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 ...
Today, we are investigating a mysterious text in Chabacano.
El Renacimiento was a Filipino newspaper founded after American colonization and in fact published articles that criticized the American colonial government in the islands.
In this croniquilla, an exchange is featured between a playful Spanish-speaking gentleman and a Chabacano-speaking dalaga.
At first, the setting is not that clear. Were they talking about Zamboanga in a different place altogether or were they actually in Zamboanga? Was the visitor a would-be visitor to Zamboanga or was he already there. Since, the dalaga uses the word aqui when she described Zamboanga, it obviously means that they were both in Zamboanga. But were they inside the walls? Who knows.
Let's divide the croniquilla into three parts and scrutinize each part separately.
CRONIQUILLA
Desde la tierra Samboangueña
-Señorita ¿puede V. decirme si Zamboanga es bonita población?
-Ati man... ¡oy Jisús! (con un tono al parecer extraido de lo más hondo de los
intestinos) qui alegre gayud cuando si V. ya mirá sana en tiempo del mana español..
Pero aquel gale mana soltera aqui jay ¡dao! lleno de juyá hindi ta sali na calle, parece mana bata..
-No importa, señorita, si son guapas como V.
-Ditiramboso pa gale V.
Me entra la nostalgia y procuro distraerme mirando á algunos moros que se pasan satisfactoriamente el dia viendo.. no sé qué estarán viendo.. -la santa ociosidad.
Si al menos supiera el panguingue y la gallera, tan adorada aquí mi aburrimiento seria menos aburrido
Pero ¿qué le hemos de hacer! bienaventurados ellos porque suyo será el reino de Jorge el orejudo.
Las chicas.. oh! le dirán a V....
-Conta gale V. el vida de mana santo
-Señorita, contar vida de santos en estos
tiempos de positivismo es poco práctico y
positivo: pero si V. quiere, le aconsejaré
como un amigo que tenga mucha fé en...
*V. is short for usted or uste.
*Native words were also spelled in Spanish so jay is hay
*Panguingue is a local card game while gallera is cockfighting
The exchange between the two begins by the gentleman asking the lady if Zamboanga was a nice town. She answers by saying that he should have seen it during the Spanish-era. She laments that the single ladies do not go out of their houses and stay indoors like little children.
This was a tumultous time in the history of the Philippines as the Americans struggle to establish a colonial government. Martial law was probably in place.
We get a sense that things in Zamboanga were not as fine and dandy in 1904 as it used to be during the Spanish times.
At first glance, I wasn't sure if this was really in the Zamboanga variant of Chabacano because of the way the words que and sale were spelled (these are spelled as 'qui' and 'sali' in the Cavite variant) as well as the presence of the word sana (if we were using 'sana' instead of 'era' in 1904, it means we have come full circle). However, the words juya (huya) and gayud (gayod) are dead giveaways that this is definitely in Zamboangueño.
Other lexical items that stand out are mana, calle, and parece.
In present day Chabacano, we use mga and maga (usually in formal settings). Mana is not unknown though and is thought to be an archaic form of 'maga'.
Parece (used in this manner) is not anymore present in Chabacano today. We use the word daw/dao or dol (from Hiligaynon).
The word calle, even though it is understood by many (because of Tagalog), is actually not really used in Chabacano. We use the word camino. I could be wrong though since a lot of Tagalog words have been creeping into Chabacano. I won't be surprised if people no longer use the word camino and use the world kalye (calle) instead.
Yes, Chabacano is going full circle with the entry of several Tagalog words into its vocabulary.
I'm not sure when we started spelling Zamboanga with a Z but the way they spelled it with an S is closer to its roots.
Another notable word found in this section of the croniquilla is 'ditiramboso'. Based on context, it probably means being flirtatious or maybe a joker?
I also had to check up on the meaning of the word croniquilla. This word unfortunately, is not in the DRAE, so it is definitely not a standard Spanish word.
I did find this website which explains that it means a narration of day to day and unimportant events.
I guess that explains it because it is so random to find it in a newspaper from 1904.
Let's move on to the second section of the Croniquilla.
...Santa Librada, una santa que tiene muchas libras para pesar... tantos jóvenes, como V., virgenes y mar.. chitas, digo mártires de anhelos místicos, pero con ilusiones humanas.
-Amuya, taquía ¡oh! na mi atubang el
herege; por eso gale ta experimenta con
nosotros Dios. Seguro mason V. Tabla gale
caniman el Padre Jisuita que el mason pecado mortal y Aglipay más grande pecado mortal, ta compositá dao de un religion diutay.
En esto oigo que me dicen por detrás.
-Anoy, cosa ta hablá este gente; ta jablá
gale yo y no ta entendé canaco: no sabe
jablá el español.
-Amuya pues-contesta la candidata á
beata-ese gente ba que ta atubang canimo?
-Toon mus ya gale..
Y así por el estilo a los extraños nos tratan con mucha filosofía ¡Como saben el
castellano no es de extrañar! ¿verdad,
amigo «Sándalo!»
En busca de esparcimiento salíme de casa
el otro dia, azás en busca también de cabos y sueltos para «historiar» como vive y cómo se «adinera» la mayoría; pues harto cansado estoy de oir de propios y extraños que en Zamboanga no se trabaja.
No sé si esto será verdad; ¡vive Dio! p(?)na
en que es las lengua ya trabaja.
*Santa Librada is a folk saint, often associated with Saint Wilgefortis, a virgin martyr who grew a beard to avoid a forced marriage. While not officially canonized, she is revered in Europe and the Americas. Her legend, which originated in Portugal and Galicia, features a noblewoman who prayed to God for a beard to escape a marriage to a Moorish king.
*Officially referred to by its Philippine Spanish name Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) and colloquially called the Aglipayan Church, is an independent catholic Christian denomination, in the form of a nationalist church, in the Philippines. Its revolutionary nationalist schism from the Roman Catholic Church was proclaimed during the American colonial period in 1902.
In this part of the croniquilla, we see several intriguing but unknown words.
Caniman- could be a typo (canamon?)
Canimo- Cebuano pronoun
Amuya- could be amo ya or a name
Anoy- could be a name
Canaco- Possibly a Waray pronoun meaning me (kanako)
During this time, Chabacano was probably not crystallized yet and that explains these pronouns which are no longer present in today's Chabacano.
We see some inconsistent spelling in the words Jabla and Tabla (presumably ta habla).
Unless, the writer was spelling the words to reflect how the speakers were pronouncing them, this doesn't make sense.
It is also possible that jabla and habla have different meanings. Based on my observation, jabla is the equivalent of the word conversa in today's Chabacano. We can see it clearly in this part:
cosa ta hablá este gente; ta jablá
gale yo y no ta entendé canaco: no sabe
jablá el español
In present day Chabacano: cosa ta habla este gente; ta conversa gale yo y no ta entende canaco: no sabe conversa el español.
Na mi atubang and ta atubang stand out for me because while understood, these sound unnatural in today's Chabacano.
¡Hay aqui unas chicas tan salerosas..
Pero sea lo que fuere, segui mi paseo por
las estrechas calles de la población, oyendo acá y alla el arpa, instrumento muy en boga aquí y según me dicen ciertas solteras,... el arpa quita las penas y cautiva corazones.
Y para que no me digan las samboangueñas que soy «olivaran» (que habla repitiendo) ni un «tiaw» (charlatan) hindi man palis ya» (no voy adelante) en pesquisar los milagros de tantas virtudes civicas como florecen aqui, porque no digan que «ta composita yo» cuentos.
«El mana soltera gale ta asi lantaw conmigo» (me esperan) y con el permiso de Vds. aquí hago punto final.
TONY.
The last part of the Croniquilla is very interesting because the foreigner mentions words and phrases that have already been forgotten in the Chabacano language as well as their definitions in Spanish.
«olivaran» (someone who often repeats themselves)
«tiaw» (charlatan)
«hindi man palis ya» (to not move forward)
«ta asi lantaw» (to wait for someone)
Tony signs off the Croniquilla partly in Chabacano.
I love reading texts like this because it is almost like travelling in time. It's just sad that so many things are hard to interpret possibly because of the time period this was written in.
There are also possibly some errors in spelling.
Here is an English translation of the text.
CRONIQUILLA
From the land of Zamboanga
-Miss, can you tell me if Zamboanga is a beautiful town?
-Oh, Jesus! (with a tone that seemed extracted from the depths of the intestines) it's very lively if you only saw it during the Spanish times.. But the single ladies here are very conservative and don't go out of their houses, they are like little children.
-It doesn't matter, miss, if they are beautiful like you.
-How (ditiramboso) of you.
I feel nostalgic and try to distract myself by looking at some Moros who are having a satisfying day watching.. I don't know what they are watching--the holy idleness. If at least I knew panguingue and cockfighting, so adored here, my boredom would be less boring.
But what are we going to do! Blessed are they because theirs will be the kingdom of Jorge the big-eared.
The girls.. oh! They will tell you..
-Do you tell the life of the saints?
-Miss, telling the life of saints in these times of positivism is not very practical and positive: but if you want, I will advise you as a friend who has a lot of faith in Santa Librada, a saint who has many
pounds to weigh... so many young people, like you, virgins and mar..chitas (withered), I mean martyrs of mystical yearnings, but with human illusions.
-Here it is! I have the heretic in front of me; this is why God is testing us. I think you are a mason. The Jesuit Father tells us that being a mason is a mortal sin and an Aglipay is a greater mortal sin, it is a small religion.
And then I hear them say behind me.
Anoy, what is this person talking about; I was speaking but he doesn't understand me. I don't know how to speak Spanish.
-Amuya then-answers the candidate to
sainthood-is it that person who is in front of you?
And so, in this way, the strangers treat us
with much philosophy. Since they know Spanish, it is not surprising! right,
friend Sándalo!
In search of recreation, I left home
the other day, also looking for loose ends
and loose ends to "historize" how they live and how the majority "earns" money; because I am quite tired of hearing from locals and foreigners that in Zamboanga no one works.
I don't know if this is true; long live God!
"There are some very witty girls here...
But whatever it may be, I continued my walk through the narrow streets of the town, hearing the harp here and there, an instrument very popular here, and according to what certain single women tell me... the harp takes away sorrows and captivates hearts.
And so that the Zamboangueñas don't say that I am an 'olivaran' (who says the same thing over and over again) nor a 'tiaw' (charlatan) 'hindi man palis ya' (I'm not going forward) in investigating the miracles of so many civic virtues that flourish here, so that they don't say that I am inventing stories.
The maindens are already waiting for me, and with your permission, I'll end here.
TONY.
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