Diccionario de la expresión popular guatemalteca,
by Daniel Armas (1st edition 1971, 2nd edition 1982).

Laura Martin, Ph.D.
Last revised May 2006

I. Background and author

A full thirty years after Sandoval, another attempt was made to produce a comprehensive dictionary of Guatemalan Spanish that would inventory and describe its regional vocabulary and meanings, along with its local proverbs and common expressive sayings. This project was the work of Daniel Armas, who is primarily known as a writer of children's books.

II. Introductory material

The organization of the Armas dictionary is much more like that of modern dictionaries when compared to Batres or Sandoval. Instead of a lengthy prologue, Armas offers a three-page introduction titled “Unas palabras al lector.” Here he explains how he came to create the dictionary as a result of attending the V Congreso de Academia de la Lengua Española in Quito in 1968, as a member of the Guatemalan delegation. At that Congress, the delegates approved a resolution to attempt to produce a Dictionary of Americanisms, for which each delegation was to produce a list of words and sayings in the popular speech of their country. After three years of intense work, Armas published the first edition of his Guatemalan list in 1971. He makes clear that he depended on both Batres and Sandoval, as well as on Jorge Luis Arriola's 1954 Pequeño diccionario etimológico de voces guatemaltecas.

In his introduction, Armas provides a brief discussion of various aspects of regional vocabulary, including items from indigenous sources (primarily Mexican), archaisms – “now considered improper” – and regionalisms that, although not registered in prestigious dictionaries, are used by all levels of society, even the most elevated contexts. He explains his decisions regarding the inclusion of a separate appendix of sayings and proverbs, the non-inclusion of synonyms from neighboring regions, and his combination of brief descriptions with scientific names for flora and fauna. His tone is much more measured than that used by the earlier dictionary compilers, although he still denigrates rustic speech as “grotesco.” He disclaims erudition in the preparation of the work, but thinks that readers will find it simple and interesting to read. Indeed, it is so.

The introduction is followed by a nine-item set of “Advertencias al Lector,” which further explains the organization and conventions, and includes the suggestion that middle-class people should read the dictionary completely and carefully. Armas cautions that the work is surely incomplete since it would have taken many more years to produce a more thorough account or list. There is also a list of abbreviations used in the entries.

III. Dictionary

The 225-page dictionary proper lists single-word entries in double columns. Entries include grammatical information (e.g., part of speech, gender of nouns, transitivity of verbs, and so on), brief definitions, and at least one example sentence. Different meanings are numbered and given separately with their own examples. Format features – entries in all caps, examples separated and in italics – make the entries easy to read and understand.

As is the case with Sandoval, the example sentences offer amusing insights into social customs. Like Sandoval, Armas uses example sentences that seem designed to introduce the flavor of Guatemalan Spanish discourse itself, and not simply represent an ordinary context for the word being defined. And again, the personal names and titles used in the examples present additional data for the study of social relations. Armas handles the problem of words containing the [x], the alveopalatal fricative, by spelling them with sh and marking them with an asterisk in the same way the Sandoval does.

Armas includes scientific names for many plants and animals, and it is clear that he has relied heavily on Rubio for much of this information. He also includes nicknames as separately entries, just as Sandoval did, but has many fewer.

Apart from the listing of Guatemalan Spanish words, Armas has compiled a separate listing labeled “Modismos, adagios y refranes.” In this section, he presents a 3439-item list of popular phrasal expressions (pp. 229-420). This list is given in strict alphabetical order by the first word or key infinitive. For example, there are 520 entries that begin with ser, 228 that begin with no, and 218 with poner/ponerse. For these expressions, he provides an explanation of context and meaning, with example sentences showing their usage. These, like some in the main dictionary listing, are sometimes in the form of brief dialogues that contribute to a clearer understanding of the discourse contexts in which such expressions would be likely to occur. For the many entries with similar meanings, he provides cross-references to the most frequent or main version. For example, Andar con broncos, andar con cuentos, andar con plantas (and their andarse variants) are all referred to as synonyms of Andar con babosadas with the meanings (a) aducir mentiras, subterfugios, quien tiene falta and (b) fanfarronear (p. 222).

After the popular expressions, there is also a separate listing of 295 proverbs and refranes (pp. 421-438), beginning with A caballo regalado no se le busca colmillo, defined as ‘expresa ser necio poner defectos a lo que se da en obsequio.' The list ends with Zope no come zope, a synonym of Chucho no come chucho, defined as ‘hace entender que individuos de igual profesión y experiencia, difícilmente pueden engañarse entre sí' (p. 410). The separation of these categories of popular expression makes them easy to follow and diverting to read.

One important research investigation still needed is the comparison of the Sandoval and Armas inventories of these sayings in order to verify what changes have occurred in these types of expressions, and to establish the viability in 21st century Guatemalan Spanish of the ones that Armas records.  Many suspect that in Guatemalan Spanish, as in American English and other languages, such expressions are falling into disuse. Even when young people know a saying, they often do not know its intended meaning or lesson. (For examples, see, http://www.prensalibre.com.gt/pl/2005/febrero/16/107821.html, last access April 2006).

The Armas volume concludes with an eight-item list of resources he consulted. They include Batres, Sandoval, and Arriola, as well as the 18^th (1956) and 19^th (1970) editions of the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española (DRAE). Three natural history dictionaries are also noted.

It is safe to say that Armas remains the current standard of consultation for Guatemalan Spanish dictionaries within Guatemala. It is more often cited by journalists and others than either the older and less easily available ones or the newer and less comprehensive ones. Diccionario de la expressión popular guatemalteca is still in print in Guatemala. Now in its 4th reprinting (1998), it is easily acquired at bookstores and from various on-line sources (e.g., http://www.fygeditores.com/bole37.htm, last access April 2006). It is a rich resource, and, in my opinion, underutilized both in the research on Guatemalan Spanish itself and in comparative dialect studies for Central and South America.

To see a scanned page of the Armas dictionary, click here.