Vocabulario de la lengua tagala
Vocabulario de la lengua tagala is the first dictionary of the Tagalog language in the Philippines.
The first dictionary of the Tagalog language was written by franciscan friar Pedro de Buenaventura and
published in Pila in 1613.He most probably used the Vocabulario tagalo left by fray Juan de Plasencia.
Further compilation of his substantial work was prepared by P. Juan de Noceda and P. Pedro de Sanlucar
and published as Vocabulario de la lengua tagala in Manila in 1754 and then repeatedly reedited with
the last edition being in 2013 in Manila.
Source: Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala, Manila 1860 at Google Books
Picture gallery of the illustrations in Boxer Codex
Tagalog royal in red (the distinctive colour of his class) and his wife. Visayan kadatuan (royal) couple Tagalog maginoo (noble class) wearing blue (the distinctive colour of his class) and his wife.
Visayan kadatuan (royal) and his wife wearing red, the distinctive colour of their class. Tagalog royal
couple in red, the distinctive colour of their class. A couple of the timawa or tumao
Pintados of the Visayas, showing their patok or tattoos. A native princess. Natives, Bisayan uripon (slaves). Native commoners wearing simpler clothes and with little or no gold jewelry
A princess from Cagayan. A noble warrior from Cagayan. Warrior with a spear and shield. Aeta or Negrito warriors. Warriors from Zambales. Zambal Warriors hunting
A couple belonging to the Zambal warrior class. Natives. A warrior from the Moluccas. Warrior with Japanese swords and armor, probably from other southeast Asian territories.
A Chinese couple wearing hanfu. Japanese couple of the samurai caste wearing yukata Ethnic Vietnamese couple from Northern Vietnam. A Tatar couple. 2 Chinese generals.
A Thai (Siamese) couple. Vietnamese immigrants
Boxer Codex, sometimes known as the Manila Manuscript, is a manuscript written c. 1590, which
contains illustrations of ethnic groups in the Philippines at the time of their initial contact with the
Spaniards. Aside from a description of, and historical allusions to what is now the Philippines and various
other Far Eastern countries, the codex also contains seventy-five coloured drawings of the inhabitants of
these regions and their distinctive costume. At least fifteen illustrations deal with the inhabitants of the
Philippine Archipelago.
The Boxer Codex depicts the Tagalogs, Visayans, Zambals, Cagayanes or possibly Ibanags and Negritos of
the Philippines in vivid colour. The technique of the paintings, as does the use of Chinese paper, ink, and
paints, suggests that the unknown artist may have been Chinese.
It is believed that the original owner of the manuscript was Luis Pérez Dasmariñas, son of Governor
General Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas, who was killed in 1593 by Sangleys or Chinese living in the
Philippines. Luis succeeded his father in office as Governor-General of the Philippines. Since Spanish
colonial governors were required to submit written reports on the territories they governed, it is likely
that the manuscript was written under the orders of the governor.
The manuscript's earliest known owner was Lord Ilchester. The codex was among what remained in his
collection when his estate, Holland House in London, suffered from direct German shelling on 27
September 1940 during The Blitz. The manuscript was auctioned in 1947 and came into the possession
of Professor Charles Ralph Boxer, an authority on the Far East, and after whom the document is named.
It is now owned by the Lilly Library at Indiana University.
Source: Roces, Alfredo R., ed. (1977), "Boxer Codex", Filipino Heritage: the Making of a Nation, IV,
Philippines: Lahing Pilipino Publishing, Inc.
