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TERASCO, MISTECO, AND ZAPOTECA.
"SEVERAL distinct languages
are spoken in the republic of Mexico, of
which the principal, next to the
Mexican and Otomi, are the
Terasco, the
Misteco, and the
Zapoteca. The Terasco is spoken princi-
pally in the state of Mechoacan, which contains an area of 22,466 square
miles, and a population of
490,000. The principal characteristics of this language are, that the
sounds corresponding to f and l
are wanting, and that no word begins with b, d, g, i, or r.
The nouns are divided into three species,
rational, irrational, and inanimate, and are declined accordingly: the last
two species are indeclinable
in the singular.
Zapoteca is the most general language in the state of Oajaca,
among a population of 525,000.
Eighteen other languages are spoken in that state; but, next to
Spanish, Zapoteca appears to predomi-
nate. It is also spoken in Tehuantepéque, and is said to be
vernacular to many persons who, being
ignorant of Spanish, are not able to converse in any other language.
Mr. Thomson, agent of the
British and Foreign Bible Society, endeavoured, with the sanction of that
Society, to make arrange-
ments with individuals skilled in the knowledge of the Zapoteca and Terasco
languages, for the pre-
paration of translations of the Scriptures into each of these
languages. His efforts, however, ultimately
proved abortive; and the unsettled state of the country has prevented the
renewal of similar attempts
to obtain versions of holy writ in Terasco or Zapoteca.
Two versions of the Gospels and of the Epistles are, however,
said by Le Long to have been made
in Misteco, a language likewise spoken in the state of Oajaca. The
first version was made by Benedict
Ferdinand, who flourished about A. D. 1568; and the
second version by Arnold á Bosaccio. It is
doubtful whether either of these versions are extant, and no modern
translation into this language
appears to have been effected. In fact, it is probable that, owing to
the wide diffusion of the Spanish
language in Mexico, and the establishment throughout the republic of schools
in which Spanish is
taught, the Spanish version will, with the progress of education, become
increasingly available to all
the natives of that vast territory, and supersede the necessity of publishing
a separate version of the
Scriptures in each of the numerous languages and dialects spoken by the
inhabitants." --The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)
Samuel Bagster [Info only:
James Thompson, a Scottish Baptist per JCT.]
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