“Many Spanish words do not have a corresponding word in these languages because their meanings have never been seen in those Nations”: the edition of manuscripts of american languages

Abstract

In 1787 Carlos III, at the request of Catherine ii of Russia, asked the American and Philippine colonies to translate a list of words into the languages spoken in them to complete the universal dictionary that the Tsarina wanted to elaborate. A century later, in 1892, Juan Fernández Ferraz publishes, from the copies preserved in the Archivo General de Indias, the Lenguas indígenas de Centro América en el siglo xviii, a volume that includes the lexical repertoires of the Amerindian languages of the Captaincy General of Guatemala. This article is dedicated to the history, context and content of the edition of these manuscripts.