It is well known that the Empress Catherine II of Russia had a personal interest in linguistics. She began to collect words and she even prepared a word list of different languages of her Empire and of the world. It is also known that she asked the King of Spain Charles III for information on the American languages. But even in the most recent bibliography many details are missing. A research in the archives of Madrid and Bogotá has permitted the discovery of many unknown details. We could find documented the petition of St.-Petersburg, the sending of documents of the Empress to Madrid, and the King’s orders, particularly to the Viceking of Nueva Granada, with their realisation, in which the great naturalist Mutis has had an important part. The Empress also asked for Spanish books on the languages of Philippines and Japan.
Adelung, Friedrich von. 1815. Catherinens der Grossen Verdienste um die Vergleichende Sprachenkunde. St. Petersburg: F. Drechsler. (Repr. with introduction by Harald Haarmann, Hamburg: H. Buske, 1976.)
Adelung, Johann Christoph, & (beginning with vol.II) Johann Severin Vater. 1806–1817. Mithridates oder Allgemeine Sprachenkunde. 41 vols. Berlin: Voss. (Repr., Hildesheim & New York: G. Olms, 1970.)
AHNB = Archivo Histórico Nacional, Bogotá.
AHNM = Archivo Histórico Nacional, Madrid.
Fernández, León(1840–1887). 1892. Lenguas indígenas de Centro América en el siglo XVIII según copia del Archivo de Indias hecha por el Licenciado don León Fernández y publicada por Ricardo Fernández Guardia y Juan Fernández Ferraz para el 9o Congreso de Americanistas. San José de Costa Rica: Impr. Nacional.
Hervás y Panduro, Lorenzo. 1785. Dell’origine, formazione, meccanismo, ed armonia degli idiomi. (= Idea dell’ universo, 18.) Cesena: A. Biasini.
Hervás y Panduro, Lorenzo. 1787. Saggio prattico delle lingue e dialetti. (= Idea dell’ universo, 21.) Ibid.
Key, Mary Ritchie. 1979. “The Linguistic Discoveries of Catherine the Great”. The Third LACUS Forum, ed. by Roberto Di Pietro & Edward L. Blansitt, 39–45. Columbia, S.C.: Hornbeam Press.
Key, Mary Ritchie. 1980. Catherine the Great’s Linguistic Contribution. Edmonton, Alberta: Linguistic Research.
Klein, Harriet E. Manelis & Herbert S. Klein1978. “The ‘Russian Collection’ in Spanish Archives”. IJAL 441.137–144.
Lamas, Andrés(1817–1891). 1872. “Las lenguas americanas y Catalina II de Rusia”. La Revista del Río de la Plata 21.301–308. (Not seen.)
Mutis, José Celestino. 1968. Archivo epistolar del sabio naturalista don José Celestino Mutis. Compilación, prólogo y notas de Guillermo Hernández de Alba. 41 vols. Bogotá: Instituto Colombiano de Cultura Hispánica & Editorial Kelly, 1968–1975. (We quote from vol.1.)
Pallas, Peter Simon. 1786–89. Linguarum tonus orbis vocabularia comparativa. 21 vols. St. Petersburg: Typis Iohannis Caroli Schnoor. (Repr., Hamburg: Buske, 1977–78).
Robledo, Emilio. 1956. “Los manuscritos sobre lenguas indígenas americanas de Don José Celestino Mutis”. Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana (Bogotá) 21, n° 75, 6–15.
Schop Soler, Ana María. 1970. Die spanisch-russichen Beziehungen im 18. Jahrhundert. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz.
Schop Soler, Ana María. 1971. Las Relaciones entre España y Rusia en la época de Carlos IV. Prólogo de C. Seco Serrano. Barcelona: Cátedra de Hist. General de España; Imprenta gráfica Marina S.A.
Tourneur, Victor(b. 1878). 1905. Esquisse d’une histoire des études celtiques. Liège: Impr. H. Vaillant-Carmanne.
Tovar, Antonio. 1981. “Hervás y las lenguas indígenas de América del Norte”. Revista Española de Lingüística 111.1–11.
Cited by (5)
Cited by five other publications
Stala, Ewa
2018. diccionarios de P. S. Pallas y Ph. A. Nemnich. Studia Iberystyczne 16 ► pp. 169 ff.
Stala, Ewa
2021. Diccionario de Catalina la Grande (1787-1789). Studia Iberystyczne 10 ► pp. 151 ff.
Dümmler, Christiane
1999. Die Übersetzungsproblematik in Missionarssprachwerken aus der kolumbianischen Kolonialzeit. Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik 29:4 ► pp. 101 ff.
Robins, R. H.
1986. The Evolution of Historical Linguistics: Sir Ralph Turner Memorial Lecture 9th May, 1985. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland 118:1 ► pp. 5 ff.
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