Fray Domingo de Santo Tomás, O.P. (1499 in
SevilleSeville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
– 28 February 1570, in
La PlataSucre, also known historically as Charcas, La Plata and Chuquisaca is the constitutional capital of Bolivia and the capital of the department of Chuquisaca. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of 2750m...
,
BoliviaBolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
) was a Spanish
DominicanThe Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
and grammarian who compiled the first
QuechuaQuechua is a Native South American language family and dialect cluster spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably...
grammar.
He arrived in
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
in 1540 and founded the convent and city of
YungayYungay may refer to:*Chile**Yungay, Chile in Ñuble Province*Peru**Yungay Province**Yungay District**Yungay, Peru...
on 4 August 1540. For the purpose of
evangelizationEvangelization is that process in the Christian religion which seeks to spread the Gospel and the knowledge of the Gospel throughout the world. It can be defined as so:-The birth of Christian evangelization:...
, he learned the Quechua language spoken along the coast near Lima. In 1545, he was elected prior of the
Convento del Santísimo Rosario in
LimaLima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
.In 1549 he made the "Tasa" of Lima, with Fray
Jeronimo de LoayzaJerónimo de Loayza González, O.P. was a Spanish Dominican missionary and the first Roman Catholic archbishop of Lima.-Biography:...
and Fray Tomás de San Martín. In 1560 he published his
Grammatica o arte de la lengua general de los indios de los Reynos del Perú in
ValladolidValladolid is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within three wine-making regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales...
, the first book printed in
QuechuaQuechua is a Native South American language family and dialect cluster spoken primarily in the Andes of South America, derived from an original common ancestor language, Proto-Quechua. It is the most widely spoken language family of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with a total of probably...
. In the same year appeared his
Lexicon, o Vocabulario de la lengua general del PERV.
The coastal dialect of Quechua was significantly different than that of Cuzco, which was described by
Diego González HolguínDiego González Holguín was a Spanish Jesuit priest, researcher of the Quechua language during the times of the Viceroyalty of Peru....
in the early 17th century.
Works
- Grammatica o Arte de la lengua general de los Indios de los Reynos del Peru (Valladolid, 1560).
- Lexicon o Vocabulario de la lengua general del PERV (1560).
- Plática para todos los Indios (1560)