Eighteenth century Xebero

About this book

"The main purpose of this book is to give a modern description of early eighteenth century Jebero/Xebero, as contained in the codices Ms. Add. 25,323 and 25,324. The codices are presumably written by Samuel Fritz (1654-1728), a Jesuit missionary from Bohemia. Jebero is a moribund indigenous North Peruvian language of which little was known. The second purpose of this book is to give a diplomatic transcription of the manuscripts mentioned above. The former manuscript contains a Spanish-Quechua-Jebero vocabulary; the latter a Jebero grammar and a Quechua-Jebero/Jebero-Quechua Christian doctrine. Remarkably, the doctrine also includes a copy of the Jebero prayers written by Fray Lucas de la Cueva (1606-1672). The third purposed of this book is to compare a part of de la Cueva's version of the prayers, dating from the 17th century, with those of Fritz from a century later. The comparison gives us the exceptional opportunity to show, a), the differences between the 17th century stratum of Jebero and that of the 18th century, and, b), how the language may have changed and developed."--Cover.