Chapinismos del Quijote, by Francisco Pérez de Antón, 2005.  

Laura Martin, Ph.D.
Last revised May 2006

I. Background and author

This charming and erudite book is the work of Spaniard Francisco Pérez de Antón who has lived in Guatemala since his early twenties. Like so many other writers on language in Guatemala , he has enjoyed quite a diverse career. An agronomist and economist by training, he has worked as a businessman – he is one of the founders of Pollo Campero – and was on the faculty of the Universidad Francisco Marroquín. He retired in the mid-1980s to dedicate himself to literature and journalism. Since then he published a number of works, including novels, story and essay collections, and a history of Pollo Campero. His most recent work – besides the one reviewed here – is Los hijos del incendio y de la pólvora, a historical novel set in Colonial Guatemala. His books are easily found in bookstores and on-line, and he is a frequent contributor to and subject of the national press. An interesting interview can be found on-line at http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/domingo/archivo/revistad/2005/diciembre05/111205/dfrente.shtml (last access June 2006). Francisco Pérez de Antón is a member of the Guatemalan Academia de la Lengua Española.

II. The work

Coinciding with the 400th anniversary of Miguel Cervantes' masterwork, Don Quijote de la Mancha, this book examines a set of words largely peculiar to Guatemalan Spanish and used in Don Quijote as well. In the introductory chapter, the author makes plain his goal: to follow the semantic shifts in the history of these Guatemalan Spanish forms in order to see how their 16th century meanings became the ones we know today. He mentions polysemy and euphemisms as common processes in these shifts, and sees syncope and error as the processes that give rise to wholly new, but related, forms.

The reader is immediately at home with the author's appealing and entertaining style, and the examples presented in the introduction suggest how rich and erudite the chapters that follow will be. For example, Pérez de Antón considers capixay , a familiar Guatemalan word referring to the dark woolen tunic worn by Maya men in many highland communities. Sandoval defines it as follows: CAPIXAY, m. = Coton de lana, grueso, de color ixcaco o café, usado por los indios de los departamentos occidentales de Guatemala. Armas and Rubio both cite it, but neither offers an etymology. The Diccionario de la Real Academia (DRAE) includes the form capisayo: ‘vestidura corta a manera de capotillo abierto, que sirve de capa y sayo' and notes that it is commonly worn by bishops. Pérez de Antón associates the Guatemalan version with capisayo but derives it from Basque kapusay, a type of cape worn by sheep herders. Citing Carmen Neutze de Rugg's Diseños en los tejidos indígenas de Guatemala , he suggests that the garment itself was a mix of traditional Mayan elements and the old capes of the Dominican order, and, upon being adopted into indigenous communities, was identified by the noun with the old alveopalatal pronunciation, [x]. It is worth noting, though, that the Spanish term was not borrowed into the local languages. In Q'anjob'al (Mayan), for example, spoken in some of the principal areas where capixays are worn, they are known as lopilej (e.g., in San Pedro Soloma) or ropilej (e.g., in Santa Eulalia). It is likely that the indigenous word refers to a garment that existed prior to Spanish contact and was applied to the woolen equivalent, while the old Basque borrowing into colonial Spanish has simply remained in use in Guatemalan Spanish. Like many similar words, it is often assumed incorrectly to be be of indigenous origin.

In the 58 brief chapters that follow, Pérez de Antón takes up a variety of words, phrases, and patterns of expression. Among them are such items as canillas , the Guatemalan Spanish word for leg; polainas , heard frequently in the expression no las polainas, said when someone cannot do something or other; and pisto , the local word for money. He explores the origins and meaning shifts of sayings such as De la ceca a la Meca, mandar con un propio, and hecho leña. He also discusses the voseo, the use of indefinite articles and possessives, the incorporation of anglicisms, various “malas palabras,” and whether or not fiambre is a salad or a conserve.

One of his most interesting discussions searches for the origins of chapín , the nickname for any Guatemalan. He traces it to the fine but absurdly high-heeled shoes that were stylish in the early years of the colony, concluding that it came to be applied to those recent arrivals to the new world, haciéndose de ricos ‘making themselves out to be rich.' A similar line of etymological elevation seems to have produced the modern Guatemalan Spanish use of ladino to refer to non-indigenous Guatemalans. In Cervantes' time, the term referred to non-Hispanics – Jews and Arabs – who were sufficiently educated and skilled to translate into and out of Spanish, even though they were not native speakers. In Santiago de Guatemala, the colonial capital, it still had the same meaning and is documented in reference to the smart, skilled indigenous Mayas who lived in Santiago and were fluent in Spanish. Pérez de Antón accounts for the gradual process of semantic shifting that led over time to the appropriation of the “smart, skillful” meanings for the non-Indian dominant class. Any native Spanish speaker thus became superior by reference to any Indian.

The extensive bibliography testifies to the investigation that has produced this clever and surprising work. The bibliography is divided into sections, beginning with works by Cervantes. A substantial number of works of history are cited, along with literary works by Spanish and Guatemalan writers, past and modern. Finally, four recent specialist articles are cited. The list of dictionaries cites five virtual ones as well as a range of noted dictionaries of Spanish. Pérez de Antón consulted both Armas and Rubio, but, curiously, neither Sandoval nor Batres. Not having either of the early dictionaries at hand is a pity, since some of the most interesting words and phrases in the Quijote list are found there, especially in Sandoval, and with important information. In a separate article at this site, some of this material is discussed.

Chapinismos del Quijote is a wonderfully entertaining work. Too discursive to be easily used as a dictionary, it is nevertheless a rewarding read and a trove of information nowhere else compiled.