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The Little Prince By Antoine De Saint-Exupéry Is Now Available In Chabacano!

While Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) written by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry in 1943 now has over 300 translations in different languages worldwide and is now considered the world’s most translated book (not counting religious works), there have been surprisingly only two translations of his book in the Philippines (Filipino and Bicol). El Diutay Principe is only the third edition featuring a Philippine language. The Little Prince is a classic French novella about a pilot who gets stranded in the desert after a plane crash and encounters a little fellow who asks him to draw a sheep for him. Through the course of their meeting, the pilot rediscovers the true meaning of life and what people should value the most. When I came across the book in 2013, I found that I could relate very well to the negative image given to “growing up” in the book. When the idea to translate the book into my mother tongue was presented to me, I didn’t think twice. I thought, ‘a lot of people my ...
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The Chabacano 'Firme'

Prior to finding out that the same word existed in Cebuano and Hiligaynon, I have always thought that the Chabacano word 'firme' came from the Spanish language. However, upon learning that the same word (with the same definition) existed in Cebuano and Hiligaynon, I concluded that this word most probably came from either one of these two languages. I mean the Cebuano and Hiligaynon languages most probably got it from Spanish but if a certain word existed in all three languages, I am more apt to think that it came from either Cebuano or Hiligaynon rather than Spanish.

This afternoon, I was very surprised when I came across this word in a Facebook post written in Caviteño Chabacano. 

I was even more surprised when I asked a Ternateño speaker about it and found out that this word also existed in their Chabacano!

While this word is pronounced as 'pilmi' in Caviteño, it is pronounced as 'pirmi' in both Chabacano languages in Ternate and Zamboanga as well as Cebuano and Hiligaynon.

It would be interesting to find out if there are languages in Luzon which also uses 'pirmi' for the word 'always'. While the word does exist in Tagalog as 'pirme' (to stay put), the definition is not the same. It would be very strange if the only languages in Luzon that use 'pirmi' for the word 'always' are the Chabacano languages in Cavite.

Here are some Facebook posts I found using the Chabacano word 'firme'.




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  1. AnonymousDecember 25, 2024 at 7:35 PM

    We also use "pirmi" in Batangueño Tagalog, it means "to stay put" or "always"

    ReplyDelete

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