Miskito glossary, with ethnographic commentary

Abstract

The Miskito Glossary, with Ethnographic Commentary that we present here in Spanish, was originally published in English in the volume 16 of the International Journal of American Linguistics in 1950 with an introduction by Glen Turner, of the University of Indiana. The list of words that the glossary contains was extracted from a Miskito Lexicon of 510 manuscript pages completed in 1947 by the Moravian missionary George Reinke Heath. From this more extended work of the missionary Heath (which was also the source for the ‘Diccionario miskito-español, español-miskito, published in 1961 jointly by the missionaries Heath and Marx in the Imprenta Calderon of Tegucigalpa, Honduras) were selected for the present publication terms of ethnographic interest: for example terms referring to the local fauna and flora, the name and uses of plants for medicinal and other cultural purposes, articles of miskito folklore, traditions, social organization and terms relating to their beliefs in different areas. Some entries are little essays, for example under the word pa.sa the distinction between different types of cardinal orientation are given or in the entry for kati, the Miskito calendric system. Other entries are briefer but they were all selected because they include ethnographic commentary. In the context of inexorable cultural erosion that is affecting our aboriginal people this work of the missionary Heath –who was active in the Mosquitia since the beginning of the XX century- is a valuable contribution to the recovery of words and traditions that time tends to erase. The article is preceded by a biographical note of Heath by the linguist Danilo Salamanca who also revised and completed when possible the translation providing for example scientific names for the plants, when possible.