philippine studies

Ateneo de Manila University Loyola Heights, Quezon City 1108 Philippines

Counting and Marking Time:

From the Precolonial to the Contemporary Tagalog World

Damon L. Woods
Philippine Studies vol. 59 no. 3 (2011): 337365
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dam o n l . w o o ds

Counting and
Marking Time
From the
Precolonial to the
Contemporary
Tagalog World

The Spanish intrusion resulted in cultural and linguistic changes in

Philippine societies, but did not lead to a complete exchange of the
indigenous for the foreign. The changes were not imposed but rather
chosen by the local population, as demonstrated by changes in counting
and marking time in Tagalog society, which this article traces, beginning
with Tomas Pinpins Librong pagaaralan nang manga Tagalog nang
uicang Castila (1610), to the present. Using the categories of core values
(animism) and surface values (Spanish Catholicism), this article explains
the resulting hybridity evident today.
Keywords: Catholicism Spanish colonialism animism values hybridity

PHILIPPINE STUDIES 59, no. 3 (2011) 33765

Ateneo de Manila University

magine posing two questions to two Tagalog speakers: When

counting, what comes after twenty? How do you refer to the day two
days previously? Now imagine that one of these persons is from 1610
and the other from 2010. You would most likely get very different
answers to these questions. What would account for the differences?
And how are the two questions related? In the market, when I was growing
up in Baguio, when a vendor stated the price as singko (cinco), I knew she
meant five centavos, but when she said lima she meant five pesos. Yet both
words meant five. Why the difference?1 To find the answer, one must begin
in the precolonial period as well as the early years of the Spanish intrusion.
In contrast to the ethnic groups surrounding them, the precolonial
Tagalog possessed a view of reality with a strong quantitative component
and a penchant for numbering. This is seen in various aspects of Tagalog
culture. To cite but one example: where those to the north and south of them
adapted the Spanish hermano (brother) and hermana (sister) into manong
and manang, the Tagalog instead borrowed the Chinese system of titles for
older siblings: first eldest brother, kuya; second eldest brother, diko; third
eldest brother, sanko; fourth eldest brother, siko; first eldest sister, ate; second
eldest sister, ditse; third eldest sister, sanse; fourth eldest sister, dete. After
the fourth siblings, the Tagalog used manong and manang as those around
them. Both the adaptation and the borrowing occurred after the Spanish
intrusion.2 And it should be stressed that this approach was found within the
cultural context of an animistic worldview.
At the same time, the precolonial Tagalog, like the surrounding peoples
not only in the archipelago but throughout Southeast Asia, domesticated
foreign cultural practices and made them uniquely their own.3 As John
Leddy Phelan (1959, viiiix) observed in his classic work, Hispanization of
the Philippines: the Filipinos were no mere passive recipients of the cultural
stimulus created by the Spanish conquest. . . . Their responses varied all the
way from acceptance to indifference and rejection.4 However, often the
borrowing was done to such an extent that many have failed to differentiate
from those aspects that were Tagalog and those that were Spanish. As reflected
in J. C. van Leurs (1967, 95) famous phrase of the thin, flaking glaze,5 the
Spanish aspects provided the forms while the Tagalog aspects the thinking or
heart behind the forms borrowed. By looking at counting and marking time,
one can more easily track how the Tagalog selected what aspects of Spanish
culture they wanted to borrow or adapt to their own.

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PHILIPPINE STUDIES 59, no. 3 (2011)

A number of scholars have examined the matter of counting among

the Tagalog of the early Spanish period. Jean-Paul G. Potets (1992) highly
technical Numeral Expressions in Tagalog is extremely helpful in this area.
He first explains the modern Tagalog system, which he terms a calque of the
Spanish model and the old system. I am grateful for his work in explaining
the intricacies of the old Tagalog numeral system. Ricardo Manapats (2001)
paper, Mathematical Ideas in Early Philippine Society, seeks to bridge the
gap between how the Tagalog counted and kept track of time.6 His work,
like Potets, is informative, but both papers focus on different issues from this
article.
Both rely heavily on Spanish sources or those who quote such sources.
Moreover, the sources used for the most part date from the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. Potet does use the Dominican Francisco Blancas de
San Joss (1610) Arte y reglas de la lengua Tagala. Pedro Serrano Laktaws
(1914) Diccionario Tagalog-Hispano, a work that depended heavily on
Spanish sources, features prominently in both works. This is not to discount
Spanish sources but to point out two things. First, there should be a more
discriminating use of such sources. The fact that an account or record was
written does not make it a worthwhile source. Unfortunately, Gaspar de San
Agustins works are still taken seriously, in spite of the fact that his work is
eighteenth century, that it is a rehashing of seventeenth-century sources, and
is colored by hostility against the Tagalog. Second, there are in fact Tagalog
sources from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries that scholars
have failed to examine and utilize. This article seeks to correct this latter
shortcoming by utilizing Tomas Pinpins Librong pagaaralan nang manga
Tagalog nang uicang Castila (1610).
Manapats focus is the presence of a mathematical system at the time
of the Spanish intrusion. In doing this, he gives an extensive presentation of
the precolonial counting system. Both Potet and Manapat have contributed
significantly to our field of knowledge. Manapat makes the connection
between counting and marking time. Potet points out the differences
between the number system of the early Spanish Tagalog and the modern
Tagalog. For example, as he points out, Todays Tagalog speakers do not
know the multiplicands beyond libo. Instead they use milyn and bilyn.
These are used in the place of ngaw and gats (Potet 1992, 169). Potet
acknowledges that the present Tagalog way of counting differs from that of
the past, stating, It is extremely difficult to determine the period during

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which the Tagalogs switched from the old to the modern system because
examples in contemporary documents are few and far between (ibid. 172).
This article will demonstrate that this is not the case.
Vicente Rafaels (1988) influential Contracting Colonialism: Translation
and Christian Conversion in Tagalog Society under Early Spanish Rule has
an entire chapter dedicated to Tomas Pinpins Librong pagaaralan. The fact
that Pinpins first of five cabanata (sections or chapters) dealt with numbers
makes numbers an important issue. As Rafael notes, Pinpins decision to
begin with numbers suggests that the Tagalogs conception of the place
of counting in language differed from that of the Spaniards (ibid., 67).
However, Rafael does not deal with the details of the counting system, but
rather seeks to theorize the place of counting in Tagalog society. He writes:
We may infer, then, that for Tagalogs an important way of indicating the
quality of something is to refer to quantity. The absence of arithmetic allows
for the ready conversion of quality to quantity (ibid., 69). As intriguing as this
idea is, I see the quantification of reality, including time, as a mark of how
the Tagalog viewed their world, the thinking behind which this discussion
will show and explain.
To examine the issue of how counting and marking time changed, this
article relies on Tagalog sources from the sixteenth through the eighteenth
centuries. Why use documents written in Tagalog by the Tagalog? On the face
of it, the answer is obvious.7 Such documents allow one to break through the
mythical parchment curtain and set to the task of writing or rewriting the history
of early Spanish Philippines. Among the information found in these documents
are the categories that the person and his peers used to classify himself and his
thoughts and actions, as well as the phenomena surrounding him, thus studying
concepts borne in a persons language (Lockhart 1992, 8).
The two main types of sources used are a book and a set of notarial
documents. The book is Tomas Pinpins Librong pagaaralan nang manga
Tagalog nang uicang Castila (A Book for the Tagalog to Learn the Spanish
language), published in 1610. The notarial documents range in date from
the late sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century. Pinpins work
provides the foundation for understanding how the Tagalog counted and
marked time, while the notarial documents demonstrate the evolution from
the precolonial to a hybrid system. Together these sources make it possible
to observe how the precolonial approach to counting and time changed due
to the Spanish intrusion.

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PHILIPPINE STUDIES 59, no. 3 (2011)

Pinpins Librong pagaaralan

Librong pagaaralan nang manga Tagalog nang uicang Castila (hereafter
Librong pagaaralan) was one in a trio of books published between 1610
and 1613, or a generation after the Spaniards had taken Manila. All
three were printed by the Dominican press in the Philippines, the only
Spanish press in the islands at the time. In 1610 the press then located
at Abucay, Bataan, produced Arte y reglas de la lengua Tagala by the
Dominican Francisco Blancas de San Jos8 and Librong pagaaralan by
Tomas Pinpin.9 Three years later, having been relocated to Pila, Laguna,
the press printed Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala by the Franciscan
Pedro de San Buenaventura.10 Each book was meant to serve a different
purpose. Blancass work was a grammar, Pinpins a series of language
lessons, and San Buenaventuras a dictionary. In terms of worldview, the
works of Blancas and San Buenaventura began in the Spanish world and
sought to make some sense of the Tagalog world, while Pinpin began and
stayed in the Tagalog world.
Pinpin is worth noting for several reasons. First, he was involved in
all three works. He was not only the author of Librong pagaaralan, but
also the listed printer for the Arte and the Vocabulario. (He was not listed
as the printer of Librong pagaaralan; instead, Diego Talaghay is credited
as the printer.) Second, Pinpin most likely served as an informant for
Blancass work. His first chapter was similar to Blancass nineteenth
chapter, with Pinpins being the basis for both. Third, he was not a friar
or priest.11 Lastly, he was a Tagalog, not a Spaniard like Blancas and San
Buenaventura.
Pinpin was a Tagalog writing to his fellow Tagalog, a point he makes
throughout his work. Unlike Blancas and San Buenaventura, he was not
examining the Tagalog system; rather he was attempting to harmonize the
indigenous and Spanish constructs to help transition his fellow Tagalog from
their basic perceptions to those of the Spanish, perceptions which were
similar to their own, yet with differences. What is more, unlike the various
Tagalog documents of the period, his work is the only one that encapsulates
the Tagalog vision of the world, its cultural matrix. Librong pagaaralan as a
block of work provides a framework and a multifaceted insight into Tagalog
society, including the Tagalog system of counting and marking time, among
many other things.

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Counting
Pinpins Librong pagaaralan provides a full presentation of how the Tagalog
of the early Spanish Philippines counted and marked time. His book is
divided into five cabanata, with each section containing aral or lessons. The
first section is foundational and important to this study; it consists of eight
lessons, five dealing with numbers and one each dealing with currency,
measurements, and time. The four lessons on numbers deal with cardinal,
ordinal, and distributive numbers. The final lesson of the chapter deals with
the transcribing of numerals, an essential skill because the Tagalog at the
time wrote out the words for each of their numbers. Lesson five focuses on
the rate of exchange between Tagalog and Spanish currencies. Lesson six
covers land measurement and dry measure, and lesson seven deals with
time. The material presented in these lessons focus primarily on economic
transactions that required an understanding of the Tagalog equivalents for
Spanish numbers, currency, measurements, and time.
The Tagalog culture at the beginning of the seventeenth century
included an intricate numeral system, one that is different from the modern
Tagalog (Potet 1994, 1).12 The old Tagalog system included: hundred (daan),
thousand (libo), ten thousand (laksa), hundred thousand (yuta), million
(angaw), ten million (kati), hundred million (bahala), and billion (gatos).13
Although base ten in nature, the Tagalog system of counting had no zero
and only numbers one through nine, which were foundational and basic to
all other numbers in Tagalog. Ten was literally one tenisa ng pouo, stated
as sangpouo, sampu in modern Tagalog. However, from eleven to nineteen,
the word for ten was not used and the designations for the numbers were
constructed by adding the prefix labin (labing) from labi, which meant
surplus, excess, or remainder.14 Twenty was dalauang pouotwo tens
differing somewhat from the Spanish system in which veinte is a unique
designation; while representing the value of two tens, it does not translate
as two tens, but rather as twenty. Thirty was tatlong pouothree tens, and
so on.
While twenty was expressed as dalauang pouo (two tens), twenty-one
was expressed as maycatlon isa, that is, one (isa) of the third (maycatlo from
tatlo). This pattern continued throughout. Thirty-one was maycapat-isa, one
of the fourth group; forty-one was maycaliman-isa; fifty-one, mayca-animisa, and so on.15 As Karl Menninger (1969, 27) noted of Old Norse, the
age of 48 is expressed as follows: he had 8 winters in the fifth decade.

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PHILIPPINE STUDIES 59, no. 3 (2011)

The numbers ninety-one through ninety-nine were expressed as of (one)

hundred [the tenth set of ten] one, etc. (maycaraan isa, etc.). With d and
r often interchangeable in Tagalog, maycaraan isa followed the pattern
mayca-daan.
This pattern in Tagalog counting continued when expressing numbers
over 100. While 100 was expressed as sandaan (isa ng daan, one hundred, as
in Spanish), 101 was labisandaan isa, following the pattern of the numbers
between ten and twenty. In turn, 200 was dalauang daan, but 201 was
maycatlon (daan) isa, that is, one of the third group of hundred.
While the pattern might appear confusing, there was simplicity to
this system. One had only to know the first nine numerals and then add
the appropriate prefixes in order to create cardinal numbers, ordinals,
distributives, fractions, and so on.
It should be noted that for all the intricacies of their system the Tagalog
did not have digits. All numeric values had to be written out. Pinpins eighth
and final lesson in the first chapter deals with digits, which he refers to as the
marks of counting (manga tand nang bilang) and letters (letra, a borrowed
word from Spanish), as Tagalog had no word for numerical digits. This,
along with other factors, would indicate that the Tagalog prior to the Spanish
presence had no equivalents for Spanish numerals, in spite of the Islamic
influence from Brunei. Not until the eighteenth century, in the work of Juan
Francisco de San Antonio, is any mention made of the pre-Spanish Tagalog
method of computation. All mathematical calculations were worked out
using pebbles and the results written in baybayin, the preconquest script
(Blair and Robertson 1906, 40:364).16

Marking Time
As stated above, lesson seven of the first section (Ycapitong aral) of Pinpins
book deals with time. In marking time/duration, one must have formalized
reference points (Hallowell 1937, 647). For Pinpin and his fellow Tagalog, as
with most Southeast Asians, there was one such reference point: the present
(Wolters 1999, 21). This present is not a timeless present or a present
orientation with the total absence of the past as a subject matter in their
discourse (Bloch 1977, 288) nor a motionless present (Geertz 1966, 66).17
Pinpin (1610/1910, 157) begins the seventh lesson in the first chapter
with his formalized reference point: Ngayon: agora: (now) ngayong arao
na yto, Oy este dia (today). Beyond daily events, the Tagalog marked time

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by numbering, based on the formalized reference point of the present. From

that point, the day before todayyesterday (cahapon)was preceded by
camacalaua (the second day previous), camacatlo (the third day previous),
and so on. Tomorrow (bucas) was followed by macalaua (two days from
now), macatlo (three days from now), and so on. Weeks, months, and years
were also numbered using the same referential system. As Pinpin notes,
This month, the coming month, the second month, the third month,
and this way for the rest up to one year (Ngayong bouang yto: este mes. sa
ysang bouang darating, el mes que viene. Sa ycalauang bouan: de aqui dos
meses. Sa ycatlong bouan: de aqui tres meses; at gayon ang lahat, hangan di
macadating sa taong ysa) (ibid., 158). The present was always the formalized
reference point. Rather than saying next month and the month after that, the
Tagalog numbered or counted time.
In seventeenth-century Tagalog as in modern Tagalog, the word for day
was arao, from the word for sun, the word for night was gabi, month was bouan
from the word for moon, and year was taon, which meant the assembling
of many (Blair and Robertson 1906, 40:35960). Linggo, which was used
to designate a week, was a relatively recent addition.18 These time segments
were counted, whereas the day was divided into increments based on events
in the daythe exceptions being hating gabi (half the night; midnight) and
saycatlo na ang gabi (the third part of the night). Pinpin began his section
on the twenty-four-hour day at midnight and moved chronologically through
the day until he again reached midnight.
In the chart below, the Tagalog and the Spanish come from Pinpins
lesson, while the English is not a translation, but the equivalent (Pinpin
1610/1910, 159). For example, mahahating gab,y na means it is the middle
of the night now. Hector Santoss (1996) article, Ancient names for hours of
the day, has been especially helpful with the English equivalents.
Tagalog

Spanish

Mahahating gab,y, na:

ya es cerca de media noche: almost midnight

hating gab,y,

ya es de media noche:

midnight

mababao sa hating gab,y,

ya es ms de media noche:

past midnight

Nagtalaoc na ang manoc,

ya han cantando los gallos

el primer canto:

crowing of the rooster;

around 4 A.M.

magmamarali nang arao,

ya es cerca el dia
x ya poco falta
para ser de dia:

just before daybreak

344

Tagalog

Spanish

English

Magbubucan liuanag na,

ya quiere abrir el dia

x ya quiere reir el alba
x ya quiere amanecer:

the break of dawn

Omaga na,

ya esclarece x ya est claro

x ya hay claridad:

it is morning

arao na,

ya es de dia:

the day is here

sisilang na ang arao,

ya quiere salir el sol

x ya comienza somar el
sol:

the sun is about to rise

songmilang na ang arao,

ya ha salido el sol:

the sun has broken

through the horizon

mataas na ang arao,

ya est algo alto el sol

the sun is above the horizon;
x ya est un poco alto el sol. around 7 A.M.

Masasaolo na ang arao;

ya es cerca de medio dia:

the sun is almost overhead;

around 11 A.M.

tanghali na,

ya es media dia:

noon

natatanghatanghali;

medio dia es en punto:

exactly noon

bagong naquiling ang arao;

ya comienz declinar el sol: just after noon; the sun has

started to move toward the
horizon

longmalo na sa tanghali;

ya es, mas de medio dia

past noon

Lolobog na ang arao,

ya se quere poner el sol:

the sun is setting

longmobog na ang arao,

ya est puesto el sol.

the sun has set

Sisilim na;

ya comienza oscurecer:

it is now getting dark

malaeta,

oscuro que ya no se conoce

la gente

it is now dark (one cannot

recognize other persons)

gab,y, na,

ya es la noche:

it is nighttime

icatotolog bata;

recien anochesido:

time for children to sleep

ihahapon dalam;

ya es hora de dormir las

gentes:

time for all to sleep

saycatlo na ang gab,y,

ya es pasada la tercera
parte de la noche:

the third part of the night;

from 10 P.M. to midnight

caboong gab,y;

media noche

Here there is a difference

between Pinpins Tagalog
and Spanish equivalent

English

PHILIPPINE STUDIES 59, no. 3 (2011)

In Tagalog the phrase caboong gabi means the whole night, whereas
media noche means the middle of the night. Santos (1996, 4) correctly points
out that Blancass Arte included eleven terms to cover the period from 4:00
A.M. to 8:00 AM, nine having to do with sunrise. In addition, nine terms

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345

covered the period from 4:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M., five having to do with sunset.
Pinpin, on the other hand, does not give the same detailed information,
giving those aspects which have Spanish translations. Blancas gives the hour
for some of the Tagalog time periods.

The Tagalog and Time

With reference to time, the Tagalog system was relational rather than absolute.
Juan Francisco de San Antonio wrote in his Cronicas (1738): They [the
Tagalog] had a word to signify seasons and climates, namely panahn. But
they never knew the word time [tiempo], in its general sense, and there is
no proper Taglog word for it; but they use the Spanish word only, corrupted
after their manner, for they make it tiyempo (Blair and Robertson 1906,
40:35960).
Over a century earlier, San Buenaventura provided information
regarding the word tiempo in his vocabulario. In the first half, in which
Tagalog equivalents were given for Spanish words, one finds the following:
bayan, panahon, camasahan, casagsagan, sucat, agbay. In the second half,
much abbreviated as single words are usually given, the equivalents for
panahon are cosecha, temporal, and tiempo.
It is panahon that has come to essentially become the word for time.
In Vicassans Pilipino-English Dictionary (1986), panahon is defined as:
time; period of time; era; epoch; season. Listed after panahon are: panahong
kasalukuyan, present time; panahong darating, time to come; panahong
haharapin, future time; panahong lumipas, past time; panahong nagdaan,
past time. That is, the past, present, and future are spoken of in terms of
season: panahon. 19
As Leopold E. A. Howes (1981, 223) notes about another Southeast
Asian people:

the point that all conceptions of time incorporate both linear and cyclical
features. Rather than expressing a perception of time, counting time should
be seen as marking duration.
In the West, psychological significance of time-consciousness is seen
in part in temporal disorientation as a sign of some mental disorder (Hallowell
1937, 650). If an individual has suffered some injury, such as a concussion, he
or she is asked: Do you know what day it is? In a linear system, any failure
to correctly identify the day is seen as an indication of a significant problem.
But with the present as the formalized reference point and temporal distance
marked by counting, any Tagalog contemporary with Pinpin would only be
able to answer such a question with, Of course, it is today.
While the Tagalog did recognize the year as a time measurement, they
did not count or number their years. This convention they borrowed from the
Spaniards. But as Hallowell (ibid., 665) pointed out, recognition of a yearly
interval by no means implies that the year [is taken] as a temporal unit . . .

Animism
What was the driving force behind such a sense of time? Animism or the
immanence of life as James J. Fox refers to it, was the governing principle of
the religion of the Tagalog (Reid 1993, 138). Benedict Andersons (1990, 22)
essay on The Idea of Power in Javanese Culture is a primer on animism;
he states: Power is that intangible, mysterious, and divine energy which
animates the universe. It is manifested in every aspect of the natural world, in
stones, trees, clouds, and fire . . . . there is no sharp division between organic
and inorganic matter, for everything is sustained by the same invisible
power. Anthony Reid (1992, 13738), in writing on animism, notes:
The whole material world was animated by spirits that needed
sustenance and propitiation. Modern theorists have interpreted this

Balinese do not, in fact, have a concept of time as such; no word in

multiplicity as forming part of a cosmic unity, a single animating

their language designates a concept which overlaps perfectly with

principle . . . . Ritual and shamanistic activity was usually designed,

ours. What they have is a set of concepts, the structure and content of

therefore, for immediate practical ends. Spiritual forces had to be

which is not the same as ours but which nonetheless bears comparison.

manipulated to cure illness, ensure fertility, increase power, safeguard

It is the presence of some similarities which makes a discussion of the

the living, particularly at dangerous life crises . . .

differences possible.

Although it has been argued that Southeast Asians, and therefore the
Tagalog, lacked a linear sense of time,20 Nancy Farriss (1995, 11213) makes
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PHILIPPINE STUDIES 59, no. 3 (2011)

Farriss (1995, 114) notes that concepts of time are intimately bound up
with concepts of the sacred to form part of a particular understanding of the
way the cosmos works and the way that man relates to it. As O. W. Wolters
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347

has noted, Southeast Asia was a world where people were religious, where
this world was ephemeral (Reid 1979, 7).
The Tagalog marking of time was a reflection or by-product of the
animism that governed their view of reality. Existential in nature, the
reference point was the present. The past, while it was acknowledged, was
not tracked or reckoned but referenced with events as markers. Beyond that:
Southeast Asian cultures are well-known for their indifference to the past
for its own sake (Wolters 1999, 187).
The focus of much of the writing of Spanish religious and civil authorities
was on the various aspects of local religion involved with propitiating the
powers or spirits believed to be controlling different aspects of the material
world, and not the overall system of thought behind these practices. The
principle governing these practices was an existential view, a rootedness in
the present. All practices were tied to present or immediate practical ends,
to use Reids (1993, 137) phrase. Propitiation, possession of amulets and
other objects, and other religious activities were tied to the present, rarely
the future, as in a good harvest, and never the past.
Pinpins purpose is allegedly religious as seen in the introduction to his
lessons, which begins with a doxology of sorts thanking the Lord our God
(P. N. Dios) for the fact that they (i.e., Pinpin and his readers) had become
Christians (Pinpin 1610/1910, 141). Yet, for all of his stated intentions for his
book as a means to make Tagalog better Christians, Pinpin writes as an animist.
Thus Pinpin begins where one would expect: ngayon, now. While Pinpins
presentation certainly gives one insight into how the Tagalog reckoned time,
it raises more questions than it answers. The Spanish presence brought three
significant innovations: names for days, names for months, and numbers for
years. Yet Pinpin failed to mention them in the section on marking time or
anywhere else in his book.
It would have seemed reasonable that, for religious purposes, at least the
concept of Domingo (Sunday) would have found its way into his lessons, but
it did not. Even though a confesionario (guide for the ritual of confession)
was included at the end of his lessons, 21 it was not intended to be a means
of teaching the Tagalog new concepts of time. The only instance in which
the confesionario even referred to these Spanish constructs of time is found
in the section on the commandment regarding the Sabbath. Here and only
here are the days Sunday and Friday mentioned by name, 22 and the reader
is assumed to know what they mean.

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PHILIPPINE STUDIES 59, no. 3 (2011)

In the area of marking time within the twenty-four hour context, after
attempting briefly to explain the Western concept of hours,23 Pinpin soon
reverts back to the position of the sun as his means of marking day time.
His approach suggests several possibilities: that he himself did not fully
understand the Spanish method of tracking time; that clocks were not
common even among the Spaniards in the islands and thus not significant to
everyday events; that the Spaniards with whom Pinpins readers would come
into contact would have had to make the adjustment to the Tagalog method
of tracking time, one based on events.
It seems strange that Pinpin does not mention what one would assume
to be important material: the names of the days of the week, the names of the
months, and the concept of numbering years. After all, as he tells his readers,
Pinpin was seeking to create a ladino (bilingual [Tagalog and Spanish]) class
who would be able to function in both worlds.24 Knowing such information
would be critical, particularly in the writing of documents that would need
to be dated, following the Spanish system. Could it be that his readers already
possessed this knowledge? Even if they did, one would reasonably expect to
find at least a passing mention of the information. One senses reticence,
almost resistance, to include this information, material that had significant
Christian overtones. His failure to convey materials to his readersfrom the
numbering of the hours of the day (something that would have appealed to
the Tagalog sensibility and important for knowing when particular religious
activities took place), to giving the names of the days of the week (Sunday
is of obvious importance, but there is Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and so
on), to the names of the months, and the numbering of years (as in the year
of our Lord)points to Pinpins remaining within the Tagalog system of
marking time. He was writing as an animist.

Evolving Hybrids
Although Pinpin did not include the information regarding names of months
and the numbering of years, the Tagalog adapted quickly. At the time of the
Spanish intrusion, the Tagalog recognized the year as a temporal unit, but
did not reckon time by means of counting or numbering years; they made the
adjustment. Actually, two adjustments were made; the first was the matter of
numbering years; the second involved their counting system.
The adjustments are seen during the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries in Tagalog documents, that is, documents written in Tagalog by the

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349

Tagalog involving legal matters under the Spanish presence. They provide
evidence of a dual adaptation and transition from the Tagalog system of
counting time to a new hybrid system made up of both Spanish and Tagalog
indicators. This change is demonstrated most clearly in the dating of the
documents.
Although they exist, Tagalog documents are relatively few in number
(compared with the number from the colonial period found in Mexico, for
example) and are scattered both chronologically and geographically. As a
result, the historian is limited when dealing with early Spanish Philippines.
As is the case with early Latin American history:
There is a cycle of sources, from more to less synthetic . . . the main
elements of the series are 1) contemporary books and other formal
accounts, which we call chronicles; 2) official correspondence; 3) the
internal records of institutions; 4) litigation; 5) notarial records. With
the chronicles, a sort of narrative history is practically ready made; the
scope of reference is then gradually reduced as one proceeds through
the series until in the notarial records the historian is confronted with
an individual item about one ordinary person on one day of his life.
The sources also get less and less accessible as one proceeds down
the list, both in the physical sense and in the sense of requiring more
special skills for use. They become more primary, minute, local, fresh,
and of more direct interest to social history. (Lockhart 1992, 3)

Indigenous language documents usually fall in the last two categories:

litigation and notarial records. Yet for all the limitations the documents
might put on the historian, they are invaluable as language itself turns out
to be an irreplaceable vehicle for determining the nature and rate of general
cultural evolution (ibid., 89, italics added).
Several points should be taken into consideration before examining
the documents that clearly illustrate these changes. First, while these
documents were written in Tagalog, the Tagalog region was quite diverse
at the time and one cannot expect to find a uniformity of usage throughout
the region.25 Second, these documents were written by different escrivanos
(notaries), each with his own style. The trio of documents from Maybonga,
mentioned below, for example, while coming from the same town in Pasig
and generated within a seventeen-month period of each other, was written

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by three different notaries each with his own orthography. Nevertheless, one
still finds a pattern emerging that indicates there was a steady transition from
the Tagalog system of counting to that of the Spanish.
One is able to track the changes because the documents followed the
formula found in Spanish legal writing. First, the place or location of the
writing of the document is stated. In Tagalog documents, this would be Sa
bayan nang and then the name of the place. Second, the date of the writing
of the said document is given, first stating the day, then the month, followed
by the year. Third, the person recording the document is identified. The
listing of the date makes the task of following the evolution much easier.
There are, in fact, three identifiable stages found in the dating of
seventeenth and eighteenth century documents. The first stage was
thoroughly Tagalog, as found in Pinpins Librong pagaaralan. One of the
oldest existing Tagalog documents is dated 1583 and was written on behalf
of a group of datus. The date is written as ycalimang arao nang buang Mayo
nang taong sang libot limang daan at maycasiyam tatlong taon (the fifth
day of the month of May of the year one thousand five hundred and three
of the ninth group of tens). One of the famous baybayin (Tagalog script)
documents housed at the University of Santo Tomas archives is dated in the
text as: libo anim na raan taon may ikatlong limang taon. This represented:
one thousand, six hundred years and five of the third set of tens (25) years
(Villamor 1922, 9297).26 Two documents from the Augustinian archive in
Valladolid also illustrate the system employed by Pinpin. One was dated 4
June 1634sa apat na arao nang Junio at sa labi sa libon anim na daan at
micapat apat na taonand the other 6 September 1638anim na arao
nang bouang Sept[iembre] sa taong sang libot anim na raan maycapat
ualo.27 Thus we see that documents from the first half of the seventeenth
century, to express the Spanish numbering of years, followed the old Tagalog
method of counting and expressing numbers.
The second stage ran from about 1650 to 1685. In this stage, the
Spanish system of counting was used to express the number of the years.
There is, however, the appearance of the Tagalog word labi (as in the second
document of the earlier stage). Several examples illustrate this trend. The
first was dated 1665labi sa libot anim na raan anim na pouo at limang
taon, more than (one) thousand six hundreds six tens and five years.28 The
second was dated 1681nang labi sa libon anim na daan ualong pouo
at ysang taon, more than (one) thousand six hundreds eight tens and one

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351

year.29 The last read, 1685sa labi sa libo anim na daan ualong pouo at
limang taon.30 This practice of using labi was found well into the middle of
the eighteenth century.
By the end of the seventeenth century, the Tagalog had more thoroughly
adopted the Spanish method of expressing numbers, at least to designate
the years. This usage was still not uniform, however. Three petitions from
Maybonga, located in Pasig outside of Manila, followed the Spanish pattern
san libot anim na daan siam na pouo at anim na taon, one thousand six
hundreds nine tens and one year.31 This pattern is found in the majority of
Tagalog documents well into the eighteenth century. Yet this stage also found
the Tagalog employing other methods as well. In a document dated 1698 (in
which there were fifteen signatures, seven of them being in baybayin) the
number of the year was written in numerals.32 A document from 1714 used
Tagalog to express the day of the month and Spanish for the yearysang
arao nang bouang jullo de mille sete cientos y catorce aos, first day of the
month of July, (one) thousand seven hundreds and fourteen years.33
Sebastian Totanes in his Arte de la lengua tagala (1745) stated that
the Tagalog used the Spanish system when addressing Spaniards and the
Tagalog system when addressing fellow Tagalog: Though today, when
communicating with Spaniards, many are those who count as we do. Thus
they will say dalawang puo at isa, twenty-one; san daan at lima, one hundred
and five; limang daang dalawang puo at lima, five hundred and twentyfive, and so on with the other numbers (cited in Potet 1994, 17). But this
claim is not borne out by the evidence available. For example, a document
from 1722 has: may catlong dalauang arao nang bouang Febrero sang libo
at pitong daan at dalauang pouong taon (the second of the third set [of
ten] day of the month of February one thousand and seven hundred and
twenty [two tens]).34 While the Tagalog changed to the Spanish system for
expressing the year of a given date, well into the eighteenth century they
retained the Tagalog system for expressing the day of the month. While there
are exceptions, the pattern generally accepted was to use the Spanish system
for the number of the years and the Tagalog system for the number of the
days.35
As the Spanish influence became more pervasive, a hybrid numerical
system, one that combined and expressed both Tagalog and Spanish
numerical values, inevitably resulted. The indigenous population used, for
example, Tagalog for the day of the month and Spanish to mark hours. Such

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PHILIPPINE STUDIES 59, no. 3 (2011)

a blending of cultures is still evident in modern Tagalog. Spanish is used

for specifying hours and minutes (for example, a las dos na [its two oclock
already] is used, not dalawa na), but times of the day, such as morning
and afternoon, are expressed in Tagalog: umaga at hapon (morning and
afternoon). Tanghali is used to signify noon.36
By the beginning of the nineteenth century, what one found was a
hybrid of expressions, both linguistic and numerical. Affected as well was
ones sense of time. While the Spanish system provided a basis and means
for regarding the past, the Tagalog system took into account and reflected
the existential moment, the now. One could therefore argue that the Tagalog
adopted the Spanish terminology required to function in a Spanish world,
while retaining their own perspectives on the nature of reality. The past
took on another dimension. It became important for its use, and yet was not
always marked or counted in the Spanish way.
This is illustrated by Tagalog documents written during the 1745
revolt in the Tagalog provinces. In making their case that the Dominicans
had wrongly taken their land, the people of the town of Silang wrote to
Pedro Caldern Henriquez, an oidor (a judge or magistrate with additional
authority, in this case, to investigate the uprising) of the Audiencia of
Manila, who had been sent to deal with the uprising. Although there can
be no question, based on the Tagalog documents mentioned above, that
the people of Silang knew how to mark time in the Spanish way, they used
events as reference points for the past. They reported that the reason for the
misery which engulfs us is because the fathers of St. Dominic have taken
the land which was ours before we became Christians (Cushner 1973, 51).
Rather than give a date using the Spanish system they referenced the past in
terms of events. And the event had religious overtones: before we became
Christians.

Animists or Christians?
Did the shift to the Spanish way of marking time indicate the conversion of
the Tagalog to Catholicism? No. To use J. C. van Leurs phrase, Catholicism
was a thin and flaking glaze in both Tagalog society and in Pinpins
work. That is, Catholicism remained a surface system of values, while not
significantly affecting Tagalog core values.
However, in dealing with the matter of marking time, perhaps it
might be better to think, as Melba P. Maggay puts it, in terms of survival

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353

values. These were developed as coping strategies in the face of colonial

oppression and marginalization (cited in Mendoza 2006, 71).37 Thus,
while Pinpin wrote his book to help the Tagalog survive in the Spanish
dominated marketplace, his fellow Tagalog learned rather quickly to make
the necessary adjustmentsas in counting time as the Spaniards didas
well as unnecessary adjustmentsas in following the Spanish pattern. In
time, maycatlong-isa became dalawamput isa. The second change was the
result of choice, not necessity.
The Tagalog borrowed the forms but not necessarily the thinking behind
them. The core value remained animism and its attendant worldview, while
the surface/survival values included a hybrid of Tagalog and Spanish forms.
This synthesis is what is found in Filipino society.
Virgilio G. Enriquez (1994) has argued that this has continued to the
present, referring to modern Filipinos as Christianized animists or anitists
(from the word anito, meaning spirit or ancestral god). Quoting Teodoro
Agoncillo in this regard he maintained, while statistics show that Catholics
comprise 83 percent of the total population, actually the genuine Catholics
do not probably comprise 0.5 percent of the whole population (ibid., 4).
Maggay (1987, 3) notes:
It is widely conceded that Christianity, as it was brought to these
shores, has yet to grip the indigenous imagination . . . The Filipinos
mythologyhis way of looking at the world, his beliefs about his origins
and the realm of the supernaturalremained largely untouched and
unaltered. What transpired was a transformation in form rather than
meaning, hence the continuing animistic element in religious beliefs
and practices.

of power structures transplanted from without and those who have

remained with the functional meaning system of the indigenous culture
. . . this sharp disjunction in sensibility has on top a thin layer of culture
brokers known as the ladino class . . . The vast bottom half consists
of that supposedly silent and inert mass whose universe of discourse
is limited to the indigenous languages and whose subterranean
consciousness has remained impervious to colonial influence. (cited
in Mendoza 2006, 96)

This also explains in part the evolution of various aspects of Tagalog

thinking and society. There is, for example, the concept of utang na loob,
something not mentioned by Pinpin but included in San Buenaventuras
Vocabulario: otangloob, obligacion, obligation. By the time of the Philippine
Revolution (almost three centuries after Pinpins work), utang na loob came
to have an unstated but implicit temporal aspect to its meaning. Although
there are other aspects to the concept of utang na loob, such as the hierarchical
and unequal nature of the relationship between the parties involved (Rafael
1988, 128131), the temporal aspect becomes more important. Reynaldo
Ileto (1998, 1) illustrates this when he writes of the war against Spain: For the
people to have arrived at a state of mind in which such a break or separation
was possible, if not inevitable, their conceptions of the pastafter all utang
na lob is based on remembrance of the pastmust have changed.38 Yet
as stated above, Tagalog society at the coming of the Spaniards did not have
a sense of chronology in terms of history. They adopted this from Spanish
culture and adapted it for their own purposes.

Conclusion

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, Filipinos have chosen

certain aspects of Spanish forms while retaining some of their own. There is
a symbiotic relationship between the core values and survival values. But the
relationship is not always a smooth one. Ang Dambuhalang Pagkakahating
Kultural (The Great Cultural Divide) is a reflection of this. Maggay argues
that
Perhaps the greatest single source of anomie in this country, there
exists in the Philippines an invisible yet impermeable dividing line

354

between those who are able to function within the borrowed ethos

PHILIPPINE STUDIES 59, no. 3 (2011)

Pinpin wrote his book, in part, to help the Tagalog learn the Spanish system,
a system that existed within a much different context. Why learn a new
system? Why make any changes at all? The Tagalog had not learned the
Chinese system, as best we can tell, even though the Chinese had been
trading in the area near Manila since at least the thirteenth century. There
was much to be gained from adopting the Chinese system; yet the Tagalog
did not do so. The significant difference became plain: Spaniards, like
the other Westerners who would come to Southeast Asia, did not come to
participate in trade, they came to control trade. They would be in control of

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355

the marketplace, establishing the rules under which commerce would take
place. Thus Pinpin goes to great lengths to explain the Spanish system, with
its Tagalog equivalents, in great detail.
Pinpins primary purpose for writing Librong pagaaralan seems apparent
when one reviews the material he presented and the manner in which it
was organized. His goal, although unstated, was survival and to enable his
fellow Tagalog to survive. In a world in which the Spanish had reconstructed
the reality in which the Tagalog were to live and do business, the Tagalog
might be lost. Farriss (1984, 25685) writes of Mayan survival as a corporate
enterprise and indeed, as in Latin America, the Tagalog adapted and used
compadrazgo (ritual kinship) as one means of survival. Librong pagaaralan,
however, was one mans contribution to the goal of survival.
In a real sense, his goal was not the dissemination of knowledge or
information per se, but to provide tools for survival. In practical terms,
survival had to begin in the marketplace, which was now controlled by the
Spaniards. This covert purpose must have escaped the notice of the Spanish
censors who then controlled the content of all published materials. Approval
was given by a censor named Fr. Roque de Barrionuevo,39 probably for at
least two reasons: Pinpins professed religious intentions and the addition of
a confessional guide near the end of his work.
Yet, in fact, his fellow Tagalog, mga kapwa or as he would write it manga
capoua Tagalog, went beyond what he had to teach. They learned about the
names of days and months, as well as the numbering of years. One might
argue that they had to do so. The reality is that they chose to do so. In the
process, they adapted an existing system of counting to one patterned after
Spanish. Maycatlong isa became dalawam put isa.
Other changes happened as well. The Tagalog, and other Filipinos as
well, learned to survive within a system of hybrids: Spanish for centavos and
Tagalog for pesos; Spanish for hours of the day and Tagalog for times of the
day; survival values and core values.

2 As William Henry Scott (1994, 281 n. 33) points out, these designations did not appear in the early
dictionaries.
3 This reflected a pattern found throughout Southeast Asia, as Craig Reynolds (1995, 431) has noted.
Domestication, vernacularization, indigenization, and localization are names historians give
to the processes by which Southeast Asian agency may be traced, the consequences of Southeast
Asian will. They are evidence of the capacity of Southeast Asian societies to shape change. The
stress on localizing agency shifts the focus onto Southeast Asians and their future, away from
their suspect origin as mere borrowers and culture brokers.
4 The full title of Phelans book is The Hispanization of the Philippines: Spanish Aims and
Filipino Responses, 15651700. It represented a new direction in Philippine historiography.
Written by someone who neither visited the Philippines nor learned any Filipino language, this
work represented the beginning or attempted beginning of a social history, for it sought, as the
subtitle indicates, not only to examine the aims of the Spanish intruders but the responses of the
Filipinos.
5 In writing about the nature of Indian and Islamic influence in Indonesia, van Leur (1967, 95)
affirmed: They did not bring about any fundamental changes in any part of Indonesian social and
political order. The sheen of the world religions and foreign cultural forms is a thin and flaking
glaze; underneath it, the whole of the old indigenous forms has continued to existwith many
sorts of gradations appearing, of course, according to the cultural level (cited in Reynolds 1995,
431). This issue will be dealt with later in this article.
6

I am grateful to the editor for bringing this work to my attention.

As James Lockhart (1992, 7) has noted: I need not belabor the advantage of using records
produced in the mother tongue by the subjects of a given historical study. Wherever nativelanguage materials have been available, they have been used as the primary source for writing a
peoples history.

8 The Dominican Francisco Blancas de San Jos arrived in the Philippines in 1595 and was assigned
to the province of Bataan. He learned Tagalog so quickly that he began to preach in it within three
months, and could teach it to others in six (Wolf 1947, 10). In the early years of the seventeenth
century, Blancas authored a series of books in Tagalog for the Tagalog. In his listing of the first
books printed in Tagalog, with the exception of the firstthe Doctrina ChristianaP. Van der Loon
(1966, 43) lists Blancas as the author of the first five books in Tagalog: Libro de nuestra Seora del
Rosario (1602); Libro de los Sacramentos (1603); Libro de quatro postrimerias (1604); Memorial
de la vida christiana (1605); and Tratado del sacramento de la confesin (c. 1607). These books
were not for Spanish friars but for the indio converts. In the dedication to his work Memorial de la
vida christiana, Blancas informed his readers that his next work, which was to be on confession,
would be his last book for laymen; thereafter he intended to write for the missionaries who had
to learn the language. However, on his transfer back to Abucay, Bataan, he was instructed to
continue printing the books that he had written in Tagalog (ibid., 3839). The Arte y reglas de la

Notes
I am grateful to Prof. Nenita Pambid Domingo for her help with the English translation of various
Tagalog portions included in this essay.
1 I would like to thank a former student, Francis Ted Mempin, who pointed this out to me many
years ago. It is one of those things that, when mentioned to others, generally generates the
response, Ay, oo nga (Oh, yes, indeed). And then, Bakit kaya? (Why so?). That is what this
article seeks to answer.

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PHILIPPINE STUDIES 59, no. 3 (2011)

lengua Tagala marked a significant shift in Blancass work. It was a book for Spaniards to enable
them to learn Tagalog. Four years after its publication, Blancas died.
9 Not much is known of Tomas Pinpin. Believed to be from the town of Abucay in the province of
Bataan, where the Dominican press was located in 1610, he is remembered for his work as a
printer and the significant works on which he was listed as printer. What Pinpin did before
becoming a printer is not known, but there are hints in several sections of his book. It appears

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357

that, previous to printing, he had been a teacher of Spanish to other Tagalog. Whether or not he

1613. But as P. Sanchez points out in the introduction to the recent reprint of San Buenaventuras

was paid for this service is not known, but he indicated that he was successful in his teaching.

Vocabulario, more than the work of an individual, it represented the culmination of the collective

As he tells his readers: Is it not that other fellow Tagalog were the same ones whom I taught

efforts of various Franciscans over thirty years beginning in 1580 (El Vocabulario de fray Pedro,

with these writings of mine so that in barely a year they were able to learn so much? This is why,

ms que la obra de un individuo, significa la culminacin del projecto iniciado en el Captulo

upon seeing their learning, which came from this work of mine, I was delighted and attempted to

custodial celebrado en Manila en 1580 y gestado a lo largo de cerca de treinta aos de esfuerzo

publish these collected lessons: so that like them, you can also benefit, all of you who have wanted

misionero de una colectividad: la Orden Franciscana de Filipinas). It also represented Spanish

to obtain this valuable language (Ay ano, baquin ang ibang manga tauo capoua natin tagalog ay
silang maralan co niton manga catha cong ito ay di na taonan ay magsialam na ang dami nang
naalaman nila. Caya nga sa natanto co yaong canilang caronongan, na dito rin sa manga gaua
cong ito napaquinabang nila ay aco,y, matoua ngani at mangbanta na acong isalimbagan itong
madlang aral: nang paraparang magsipaquinabang nito cayong lahat na magaacalang magsicap
nanag camahalan at dili aco nacabata) (Pinpin 1610/1910, 14748 cited in Rafael 1988, 5960).
Based on Retana (1911, 29128), the following books list Pinpin as the printer, with the books
authors in parentheses:

joining any of the mendicant orders; see Woods 1991.

12 Potets (1992) Numeral Expressions in Tagalog is extremely helpful in this area. He first explains
the modern Tagalog system, which he terms a calque of the Spanish model and then the old
system. His historical research in deciphering the old system is primarily based on dictionaries
and grammars. I am grateful for his work in explaining the intricacies of the old Tagalog numeral
system.

1610 Arte y Reglas de la Lengua Tagala (Fr. Francisco Blancas de San Jos)

13 Potet (1994, 7) mentions Blancass failure to go beyond yuta and was confused about bahala:

1613 Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala (Fr. Pedro de San Buenaventura)

Millares de yota, no se conoce: sino dizen sang bahala, que es dexir un que se yo, ycao na ang

1623 Relacion Verdadera del Insigne y excelente Martyrio (Fr. Melchor de Manzano); Virgen S.

bahala, echa por es sos trigos de Dios que ya no se puede pensar (The expression for thousand

Mariano tattoq I Rosariono iardin fanazoni tatoyuru qio (Fr. Juan de los Angeles)

yuta is unknown, instead they will say sang bahala, which somehow means Ikaw na ang bahala

1625 Relacion de Martirio (anonymous); Relacion Verdadera y Breve de la Persecucion y

[You take care of everything], but they must be mistaken because it does not even begin to make
sense). Potet poses several possibilities for Blancass error: he failed to distinguish between

martyrios (Fr. Diego de San Francisco)

1626 Triunfo del Santo Rosario y Orden de S. Domingo en los Reynos del Japon (Fr. Francisco
Carrero)

bahala as hundred million and bahala as responsibility, the difference being in pronunciation; his
informants may not have known the system to its full extent; those Tagalog who did understand
the system were unwilling to explain it to Blancas. The last two reasons seem unlikely as Pinpin

1627 Arte de la Lengua Iloca (Fr. Francisco Lopez)

was one of his informants. It has been suggested that the error Blancas made was in mistaking

1630 Vocabulario de Iapn declarado primero en Portugues (anonymous);

bathala for bahala, bathala being the Tagalog word for the Supreme Being. Thus, the expression

Ritual para Adminstrar los Sanctos Sacramentos (Fr. Alonso de Mentrida)

1636 Confesionario en lengua tagala (Fr. Pedro de Herrera)

was bathala na, a Tagalog equivalent of Inshallah. It may be that by the seventeenth century the
pronunciation of bathala na had deteriorated to bahala na.
14 Labin ysa, once (eleven); labin dalaua, doze (twelve); labin tatlo, treze (thirteen); labin apat,

1637 Sucesos Felices (anonymous)

catorze (fourteen); labin lima, quinze (fifteen); labin anim, diez y seis (sixteen); labin pito, diez y

1639 Relacion de lo que asta agora se a sabido de la Vida y Martirio del Jesuita P. Mastrilli (Fr.
Geronimo Perez)

siete (seventeen); labin ualo, diez y ocho (eighteen); labin siyam, diez y nueve (nineteen). Potet
(1994, 20) argues that the word for the first power of ten is understood but erased. Thus, eleven,

10 Pedro de San Buenaventura, a Franciscan, arrived in the Philippines one year before Blancas and
was assigned to a variety of postings, all in Tagalog-speaking areas. He became part of a strong

358

efforts to enter the Tagalog world.

11 This would not have been possible based on the racial barrier, which prevented Filipinos from

although rendered as labin ysa, the full understanding is labi sa puo isa, or more than ten one.
15 Pinpins first lesson begins: Ysa, uno (one); dalaua, dos (two); tatlo, tres (three); apat, quatro

Franciscan tradition of producing works in Tagalog, the vast majority of which were never printed

(four); lima, cinco (five); anim, seis (six); pito, siete (seven); ualo, ocho (eight); siyam, nueve

due to the absence of a printing press owned or controlled by the Franciscans. A partial list of the

(nine); sangpouo, diez (ten). Labin ysa, onze (eleven); labin dalaua, doze (twelve); labin tatlo,

Franciscan linguists of note includes: Juan de Oliver, Juan de Plasenia, Miguel de Talavera, Diego

treze (thirteen); labin apat, catorze (fourteen); labin lima, quinze (fifteen); labin anim, diez y

de la Asuncin, and Gernimo Monte. The reason given for the fact that most of their work was

seis (sixteen); labin pito, diez y siete seventeen); labin ualo, diez y ocho (eighteen); labin siyam,

never published in given in the Franciscan historical report: since their writings are so common

diez y nueve (nineteen); dalauang pouo, veinte (twenty). Maycatlon isa, veinte y uno (twenty-

and so well received by all the orders. They have not been printed because they are voluminous,

one); maycatlon dalaua, veinte y dos (twenty-two); maycatlon tatlo, veinte y tres (twenty-

and there are no arrangements in this kingdom for printing so much. Those things that have been

three); maycatlon apat, veinte y quatro (twenty-four); maycatlon lima, veinte y cinco (twenty-

printed, as being urgently needed for the instruction of the native, are the following . . . (Blair and

five); maycatlon anim, veinte y seis (twenty-six), maycatlon pito, veinte y siete (twenty-seven);

Robertson 1906, 35:31213). The first book listed is San Buenaventuras Vocabulario. Plasencia

maycatlon ualo, veinte y ocho (twenty-eight); maycatlon siyam, veinte y nueve (twenty-nine);

had written an arte and vocabulario earlier, but it was not printed. San Buenaventura stated near

tatlong pouo, treinta (thirty). Maycapat isa, treinta y uno (thirty-one); maycapat dalaua, treinta

the end of his vocabulario that he had begun on 20 May 1606 and completed the work on 27 May

y dos (thirty-two); maycapat tatlo, treinta y tres (thirty-three); maycapat apat, treinta y quatro

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359

(thirty-four); maycapat lima, treinta y cinco (thirty-five); maycapat anim, treinta y seis (thirty-

(1.) Nangilin ca caya con lingo,at con fiestang pinangingilinan ninyo? Has guardado los Domingos

six); maycapat pito, treinta y siete (thirty-seven); maycapat ualo, treinta y ocho (thirty-eight);

y fiestas que son de guardar para vosotros? [Do you observe the Sabbath, and the feast days

maycapat siyam, treinta y nueve (thirty-nine); apat na pouo, quarenta (forty). Maycaliman isa,

that you observe and honor?] (Pinpin 1610/1910, 211)

quarenta y uno (forty-one). Ang ybang ysusunod dito, ay uala nang liuag: yayamang manga

(2.) Opan gongmaua ca con lingo at con fiesta nang anomang di mangyaring gaoin? Por ventura

camocha din nitong sinabi ngayong pagbubuhat nang pagtuturing nang bilang hangan sa limang

has hecho en Domingo, fiesta lo que no es licito hazer en tales das? [Do you work on

pouo, cinquenta (fifty); anim na pouo, sesenta (sixty); pitong pouo, setenta (seventy); ualong pouo,

anything that should not be done on Sunday, or during a fiesta?] (ibid.)

ochenta (eighty); siyam na pouo, noventa (ninety); sangdaan, ciento (one hundred). [What follows
here is no longer difficult; since the origin of the terms for the numbers up to fifty (five tens) are
similar: sixty (six tens), seventy (seven tens), eighty (eight tens), ninety (nine tens); one hundred.]
Ay ang manga pagipagitan nitong manga bilang ay para din naman niyong na onang pagitan, nang
dalauang pouo, nang tatlong pouo. [The intervals of these numbers are similar to those intervals
of twenty (two tens), of thirty (three tens).] (Pinpin 1610/1910, 149)
16 According to San Antonios Cronicas (17381744): So was their usage in their business. Although

(3.) Ylang lingo, at ylang fiesta yaong di mo pinangilinan? Quantos Domingos y fiestas son las
que no has guardado? [How many Sundays, and how many fiestas did you not observe?]
(ibid.)
(15.) Opan di caman songmala, ay naholi ca sa paquiquinyig nang Missa? Dado que no ayas faltado
de Missa, por ventura has llegado tarde? [In order that you not miss mass, did you come
late?] (ibid., 21112)

there are no arithmetical [sic] numbers among their characters, such as we use, they counted

(20.) Pinapaquinyig mo caya nang Missa ang manga casang bahay mo, touing Lingo at touing

with little stones, making small heaps of them, and made use of the natural words of their own

fiesta? Has mandado los de tu casa oyir Missa todos los Domingos, y fiesta? [Do you allow

speech, which are very expressive in Taglog; and they did not feel their ignorance of the numbers
written in their own characters; for they could express the highest number very clearly by word of
mouth (Blair and Robertson 1906, 40:493).

your housemates, every Sunday and every fiesta to hear mass?] (ibid., 212)
22 In the confesionario, while lingo usually indicates week, both lingo and Domingo are used for
Sunday. The mention of Friday is found in the 23rd question of the third section: Nagsila ca caya

17 The essays by Bloch (1977), Howe (1981), and Geertz (1966) all deal with the Balinese and their
notions of time. While there are some similarities between the Balinese world and that of the

nang lamang cati, con Viernes at con vigilia at sa cuaresma caya? Has comido carne en Viernes
en vgilia cuaresma? [Have you eaten meat on Friday or during Lent?] (Pinpin 1610/1910, 212).
23 Diyata, pagaralan na ninyo ang mga horas. Pito na ang horas, ya son las siete: cahati na nang pito,

Tagalog, there are also significant differences.

18 John Wolff (1976, 351) has argued that linggo in Tagalog (Sunday, week) is from the Malay minggu

nang ualo, ya son cerca de las ocho: lomalo na sa ualo, ya son mas de las ocho; colang colang sa

(Sunday, week) which is from the Portuguese Domingo (Sunday). The Portuguese conquest of

siyam, poco menos de las nueve: songmiya sa sang pouo, las diez son justas y cabales. At ang mga

Malacca occurred in 1511 and marked the beginning of Portuguese influence. Malay language and

horas ay para nang sa omaga. Isa na ang horas. ya es la una etc. (You should now study the time.

culture were influenced and that influence also affected the Tagalog.

The hour is seven. [It is seven]: it is half of seven, [half past seven], of eight, it is almost eight: it

19 A 1998 calendar produced by Tahanan Books in Manila was based on the mata-on, seasons, of
the Kankana-ey people, an ethnic minority found in the Cordilleras of Northern Luzon. The text,

one [oclock] etc.) (Pinpin 1610/1910, 159)

written by Wasing D. Sacla, divides the year into 12 short seasonal periods that correspond to the

24 What I will teach you now (my) beloved ones who wish to become ladinos will all the more

months of the modern calendar. The Kankana-ey equivalent for August is Tiwtiwidan, which is

correct your speaking Spanish and each thing that you do not learn will take away from you your

described as follows: A bird called the tiwtiwidan or jajaran appears. Easily distinguished by its

ability to ever learn Spanish (Caponoponoan din namang macatotouid nang pangongosap ninyo

yellow belly and light blue feathers, it is spotted in yards, roads, rooftops, farms, and riverbanks.

nang uicang castila, itong iaaral co ngayon sa inyong manga mahal na naibig maguing ladinos

The appearance of this bird is believed to signal the coming of a strong typhoon.

at bauat di ninyo maalaman ito ay uala ding capangyarihan cayong matoto moliman sa uicang

20 [I]n the absence of linear history in earlier Southeast Asia, the conviction could not be sustained

castila) (Pinpin 1610/1910, 167).

that the inhabitants of the region were moving through time into closer and therefore Southeast

25 Blancas (1610/1752, xxvi) notes at the beginning of his Arte: Es materia muy varia la de la

Asian relationships. Only the Vietnamese lite developed a linear sense of time, based on a

lengua; y esta no lo es menos que otras, pues dentro de limites de Tagala tiene Comentan, Laguna

sequence of recorded dynasties (Wolters 1999, 39).

y Tagalos; y yo no lo he podido andar todo; en estos rincones donde suelo estar a bueltas de otras

21 The format in the confesionario written by a friar was to give the question first in Tagalog and then

ocupaciones, se ha hecho en 14 aos de estudio esto poquillo.

in Spanish. Whereas the 1910 edition used running lines of text, the original version (1610) began

26 This document was written in baybayin, the ancient Tagalog script that was being used at the time

each sentence, Tagalog and Spanish, each on a new line. As shown below, I have numbered these

of the Spanish intrusion. The transliteration is Villamors. Elsewhere I have argued for universal

questions to set them apart from each other. The reader should keep in mind that these questions

Tagalog literacy. Here I would simply point out the convergence of two systems: the Tagalog

were not the creation of Pinpin, but that of a Spanish friar. However, one would think that Pinpins

writing system (baybayin) and the Spanish system of marking time. The Tagalog expression of

work would assist that of the friarbut it does not. Of personal interest is question 15, which
deals with the matter of being late for mass. Again, Pinpins lesson on marking time is of no help
to his reader here.

360

is past eight, not quite nine: it is exactly ten. And the hours are similar to the morning. It is already

numbers is retained in this mixture.

27 Legajo (box file, henceforth leg.) 371, 1c; and leg. 369, 1b, Archivo de la Provincia del Santsimo
Nombre de Jess de Filipinas, Valladolid (henceforth, APSNJF). The dating for the first document

PHILIPPINE STUDIES 59, no. 3 (2011)

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361

is the fourth day of June and more than (labi) thousand six hundred and four of the fourth set of
tens. The second is the sixth of the month September of the year one thousand six hundred eight
of the fourth set of tens. I would point out the use of labi in the first document. This is an addition

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35 It should be noted that when dealing with the use of the old system of counting in recording dates,
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