Did you know that Tagalog had its first grammar published before many European languages? The linguistic milestone can be greatly credited to the Spanish grammarian Elio Antonio de Nebrija, who played a pivotal role in that development.
On March 12, Instituto Cervantes unveiled at its Intramuros branch the exhibition Nebrija en Filipinas, dedicated to celebrating the cultural contributions of Nebrija (1444-1522). Nebrija’s impactful legacy extends to languages like Tagalog and Cebuano, which had grammars published ahead of many European languages.
Nebrija en Filipinas, tailored for Filipino audiences, is an adaptation of the Nebrija exhibition organized by the National Library of Spain in 2022, commemorating the 500th anniversary of Nebrija’s death.
in collaboration with Fundación Antonio Nebrija, the Embassy of Spain and AECID, Biblioteca Nacional de España, and the University of Sto. Tomas
Through informative panels and displays of books, the exhibition will highlight Nebrija’s cultural contributions and seek to contextualize them within the publication of the first grammar of the Philippine vernacular languages. These linguistic endeavors were directly shaped by Nebrija’s teachings.
Nebrija was a highly reputed scholar during the Renaissance period in Europe. His book Introductiones Latinae, a groundbreaking manual for teaching Latin, not only earned him recognition in Spain but also garnered international fame. He also wrote bilingual dictionaries in Latin-Spanish and a Gramática de la lengua castellana, published in 1492, which is recognized as the first grammar of modern European languages. It became the model for Spanish friars who attempted to analyze the grammar of the new world, both in America and the Philippines.
The missionaries, who had learned Latin from Nebrija’s methods, applied the model, with its theoretical considerations and bilingual translations, in their description of these languages. As a result, Tagalog saw its first grammar book published in 1610 with Francisco Blancas de San José’s Arte y reglas de la lengua tagala. It was followed by similar initiatives with other vernacular languages, among them the Arte de la lengua iloca, composed by the Agustinian Francisco López in 1627, and the Arte de la lengua bisaya de la provincia de Leyte, written by the jesuist Domingo Ezguerra in 1663.
Proud, intelligent, and audacious, Nebrija was a stalwart fighter for pure Latin and always wanted to go down in posterity with the nickname grammaticus (grammarian). When he presented a preview of what would later become his Grammar of the Castilian Language to Queen Isabel la Católica, the sovereign was initially surprised, unable to grasp the utility of a treatise teaching the rules of a language acquired naturally.
The exhibit Nebrija en Filipinas, which will run until June 12, is organized by Instituto Cervantes in collaboration with Fundación Antonio Nebrija (Madrid), the Embassy of Spain and AECID, Biblioteca Nacional de España, and the University of Sto. Tomas (Manila).
Nebrija en Filipinas is an adaptation of the original exhibit Nebrija, curated by Dr. Teresa Jiménez Calvente, with the addition of panels focused on the Philippines composed by Marlon James Sales, of UP Diliman. The exhibit will have a second leg from August to October in the Miguel Benavides Library of UST.
For further information about the cultural program of Instituto Cervantes de Manila, please visit their website (https://manila.cervantes.es).