The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 45, July 1941 - April, 1942 Page: 306

                                
Southwestern Historical Quarterly

constant use of them may take the place of careful, idiomatic
rendering and give a pseudo-scientific air to the translator's
work, which is surely closer kin to art than to science. But if
some of the rules laid down in this handbook seem arbitrary,
it should be remembered that such rules are indispensable when
numbers of inexperienced translators are working together on
the same project, as often happens.
Not the least valuable part of the book is the section which
contains lists of Spanish words and phrases and their English
equivalents. Most of these are not to be found in the diction-
aries-not with their special meanings, anyway-but they are
all too common in the historical manuscripts that have to do with
the Southwest, as every one who has done any work in that field
knows only too well. Among the most confusing of the terms
that Mr. Haggard has defined are those which describe caste.
Even with the definitions, I must admit that I am still some-
what confused. For instance, after finding that a cambijo is
the child of an albarrazado and a negro woman, I discover that
an albarrazado is the child of a gibaro and an Indian woman.
A gibaro is the child of a lobo and a mulatto woman. A lobo
is the child of a chino and a mulatto woman. And so it goes,
on and on. I am fascinated to find, also, (p. 43) that an
ahi te estds ("there you are") is the child of a no te entiendo
("I don't understand you") and an Indian woman. I find no
definition for a no te entiendo. I hope that the author, in some
later edition, will have the patience to give us a diagram of
these intricate relationships. I am sure that the vocabulary of
words and phrases with special meanings will, in later editions,
be greatly enlarged, for, helpful though it is, it is not any-
where near complete.
Indeed, the only serious fault that I can find with this little
book is simply that it is far too little. The author promises
us, in his foreword, that additions will be made to it from time
to time until the final edition is printed, in 1945. Meanwhile,
we should be grateful for what he has done in a field where
nothing worth mentioning has been done before.
CHARLES RAMSDELL, JR.
General Land Office, Austin, Texas.

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