Alonso de Molina

Alonso de Molina (1513^[1] or 1514^[2][3] – 1579^[1] or 1585^[2][3]) was a Franciscan priest and grammarian, who wrote a well-known dictionary of the Nahuatl language published in 1571^[4].

He was born in Extremadura, Spain in the Province of Cáceres, and arrived in Mexico, still a child, in 1522, during the Spanish conquest of Mexico.^[5] He grew up playing with monolingual Nahuatl speaking children in the streets as the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan was being refashioned into Mexico City, and so he became a fluent speaker of Nahuatl^[6]

In 1528, as a young man, he entered the Franscican convent of Mexico city becoming a friar. He taught at the Colegio de Santa Cruz in Tlatelolco along with Bernardino de Sahagún, Andrés de Olmos and Juan Badiano. Besides his clerical duties, Molina devoted himself to the study, understanding and writing of Nahuatl. He composed and preached many sermons in the Nahuatl tongue.

Molina's dictionary.

Molina's Vocabulary in Castilian and Mexican language which he composed between 1555 and 1571 was the first dictionary printed in the New World, and, together with Olmos’ work, was the first published systematic approach to an indigenous language. It is still considered an indispensable tool for students of Classical Nahuatl language.^[7]

Works

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• Doctrina christiana breve traduzida en lengua mexicana (1547)^[8]
• Aquí comiença un vocabulario en la lengua castellana y mexicana (1555)
• Confessionario mayor, en lengua mexicana y castellana (1565)
• Arte de la lengua mexicana y castellana (1571)
• Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana (1571)
• Confessionario breve, en lengua mexicana (1577)

Notes

References

• Hernández de León-Portilla, Ascensión (2009). "El arte de la lengua mexicana y castellana de fray Alonso de Molina: morfología y composición" (in spanish). Estudios de Historia Novohispana (UNAM) (39): 167–206. http://www.ejournal.unam.mx/ecn/ecnahuatl39/ECN039000008.pdf. 
• Hernández de León-Portilla, Ascensión (janvier-juin 2007). "Fray Alonso de Molina y el proyecto indigenista de la orden seráfica" (in spanish). Estudios de Historia Novohispana (UNAM) (36): 63–81. http://www.ejournal.unam.mx/ehn/ehn36/EHN003600002.pdf. 
• Máynez, Pilar (2002). "Las doctrinas de Molina y Sahagún: similitudes y diferencias" (in spanish). Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl (UNAM) (33): 267–276. http://www.ejournal.unam.mx/ecn/ecnahuatl33/ECN03312.pdf. 
• Máynez, Pilar (1999). "La incidencia de hispanismos en los ”confessionarios” mayor y menor de fray Alonso de Molina: un análisis contrastivo" (in spanish). Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl (UNAM) (30): 275–284. http://www.ejournal.unam.mx/ecn/ecnahuatl30/ECN03014.pdf. 
• Hernández de León-Portilla, Ascensión (1999). "Un prólogo en náhuatl suscrito por Bernardino de Sahagún y Alonso de Molina" (in spanish). Estudios de Historia Novohispana (UNAM) (29): 199–208. http://www.ejournal.unam.mx/ehn/ehn36/EHN003600002.pdf. 

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