Diego González Holguín facts for kids
Diego González Holguín (born 1560, died around 1620) was a Spanish priest from the Jesuit order. He was also a missionary and a very smart scholar. He studied the Quechua languages, which are spoken by many people in Peru. He lived during a time when Peru was ruled by Spain, known as the Viceroyalty of Peru.
A Spanish Priest in Peru
Diego González Holguín was born in a part of western Spain called Extremadura in 1560. When he was 21, in 1581, he traveled all the way to Peru as a missionary. A missionary is someone who travels to teach about their religion.
While in Peru, Diego became very interested in the local languages. He spent a lot of time studying Quechua.
His Important Books on Quechua
In 1607, Diego González Holguín published a special book. It was a grammar book that explained "Classical Quechua." This was a specific type of Southern Quechua spoken by the Inca court at that time. The full title of his grammar book was Gramatica y arte nueva dela lengva general de todo el Perv, llamada lengva Quichva, o Lengva del Inca.
The next year, in 1608, he published another very important book. This one was a dictionary! It was called Vocabulario de la lengva general de todo el Perv llamada lengva Qquichua o del Inca El Quechua Cortesano del Cuzco. This was the very first dictionary for the Cusco Quechua dialect. The Cusco dialect is a specific way of speaking Quechua in the Cusco region.
Another scholar, Domingo de Santo Tomás, had written the first Quechua grammar and dictionary. Diego González Holguín's dictionary was considered the second most important work about the Quechua language after Santo Tomás's books.
In the same year, 1608, Diego also wrote a book called Privileges Granted to the Indians (in Spanish, Spanish: Privilegios concedidos a los Indios). This book was about the rights given to the native people.
Diego González Holguín passed away in Lima, Peru, around the year 1620.
Works
- Gramatica y arte nueua de la lengua general de todo el Peru, llamada lengua Quichua, o lengua del Inca (Lima, 1607)
- Vocabulario de la lengua general de todo el Peru llamada lengva Qquichua, o del Inca (Lima, 1608)
- Privilegios concedidos a los Indios (Lima, 1608)
See also
In Spanish: Diego González Holguín para niños
