![[Header Image] Digital scan of folio from Ayer ms 1515](https://www.johnwoodruff.com/wp-content/uploads/digital-scan-of-folio-from-ayer-ms-1515.jpg)
‘Maya’ and ‘Mayan’ are not preferential use cases and have very different contexts. To most English speakers, “Mayan” sounds correct (perhaps because it sounds similar to other identifiers of nationality and ethnicity like American, African, Mexican, Guatemalan, Honduran, etc.), but it is almost always used incorrectly.more ›
Pinart’s Occupation
Alphonse Pinart was never a book dealer. There is not much internet information on Alphonse Pinart, but the biography composed by Ross Parmenter documents that Alphonse Pinart was an ethnolinguistmore ›
Popol Vuh’s Title
Popol Vuh is not an original title. Ayer ms 1515 (which is the oldest surviving source text) does not have an actual title and its heading merely says “las historias del origen de los indios.”more ›
Gavarrete’s Copyscript
Juan Gavarrete’s copyscript is not lost. (as the photo below shows). Jack Himelblau (1989) and Munro Edmonson (1973) lept to incorrect conclusions. more ›
Manuscript Composition
Ayer ms 1515 was likely bound in Guatemala. Giselle Simón, former Director of Conservation Services at the Newberry Library, considers the binding technique consistent with nineteenth-century work, albeit a relatively “crude binding” which “the Newberry would not have bound.” more ›
Scherzer’s Occupation
Carl Scherzer was never a physician. At least one source suggests that Scherzer was a lawyer, but his only documented employment was as a printer and as a statesman. The misconception that Scherzer was a physician flows from Scherzer’s self-assumed honorific in his 1857 edition of Popol Vuh and possibly began with Recinos’ 1947 Spanish edition and/or 1950 English translation.more ›
Localization (ser)
Textbooks inadequately and nebulously explain that localization is identifiable as something “taking place.” This is not a fully accurate characterization. A better distinction of when to use ser or estar is whether the subject noun is tangible matter or intangible concept. more ›
La bamba
In 1987, the “La Bamba” (as recorded by Los Lobos) become the first Spanish-language song to rank #1 on United States music charts. Prior to this in 1959, Ritchie Valens’ version reached #22. more ›