- Ludovico Bertonio
Ludovico Bertonio (born 1552 at
Rocca Contrada nearAncona ; died atLima ,Peru ,3 August 1625 ) was an ItalianJesuit missionary to South America.Life
He entered the Society of Jesus in 1575. Sent to Peru six years later, he worked principally among the
Aymara of southern Peru and ofBolivia .Work
He wrote on the
Aymara language . His earliest publications appeared under the title "Arte breve de la lengua aymara para introducir el Arte grande de la misma lengua" (Rome, 1603), also "Arte y gramatica muy copiosa de la lengua aymara" etc.The printing press having been introduced and established by the Jesuits at the Indian mission of
Juli in southwestern Peru, Bertonio had the following works printed there, all in the year 1612:*"Arte de la lengua aymara con una selva de frases en la misma lengua y su declaracion en romance Vocabulario de la lengua aymara" (first and second part)
*"Confesionario muy copioso en dos lenguas, aymara y espanola" (etc.)
*"Libro de la vida y milagros de Ntro Senor Jesuchristo en dos lenguas, aymara y romance, traducido del que recopilo el Liocenciado Alonso de Villegas" (etc.)The publications by Bertonio are rare.
Julius Platzmann published in facsimile the "Arte y grammatica" of 1603 and the Vocabularies. The Peruvian historianClemente Markham claimed that Bertonio invented the name "Aymara"; the Bolivian geographerManuel Vicente Ballivian rejected this in a pamphlet.References
*Torres Saldamando, "Los antiguos Jesuitas del Peru" (Lima, 1882);
*Mendiburu, "Diccionario" (Lima, 1876), II:
*Ballivian, "Boletin de la Sociedad geografica de la Paz".
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