James Lockhart (ed.), Grammar of the Mexican language, with an explanation of its adverbs [Compendio del arte de la lengua mexicana] (1645), by Horacio Carochi, S.J. UCLA Latin American Studies, 89. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. Pp. 544. Hb $65.00; and James Lockhart, Nahuatl as written: Lessons in older Nahuatl, with copious examples and texts. UCLA Latin American Studies, 88. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 2001. Pp. 264. Hb $45.00, Pb $29.95.

Extract

An edited, modern edition of the Jesuit Horacio Carochi's Arte de la lengua Mexicana con la declaracion de los adverbios della from 1645 has been eagerly awaited by scholars with an interest in Mesoamerican culture in general, and by those interested in the Nahautl language in particular. Carochi's grammar on what nowadays is called “Classical Nahuatl” is undisputedly the finest of all grammars produced in the centuries following the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards in 1521. Its clear and concise explanations of all aspects of Nahuatl grammar are in many respects unparalleled even to this day. The problem up until now has been to get hold of a copy of either the 1892 edition or the facsimile edition of 1983. They are both out of print and somewhat hard to read because they require some familiarity with older Spanish. The volume under review remedies all this.