ail thèse are grouped as an ethnie unit by Orozco y Berra, and also apparently by Pimentel in their works on the languages of Mexico K
' Manuel Orozco y Berra, Gpogra/ja de lasLenguas de Mexico, p. 21, -Francisco de ï*imentel, Cuadro Descriplivo de las Lenguas de Mexico, Tomo III, p. 293.
Their lead is folio wed by the officiai statisticians of Mexico, and in the Anales del ministerio de Fomento for 1881 I find that the « Familia Chontal » is credited with 31,000 soûls in the différent parts of the republic.
Beginning with the Chontales of the State of Mexico, I hâve been unable to find any other référence to them than that in Orozco's own work, and he does not include it among either the extant or extinct idioms of this State.
The Chontales of Oazaca, according to a note by Dr. Berendt, lived on the Pacific slope of the Cordillera in that State, between Tonameca and Huamelula, in the Sierra Quiegolani. They were brought under instruction in the latter part of the sixteenth century by brother Diego Carranza, who labored among them for twelve years with gratifying success, and wrote an Doctrma, 5ermoîies and Ejercicios spirititales in their longue *. Unfortunately this work is lost or destroyed, and the only vocabulary I hâve found is one of 23 w^ords collected by M"" John Porter bliss in 1871. It indicates no positive relationship to any other stock, and I propose for it the name Tequisllatecan^ from the principal village of its speakers, where father Carranza built bis church. I append the vocabulary referred to, noting some analogies to the yuma linguistic stock with which, if with any, it seems to be affined.
The Chontales of Guerrero were in the Sierra, on the Pacific slope, where a few villages are still found. There can be little doubt but that they belong to the same stock as those in Oaxaca whom they immediatly adjoined, and I therefore include them in the Tequistlatecas as an independent family, without known connections.
The Chontales of Tabasco occupied most of the basin of the rio Grijalva. I append a hitherto unpublished vocabulary of their language obtained by the late Dr. C. H. Berendt. It proves what has already been announced by Dr. StoU, that they belong
* Beristain y Souza, Biblioteca Hispano-Amcricana Setentrional, Tomo I, p. 438.
to fhe well-defined Tzendal group of the Maya Stock. It was Dr. Berendt's opinion tliat they were identical with the Acalans mentioned by the early writers as résident in this vicinity ; and as on looking over the subject I see no objection to this view*, I dismiss for them the meaningless term Chontales, and call them the Acalan branch of the ïzendal group.
In Nicaragua tvvo entirely différent peoples hâve received the appellation of Chontales. The first of thèse are also called Popolucas, ïheir longue is, or a génération ago was, current in the city of Matagalpa, in the towns of San Ramon, Totogalpa and in others in the departments of Matagalpa and Segovia. It no doubt once extended to the présent department of Chontales as the geographical names of that locality attest.
So far as I know, no spécimen of their language ha^ been published^ and I am glad therefore to submit a vocabulary obtained by the Rev. Victor Nogucra, cura of Matagalpa, who furnished it to Dr. Berendt in 1874. Of the 51 words it contains 3 are borrowed from the nahuatl, and of the others which hâve been broughtinto comparison, 5 can be traced to the Ulva stock, and one each to the Lenca, the Muskito, the Xicaque and the Subtiaba. Itis obvions from this that the stock stands alone and independent. I propose for it the name Malagalpan, from its principal center.
The second Nicaraguan Chontal is that referred to as Chontal- Lenca by M. Désiré Pector in his excellent synoptical view of the central american tribes. It is simply lenca and nothing more, and I urge the omission hereafter of the meaningless addition Chontal.
The dialect referred to as chontal in Honduras is undoubtedly a branch of the Maya stock. Either the chorti, current in the vicinity of the famous ruins of Copan or closely akin to it.
• It seems confirmed by Herrera's statement : « Ai en esta provincia très lenguas, la Chontal, abundante de vocables, i usada entre la mayor parle de la gente, la lengua Zoque en la Sierra, y la Mexicana. » Historia, dec. III, lib. VII, cap. III.
The Chontales who, accordingto Mr. E. G. Squier, lived in the mountains North of lake Nicaragua, about the sources of the Blewfields river, and of which he publishes in his work on Nicaragua a vocabulary obtained by Mr. Julius FroebeP, were Ulvas of pure blood, as the dialect proves.
Turning now to the Popoloca, we hear of it in Mexico in the States of Puebla, Oaxaca, Mechoacan, Vera-Cruz,. and in Guatemala. That in Puebla was the most important It must hâve been largely spoken, for in 1540 father Francisco de las Navas entered the province and in two months time converted and baptized 12,000 of the natives, and this without knowing their language ! The fîrst w^ho acquired it was Francisco de Toral aftervs^ards the fîrst bishop of Yucatan. He described it as most diffîcult, but nevertheless reduced it to rules and wrote an Arle y Metodo of it, now lost, so far as Iknow*. This language was spoken in the old province of Tepeaca, and the chief city of the tribe was Tecamachçalco, a name sometimes applied to the province also. De Laet says of it that it was merely a corrupt dialect of the Mexican or Nahuatl ', but Herrera asserts that it was quite différent, and in this we must give him the right*. In 1862 Dr. Berendt succeeded in obtaining a short vocabulary of the Popo luca as it is yet spoken in the Western portion of Vera-Cruz at Oluta, Tesistepec, San-Juan, Valador and other places. I append this list as it has never been correctly printed. A comparison shows that it distinctly belongs to the wide-spread Mixe family. The ancient province of Tepeaca adjoined directly the Mixes, and we shall be safe in deciding that the Popoluca both of Puebla and Vera-Cruz were dialects of Mixe and nothing more.
* E. G. Squier, Nicaragua, ils Peoples, Scenery and Monuments, vol. IIj p. 31 i. (New-York, i8.=>6.)
* Mendieta, Historia Eclesi'asUca Tndiana, Lib. V, cap. II.
' « Linguâ Mexicanâ paullulum diversa. » De Laet, Novus Orbis, p. 25.
* « La lengua gênerai es la Mexicanâ, la commun en los pueblos sujetos es diferente y la llaman Popolocan. » Herrera, Historia, Dee. II, Lib. X, cap. XXI.
I identify thèse Popolucas with the Tlapanecs, Covis, Coviscas and Yopes of the authors.
The Popoloca of Oaxaca was an entirely différent tongue, though the saddest confusion has arisen between them. Thus, varions writers assert that the Chochona is really the Popoloca of Tepeaca, and that this is a dialect of the Mixtcca. Let us examine thèse statements. I hâve said that father Toral is recognized as the first to master and write an Arte of the Popoloca of Tepeaca. This he did in 1561. But more than ten years before that, to wit, in 1550, father Benito Fernandez had printed in the city of Mexico his Doctrina en lengua Mixteca, and had written variations in the Tepuzcolola and Chochona dialects of that tongue ^ This renders it certain that the Popoloca of Tepeaca did notbelong to the Mixtecan stem. The Chochona, in Vi^hich we bave the Catecismo of Roldan, recently published under the editorship of M. de Charencey, belongs to the Zapotec-Mixtec family and not to the Zoqne-Mixe.
The Popoloca of Michoacan was also known as Teca, as it was the idiom of the Tecos, and is classed by Orozco y Berra among the lenguas perdidas\ The word Teco however in the old glossaries was équivalent simply to Mexicano, and the récent story of the subject by seûor Plancarte renders it quite certain that the Tecos of Oripopolucos of Micjoacan were identical with the Cuitlatecos, a people of Aztec lincage, speaking a corrupt NahuatP.
The Popoloca of Guatemala has given rise to a séries of curious misunderstandings. By Juarros, writing at the close of the last century, itis located in two small curacies widcly apart*. The one of them is Yayantique, province of San Salvador, partido of San Miguel, containing the villages Conchagua and
• See the note of Icazbalceta to the Doctrina of Fernandez in Harrisse, lUblioteca Amert'cana Vetustissima, p. 445, sq.
* Geografiada las Ijcnguas de Mejico, p. 273.
• Anales del Museo Michoacano, ano II, p. 26.
* Domingo Juarros, Historia de la Cùidad de Guatemala, Tomo I, pp. 102, 104, et al.
Intipuca. Now Intipuca is one of the places where Mr. Squier lias siiown that Lenca is spoken, so vve are authorized to identify this Popoloca with the Lenca toiigue.
The second Popoloca of Juarros was at Conguaco in the partido of Guazacapan, province of Escuintla. Hère it was imniediately adjacent to the Xinca, but is distinctly mentioned as a différent tongue by Juarros. I am quite unable to identify it. But I would mention what it is not, since the confusion of thèse names lias led Dr. Stoll into a serions error in his very excellent and generally very accurate work ' on the Ethnography of Guatemala. He identifies it with the Mixe on the strength of one of Dr. Berendt's vocabularies. But this vocabulary is that above referred to, of the Popoloca of Oluta, in Vera-Gruz, and not that of either of tliose in Guatemala. In fact we hâve no reason to believe that the Mixe was ever found in Guatemala.
Dr. Julius Scherzer has further added to the confusion of the Popolocas of this région by printing at Vienna still another Guatemalian dialect under this name which lie obtained at still another locality, near the base of the volcan de Agua. This turns out on examination to be pure Cakchiquel, and nothing more.
Surely the facts I hâve now laid before you are sufficient to induce Americanists, officiai and unofficial, hereafter to drop from their ethnie vocabularies the terms Ghontal and Popoloca.
' Dr. Otto Stoll, Zur Ethnographie der Republik Guatemala, S. 26.
VOGABULARIES
Chontal de Oaxaca : tequistlatega
Hombre,
acue.
Cerro,
huala.
Muger,
canoc.
Arbol,
ehe.
Gabeza,
ahua.
Uno,
nuli.
Ojo,
au.
Dos,
ueuc.
Boca,
aco.
Très,
fane.
Mano,
mane.
Guatro,
malpu.
Rodilla,
ancono.
Ginco,
maague.
Pie,
lamish.
Seis,
canchus
Sol,
ora.
Siete,
coote.
Luna,
mutla.
Ocho,
malfa.
Agua,
laha.
Nueve,
penla.
Fuego,
uncua.
Diez,
bamac.
Aire,
lahua.
Veinte,
nuxans.
Chontal de Tabasco : maya stock.
Hombre,
uinik.
Luna,
uj
Muger,
ixik.
Agua,
ja.
Gabeza,
pam.
Fuego.
Kàk.
Ojo,
jut.
Aire,
ik.
Boca,
ti.
Gerro,
uits
Mano,
kab.
Arbol,
te.
Rodilla,
pix.
Uno,
un.
Pie,
ok.
Dos,
txa.
Sol,
kin.
Très,
ux.
* Affînities to dialects of the Yuma stock : Man, acue. Yuma. Eke-tam, hamukava.
Woman, canoc, Yuma, anai, sin yok.
Sun, ora, Yuma, rahj.
Moon, mu-tia, Yuma, h^la.
Water, laha, Yuma, ahâ, kahal.
Chontal de Nicaragua : matagalpa.
Hombre,
misa.
Flécha,
sista.
Mujer,
yweiya.
Arco,
juip.
Padre,
amiske.
Red,
gwilije.
Madre,
amiske.
Tabaco.
gwili'.
Tio,
kiikuke.
Sol,
lai.
Gabeza,
mâike.
Luna^
aiko.
Pelo,
kile.
Lluvia,
gwas, iya
Ojo,
kunke.
Tierra,
doyu.
Nariz,
namke.
Cerro,
kayan.
Boca,
tauake.
Montana,
kuse.
Lengua,
tomamke.
Arbol,
man.
Diente^
ninike.
Pino,
ku.
Oreja,
topalke.
Perro,
sulo.
Barriga,
puke.
Caballo,
dréije.
Mano,
panake.
Venado,
yaa.
Rinas,
susuke.
Pajaro,
yulo.
Rodillas,
swanke.
Armado,
kisû.
Pie,
nàpake.
Iguana,
jamai.
Casa,
Gallina,
boluko.
Agua,
Huevo,
ki.
Fuego,
lauale.
Pescado,
y aie.
seia.
Grande,
baibaka.
Maiz,
aima.
Chiquito,
kintxe.
Carne,
bubal.
Une,
bas.
Manta,
y us.
Dos,
buyo.
Très,
guatba.
Cuatro,
bota'jio.
Head, a/ma, Yuma, hu.
Eyes, au, Yuma, yu.
Mouth, aco, Yuma, à, aha.
Tree, ehe, Yuma, ee-ee.
Foot, la-mish, Yuma, mie.
Two, ucuc, Yuma, koky, goguô.
In view of the very brief vocabulary furnished us, regard the above analogies as strongly indicating the extension of the Yuma stem southward to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Popolîica de Oluta : mixe stock.
Hombre,
yôjua.
Casa,
tôko.
Muger;
mojâu.
Hamaca,
toiyan.
Padre,
pane.
Maiz,
mok.
Madré,
itzôj.
Piedrademoler,
, tzaa' ju.
Hijo,
iunâg.
Tortilla,
nona.
Hermano,
imâku.
Chile,
nivi.
Dios,
xuux.
Frijol, '
jmoone.
Cielo,
tzab.
Sal,
kâna.
Sol,
xéjua.
Platano,
kabak.
Luna,
poa.
Tigre,
kahan.
Estrella,
ma-tzaak.
Perro,
xôoni.
Dia,
xéjua.
Venado,
haitzun.
Noche,
tzu-je.
Conejo,
coi'a.
Viento,
hamù.
Puerco,
i txom.
Fuego,
hune.
Pajaro,
mu'xi.
Lluvia,
tùjé.
Tortuga,
tuka.
Agua,
no'jo.
Gulebra,
tzana.
Rio,
nojo.
Pescado,
kooke.
Tierra,
naxe.
Yo,
