Tupinambá Vocabulary of Arcano del Mare by Sir Robert Dudley (1661)

Sumario: Sir Robert Dudley (August 7, 1574 – September 6, 1649) was an illegitimate son of Robert Dudley, First Count of Leicester. In 1594 he undertook an expedition to Trinidad and Puerto Rico, to capture Spanish ships, publishing a report about it, where he presented an Arawak vocabulary with 69 words or short sentences. Abandoning England definitely in 1605, he entered into the service of Ferdinando I (Medici), the Great-Duke of Tuscany (and afterwards also into the service of Ferdinando II). He worked as an engineer and cartographer. In 1608 he convinced Ferdinand I to send the pirate ship Santa Lucia Buonaventura to Guyana and northern Brazil. As head of that expedition he indicated William Davies, Barber-Surgeon of London, who would later (1614) publish his memoirs, including his experiences at the mouth of the Amazon River (here transcribed and translated) – the first report on the Amazons known in the 17th century. Dudley’s most important work, however, was Dell’Arcano del Mare (On the secret of the sea) (1646-1648, in four volumes). This impressive and detailed treatise about astronomy, navigation, naval construction and cartography included 130 maps, all newly made by him and not copied from other sources, as was usual at that time, summing up all the nautical knowledge of the age. The maps of the Brazilian coast (herein reproduced) are remarkably detailed, showing the names of numerous Indian tribes. Twelve years after his death the second edition of his magum opus was published (Dudley, 1661), now with two volumes. A considerable rearrangement of the text was made, with the inclusion of many additions, apparently obtained from manuscripts left by the author. In this edition, in the second volume, a small vocabulary in the Tupinambá language may be found, with 136 words or short sentences, extracted, without any apparent criterion, from Jean de Léry’s works (1578, 1594) – the vocabulary is here facsimilarly presented, transcribed, corrected and translated.