Description
Anagó: Lucumi vocabulary. The Yoruba spoken in Cuba
Book summary
This work is a comprehensive vocabulary of Lucumi, the variant of Yoruba preserved in Cuba, the result of Lydia Cabrera's exhaustive research. More than just a dictionary, the book is a gateway to the linguistic, cultural, and religious richness of the African diaspora in the Caribbean. The reader will find not only words and their meanings, but also a precise phonetic record and a window into a universe of traditions, deities, and poetry, turning the lexicon into a living testimony of an enduring language.
What is it about?
Anagó is a specialized dictionary that collects and defines the vocabulary of the Lucumi language, spoken in the context of Yoruba-derived religious practices in Cuba. The work, with a prologue by anthropologist Roger Bastide, goes beyond mere translation. Lydia Cabrera meticulously documents the phonetics and local variants, offering a faithful record of how this African language has been preserved and adapted in the New World. The book is structured as a lexicon, but its content reveals a world of spiritual concepts, names of deities (orishas), rituals, chants, and expressions that form the basis of Cuban Santería. It is, at once, a work of linguistics, anthropology, and poetry, where every word is a fragment of a worldview.
Main themes
- Lucumi language and its preservation in Cuba.
- Yoruba vocabulary and its dialectal variants in the Caribbean.
- Yoruba religion (Santería) and its pantheon of deities (orishas).
- Phonetics and transcription of African languages in the American context.
- Ethnography and Afro-Cuban cultural heritage.
Who is it recommended for?
This book is aimed at researchers and students of linguistics, anthropology, and African-American studies. It is also an essential reference work for practitioners of Santería or African-derived religions who wish to delve into the meaning and pronunciation of ritual terms. Likewise, it will interest readers curious about the cultural history of Cuba, the African diaspora, and the richness of Creole languages.
What this book offers
- A complete and reliable lexical record of Lucumi, fundamental for understanding Afro-Cuban culture.
- A precise reference tool for the study of phonetics and Yoruba variants in the Americas.
- An immersion into the symbolic and religious universe of Santería through its own language.
- A reference work that combines scientific rigor with the poetic and ethnographic value of oral tradition.
Technical specifications
- Author: Cabrera, Lydia
- Publisher: Linkgua Ediciones
- Language: Spanish
- Subject: CLASSIC TEXTS
- Collection: PLATERO
- Binding: Paperback
- Publication date: January 2021
- Number of pages: 490
- Weight: 727 g
Editorial review
Anagó is an essential reference work for the study of African-originated languages and cultures in the Americas. Lydia Cabrera, with her ethnographic rigor and literary sensibility, succeeds in making this vocabulary transcend the function of a simple list of words to become a living document of a tradition. Its value lies as much in its linguistic precision as in the richness of the cultural context it reveals, offering the reader an indispensable tool for academics and a source of profound knowledge for those interested in the spiritual and linguistic heritage of Cuban Santería.