baybayin

the ancient script of the Philippines

BAYBAYIN

BAYBAYIN the ancient script of the Philippines

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KY Press

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Printed and bound in the United States of America

11 1

First Edition

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ner without written permission from the publisher, except in

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Library of Congress Cataloguing-In-Publication Data

Baybayin: the Ancient Script of the Philippines/ edited by

Jay Blasso and Kristen Youngman

p.cm. - (Design Briefs)

Includes bibliographic references and index.

ISBN 000-000-000

1. Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Book design, book reference.

3

To my family, my millions of cousins, “titos,” and “titas” spread across the United States and all the way back to the Philippines — this is for you. Salamat for always loving me, simply because we are family.

Dedication

A special thanks to John Stucky, MA, MLIS Museum Librarian at the C. Laan Chun Library Center, Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, for giving me access to the private stacks. My book would not be as culturally rich without that afternoon.

I would also like to thank Jason Blasso for your keen editing skills, patience and lost sleep. This book would not be nearly as focused without your help.

Acknowledgements

5

The ancient script of the Philippines

Kristen Youngman

BAYBAYIN


Chapter Divider images taken from The Boxer Codex: illustrations of Filipinos during the initial contact with the Spaniards, ranging

from Tagalogs, Visayans, Zambals, Cagayanes or possibly Ibanags and Negritos of the Philippines in vibrant colors.

next page: Banmboo forest. Photography from Bamboo.Mendiola, Manila, Philippines : Centro Escolar University, c2000.

7

page chapter

4 1. Introduction

10 2. Origin

16 3. Inscriptions

36 4. Method

42 5. Meaning

50 6. Conclusion

Contents

Introduction 9

Many Filipinos and their descendants are quite confused these days about their roots. This makes sense—the archipelago of islands have been ruled by so many other cultures over the course of time, riddled with colonization and war, that it can be hard to distinguish what is authentically native. Little recorded history has survived the intense struggles for freedom, but what has survived is a spirituality and common thread in the people to recognize and understand where their roots lie.

To shed light on this endeavor, one can look back to the ancient script of the Philippines, the Baybayin script, also known as Alibata, a Filipino approximation of the word “alphabet.” Its use and structure help define a muddled heritage. Most know of the native language, Tagalog, which is spoken by a third of the country as a first language and its standardized form, Filipino, is one of the official languages of the Philippines. What they don’t know is how deep the roots of Tagalog go.

Ancient Philippine scripts are systems of writing that developed and flourished in the Philippine islands in about 300 BC. These scripts are related to other Southeast Asian systems of writing that developed from South Indian Brahmi scripts used in Asoka Inscriptions and Pallava Grantha, a type of writing used in the writing of palm leaf books called grantha during the ascendancy of the Pallava dynasty about the 5th century.

This book is meant to uncover part of the past and shed light on a history many know little about. It is an overview of what has been uncovered so far by linking language to the surrounding lands and through written historical artifacts. There is still much to be revealed as the path to understanding Baybayin continues today.

Introduction

Chapter 1: Origins


The south wind blows

Language to and fro

Around the archipelago

Sections in this text and in the Introduction are taken directly from or paraphrased

from the following sources:

Fox, R.B., Pre-history of the Philippines...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Philippine_scripts#Writing_technique

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language

Orig in 13

Baybayin is the ancient script that Tagalog was derived from. Tagalog means “river dweller,” derived from tagailog, tagá meaning “native of” and ílog meaning “river”. It is part of the Austro-nesian language family — auster meaning “south wind” and nêsos “island” in Latin, coined by a German scholar, Wilhelm Schmid.

Dating back as far as 300 BC, ancient Philippine scripts developed and prospered in the Philippine Islands. These writing systems are related to

“other Southeast Asian systems that developed from South Indian Brahmi scripts used in Asoka Inscriptions and Pallava Grantha during the ascendancy of the Pallava dynasty around the 5th century. These influencing scripts were written on palm leaf books called grantha.

Several historical writers have made strong evidence for this. Isaac Taylor believed that it was some time before the 8th century that Baybayin script was introduced via the Coast of Bengal. He draws this conclusion by comparing graphic representations of Kistna and Assam letters such as g, k, ng, t, m, h and u to the same letters in Baybayin.

Several historical writers, including Fletcher Gardner, T. H. Pardo de Tavera saw a “very great similarity” with the Asoka alphabets. David Diringer built off the belief in the origins of India and observed that Asokan inscriptions, particu-larly the Ci-Aruton inscriptions of the West Javan rajah, King Purnavarman, established the earliest types of Philippine syllabic writing, brought to the islands by the Buginese characters in Celebes in the 5th century.

An opposing theory by V.A. Makarenko proposes that because of the Dravidian influence on the ancient Filipino scripts, their origins are from Tamil, in Indonesia. He based his work off H. Otley Beyer to theorize that these scripts reached the Philippines during the last of the “six waves of

migration that passed through the Philippine archipelago from the Asian continent circa 200 BC” which constituted primarily the Malayans from Tamil and Dravidians, but also included adjacent territories from Indonesia and South India.

Shapes of the Baybayin characters exhibit some visual resemblance to the ancient Kavo script of Java and Indonesia. In addition, Baybayin does share some important features with Southeast Asian writing systems derived from ancient scripts used in India over 2000 years ago, such as all the consonants being pronounced with a vowel and the use of special marks to change this sound, … there is no physical evidence that it is this old.

Spaniard accounts in the 1400s reveal that the emergence of Baybayin in the Philippines was considered fairly recent and that its origins came from Borneo.

Miguel López de Legazpi reported that Baybayin had already arrived by 1567 with this account,

“They [the Visayans] have their letters and characters like those of the Malays, from whom they learned them.” Another account written by Francisco Alcina a century later states,

“The characters of these natives, or, better said, those that have been in use for a few years in these parts, an art which was communicated to them from the Tagalogs, and the latter learned it from the Borneans who came from the great island of Borneo to Manila, with whom they have considerable traffic...

From these Borneans the Tagalogs learned their characters, and from them the Visayans, so they call them Moro characters or letters because the Moros taught them... [the Visayans] learned [the Moros’] letters, which many use today, and the women much more than the men, which they write and read more readily than the latter.”

A Migrating History


To support this theory, the Baybayin script could not show syllable final consonants, which are common in most Philippine languages. This could be read as an indication that the script was recently acquired and had not been adapted to fit the needs of its new users. This same deficiency was also common in the script and language of the Bugis people in Sulawesi. Sulawesi is directly south of the Philippines and directly east of Borneo, so most scholars now accept that Baybayin descended from the Buginese script or a related lost script from the Sulawesi island, arriving in Luzon circa the 13th century.

More accounts show how widespread Baybayin had flourished throughout the society. In 1690 Dr. Antonio de Morga, a Spanish magistrate in

the Phil ippines descr ibed the l ingui st ic landscape as such, “Throughout the islands the natives wr ite ver y well u sing [thei r letters]... All the natives, women as well as men, write in this language, and there are very few who do not write well and correctly.” His enthusiasm is often regarded as exaggerations since the historian William H. Scott did find some examples in the 1620s of datus, tribal chiefs in various regions, who could not sign affidavits or oaths and witnesses who could no t s i g n l a n d d e e d s . D e s p i t e t he s e f ew examples, it was clear that wherever Baybayin was available, literacy was found among all levels of society, not just the elite.

Orig in 15

CHINA

JAPAN

PHILIPPINES

TAIWAN

AUSTRALIA

INDONESIA

SULAWESI

JAVA

INDIA

MALAYSIA

VIETNAM

BRUNEI

PAPUANEW

GUINEA

PALAU

BANGLADESH

MYANMAR

BHUTAN

BORNEO

Map of the Philippines and the surrounding countries that have influenced the language.

Chapter 3: Inscriptions


“The Laguna Copperplate,

The Boxer Codex and the

Doctrina Christiana are our

eyes into this ancient script.”

Images and text in this section are taken directly from or paraphrased from the following sources:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16119/16119-h/16119-h.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_Copperplate_Inscription

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language

Roces, Alfredo R., ed. (1977), “Boxer Codex”, Filipino Heritage: the Making of a Nation, IV, Philippines:

Lahing Pilipino Publishing, Inc.

Inscriptions 19

The oldest known written document in the Philip-pine language is the Laguna Copperplate Inscrip-tion (LCI), found by Alfredo E. Evangelista in 1989 in Laguna de Bay. The date inscribed on it of Saka era 822 corresponds to April 21, 900 AD. Written in the Kawi script in a variety of Old Malay meant it contained numerous loanwords from Sanskrit as well as some vocabulary who’s origin is ambiguous between Old Javanese and Old Tagalog (Baybayin).

“The document releases its bearer, Namwaran, from a debt in gold amounting to 1 kati and 8 suwarnas (865 grams). The document mentions the places of Tondo, Pila and Pulilan in the area around Manila Bay and Mdan (or rather, the Javanese Kingdom of Medang), Indonesia.” It’s existence is proof of cultural links between the Tagalog-speaking people and various surrounding Asian civili-zations such as the Javanese Medang Kingdom, the Srivijaya empire, and the Middle kingdoms of India.” Before this discovery it was believed that the Philippines were mostly culturally iso-lated until the Spaniards arrived.

The transliteration of the LCI shows heavy San-skrit, Old Javanese and Malay linguistic influence. Among the observances made by Pigafetta in the 16th century Boxer Codex, Old Malay was spoken among pre-colonized Filipinos as a lingua franca.

“The use of Hindu references in the Laguna Cop-perplate Inscription would also suggest the people who authored this inscription, were followers of Hinduism and Buddhism at this time in history. The Golden Tara icon, an ancient artifact discov-ered in Butuan, Mindanao dating from the same period, also highly suggests the influence of Hindu and Buddhist religions being followed in the area (alongside Islam in many places in the archipelago from the 14th century onwards) up until the 16th

century, when Roman Catholicism was intro-duced to later become the dominant religion of the Filipino people.”

Made of thin copper, the plate measures less than 8 x12 inches in size and has been hammered with small writing on its surface.

It marks the beginning of written history of the Philippines with its creation date in the year 900. Outside of writing, archeological findings and records of contact through other civilizations like the Song Dynasty China are relied on to unveil the story of the Philippines. It uses fragments of the lan-guage along with Sanskrit, Malay, and Javanese.

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription

Detail of the Laguna Copperplate Inscription


TRANSLITERATION

Swasti. aka warṣatita 822 Waisakha masa di(ng) Jyotiṣa. Caturthi Kriṣnapaksa Somawṣra sana tatkala Dayang Angkatan lawan dengan nya sṣnak barngaran si Bukah anak da dang Hwan Namwaran di bari waradṣna wi shuddhapattra ulih sang pamegat senṣpati di Tundun barja(di) dang Hwan Nṣyaka tuhan Pailah Jayadewa.

Di krama dang Hwan Namwaran dengan dang kayastha shuddha nu di parlappas hutang da walenda Kati 1 Suwarna 8 di hadapan dang Hu-wan Nayaka tuhan Puliran Kasumuran.

dang Hwan Nayaka tuhan Pailah barjadi ga-nashakti. Dang Hwan Nayaka tuhan Binwangan barjadi bishruta tathapi sadana sanak kapawaris ulih sang pamegat dewata [ba]rjadi sang pamegat Medang dari bhaktinda diparhulun sang pamegat. Ya makanya sadanya anak cucu dang Hwan Nam-waran shuddha ya kapawaris dihutang da dang Hwan Namwaran di sang pamegat Dewata.

Ini gerang syat syapanta ha pashkat ding ari ka-mudyan ada gerang urang barujara welung lappas hutang da dang Hwa

Inscriptions 21

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Long Live! Year of Syaka 822, month of Vaisakha, according to Jyotisha (Hindu astronomy). The fourth day of the waning moon, Monday. On this occasion, Lady Angkatan, and her brother whose name is Bukah, the children of the Honourable Namwaran, were awarded a document of complete pardon from the Com-mander in Chief of Tundun, represented by the Lord Minister of Pailah, Jayadewa.

By this order, through the scribe, the Honourable Namwaran has been forgiven of all and is released from his debts and arrears of 1 Katî and 8 Suwarna before the Honourable Lord Minister of Puliran Kasumuran by the authority of the Lord Minister of Pailah.

Because of his faithful service as a subject of the Chief, the Honourable and widely renowned Lord Minister of Binwangan recognized all the living relatives of Namwaran who were claimed by the Chief of Dewata, represented by the Chief of Medang.

Yes, therefore the living descendants of the Honourable Namwaran are forgiven, indeed, of any and all debts of the Honourable Namwaran to the Chief of Dewata.

This, in any case, shall declare to whomever henceforth that on some future day should there be a man who claims that no release from the debt of the Honourable...

Inscriptions 23

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription (900 A.D.), a thin copper plate measuring less than 8 × 12 inches (20 × 30 cm) in size

and inscribed with small writing that had been hammered into its surface. It shows heavy Indian cultural influence (by way of

Srivijaya) present in the Philippines during the era previous to Spanish colonization in the 16th century.


Much of the written history that has survived has been recorded through a Spanish colonization lens. The Boxer Codex (manuscripts of Charles R. Boxer) is a good example, written around 1595. It contains 15 illustrations of Filipinos during the initial contact with the Spaniards, ranging from Tagalogs, Visayans, Zambals, Cagayanes or possibly Ibanags and Negritos of the Philippines in vibrant colors. “The technique of the paintings suggests that the artist may have been Chinese, as does the use of Chinese paper, ink and paints.” Spanish colonial governors were required to keep written records on the territories they governed so it is likely that the manuscript was written under orders of the governor. The original owner is believed to be Luis Pérez das Mariñas, the son of Governor General Gómez Pérez das Mariñas. It’s name comes from the place where the manuscript resided with Professor Charles Ralph Boxer, who is considered an authority on the far east.

The Boxer Codex describes the Filipinos adeptness in Baybayin speaking and writing and specifi-cally acknowledges that women were particularly well-versed in writing on bamboo and leaves. The palm midrib-base used for writing is called talulo. The organization Baybayin360 explains that “Baybayin enabled Filipinos to understand each other, transcending regionalism and ethno-linguistic differences. Boxer Codex mentioned of how Bisayans can understand Tagalog well… Simi-larities among the various groups based on locality where very clear suggesting each others ability to comprehend similar symbols and connotations.”

The Boxer Codex

this page: the spine of the

Boxer Codex

opposite page: a written page

from the Boxer Codex

Inscriptions 25


in the Malay language, of which also no copy has yet been located. But there are copies of the first book to come from a South American press, an-other Doctrina printed in the native and Spanish languages at Lima in 1584. So the choice of this book as the first to be printed at Manila follows a widespread precedent.

We have then a book, the Doctrina Christiana, in Spanish and Tagalog, corrected by priests of more than one order—and this is important in tracing the authorship of the work—and printed by the xylographic method with license at Manila at the Dominican Church of San Gabriel in 1593. So much we get from the title, and in itself it is a fairly complete story, but from the date of its issue until the present time that very fundamental informa-tion has not been completely recorded.

The first known book to be written in Tagalog is the Doctrina Cristiana (Christian Doctrine) of 1593. It was written in Spanish and two versions of Tagalog; one written in the Baybayin script and the other in the Latin alphabet. Throughout the 333 years of Spanish occupation, there were gram-mar and dictionaries written by Spanish clergy-men such as Vocabulario de la Lengua Tagala by Pedro de San Buenaventura (Pila, Laguna, 1613), Vocabulario de la lengua tagala (1835) and Arte de la lengua tagala y manual tagalog para la adminis-tración de los Santos Sacramentos (1850).

Because the Doctrina Christiana, which may well be translated “The Teachings of Christianity,” contains the basic elements of the religion which the missionaries were trying to spread among the unbaptized in the remote regions of the world, it was the most useful handbook they had. A sum-mary of the contents of the present edition shows the fundamental character of the work. After a syllabary comes the Pater Noster, the primary and most popular prayer of Christianity. Then follow the Ave Maria, Credo, Salve Regina, Articles of Faith, Ten Commandments, Commandments of the Holy Church, Sacraments of the Holy Church, Seven Mortal Sins, Fourteen Works of Charity, Confession and Catechism. Here in a small com-pass is presented the simplest, most easily learned and most essential tenets of the Catholic Church.

So useful was the Doctrina considered as a guide for those who had just been, or were about to be, converted that the missionary fathers placed it in most cases foremost among the books necessary to have in print in a strange land. It is generally accepted today, although no extant copy is known, that the first book printed in Mexico in 1539 was a Doctrina in Mexican and Spanish. Recent research has shown that the second book printed by the pioneer Jesuit press at Goa, in India, in 1557 was St. Francis Xavier’s Doutrina Christão

Doctrina Christiana

Image from a page of the Doctrina Cristina

Inscriptions 27

The book, printed in Gothic letters and Tagalog characters on paper made from the paper mul-berry, now browned and brittle with age, consists of thirty-eight leaves, comprising a title-page as above, under a woodcut of St. Dominic, with the verso originally blank, but in this copy bearing the contemporary manuscript inscription, Tas-sada en dos rreales, signed Juan de Cuellar; and seventy-four pages of text in Spanish, Tagalog transliterated into roman letters, and Tagalog in Tagalog characters. The size of the volume, which is unbound, is 9ṣ by 7 inches, although individual leaves vary somewhat due to chipping. Some of the leaves have become separated from their comple-ments, but enough remain in the original stitching to indicate that the book was originally made up in four gatherings, the first of twelve leaves, the second of ten, the third of ten, and the fourth of six. Although the book is of the size called quarto, the method of printing must have been page by page, so it is doubtful that each sheet was folded twice in the usual quarto manner, but more probable that it was printed four pages to a sheet of paper ap-proximately 9ṣ by 14 inches, which was folded once.

The volume is printed throughout by the xylo-graphic method, that is to say, each page of text is printed from one wood-block which was carved by hand. Along the inner margins of some pages are vertical lines which were made by the inked edge of the block, and the grain of the wood has caused striations to appear in the printed portions throughout. The unevenness of the impression indicates that the pages were printed in some primitive manner without the help of a conventional press.

The paper, which is one of the distinctive features of most old Oriental books, has been discussed at length by Pardo de Tavera in his study of early Philippine printing, and we can do no better than translate the relevant passage in full:

“I have said before that the material composition of our books is inferior. The imprints before 1830 were made on a paper called by some rice paper, by others silk paper, and by still others China paper, according to their taste. It is detestable, brittle, without consistency or resistance, and was called rice paper because it was supposed to be made from that grain. It was the only kind then used in the Philippines, not only for printing, but for all man-ner of writing, letters, etc., and it is even recorded that in 1874 when tobacco was a state monopoly, cigarettes were made with this paper, and that the Indians and Chinese preferred it (and perhaps they still do) to rag paper or other kinds, because of the horrible taste it gives the tobacco.

“In China they commonly made paper of bamboo, but more principally from cotton and a plant which travellers have cited only by its common name, which they transcribe in various ways, call-ing it kochu, kotsu, or kotzu. Today it is known that this plant is an ulmacea (Broussonetia papy-rifera) from a mash of which they [5] still make cloth in Japan. Cotton paper is superior to it, and naturally more expensive; but the paper of inferior quality which was received in Manila, where noth-ing was imported regularly but common articles of low price, was of kotsu. As all Chinese-made paper it was coated with alum, the finer [the paper] the thicker [the coating], for the purpose of whitening it and making the surface smooth, a deplorable business, for it made the paper very moisture ab-sorbent, a condition fatal in such a humid climate as in these islands. Moreover, as the alum used is impure and contains a large proportion of iron salts, the humidity and weather oxidize it which finally darkens the paper, so that Philippine books present a coloration which runs the gamut of tones from the color of bone to that of dark cinnamon.”


This Ilokano document was first published by Father Francisco Lopez in 1620 using the Tagalog

form of the Baybayin. Here, Lopez introduced his radical modification to Baybayin orthography,

the + kudlít which allowed for unvoiced consonants.

opposite page: Drawing Interpretation of a scribe writing out the Doctrina Cristiana

Inscriptions 29


The Lord’s Prayer from the Doctrina Christiana, 1593

Inscriptions 31

Transcript Text, letters in blue are not represented in the Baybayin characters

Chapter 4: Method


Images and text in this section are taken directly from or paraphrased from the following sources:

Baybayin - The Ancient Script of the Philippines by Paul Morrow

http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/bayeng1.htm

Bamboo.Mendiola, Manila, Philippines : Centro Escolar University, c2000.

Method 35

The Baybayin was a syllabic writing system, which means that each letter represented a syllable instead of just a basic sound as in the modern alphabet. There were a total of 17 characters: three vowels and 14 consonants, but when combined with the small vowel-modifying marks, called kudlíts, the number of characters increased to 45.

This way of writing is called an abugida. When a person spelled a word orally or recited the Baybayin, the individual letters were called babâ, kakâ, dadâ, etc., but the original sequence of the letters was different to what it is today. This

“alphabetical” order was recorded in the Tagalog Doctrina Christiana.

The Baybayin Method of Writing

“The abc. in the Tagalog language”

A U/O I/E HA PA KA SA LA TA NA BA

MA GA DA/RA YA

NGA WA


THE CONSONANTS & KUDLÍTS

In their simplest form, each consonant represented a syllable that was pronounced with an a vowel (like the u in “up”). Simply adding a tick, dot or other mark to the letter, would change the inherent a vowel sound. These marks were called kudlíts, or diacritics in English. A kudlit was placed above a consonant letter to give it an i or e vowel sound. When it was placed below the letter it changed the vowel sound to u or o.

THE VOWELS

The three vowel characters were only used at the beginning of words and syllables, or syllables without any consonant. There were only three vowels because the ancient Tagalogs, and many other linguistic groups, did not distinguish between the pronunciations of i and e, or u and o until Spanish words entered their languages. Even today these sounds are interchangeable in words such as lalaki/lalake (man), babae (woman) and kababaihan (womanhood or womankind), uód/oód (worm), punò (tree trunk) and punung-kahoy (tree), and oyaye/oyayi/uyayi (lullaby).

The vowel characters actually represented vowels that were preceded by a glottal stop. This pronun-ciation was more common in the pre-Hispanic era but has changed over the centuries due to the influences of western languages. This shift can be seen when early texts, such as the Doctrina Christiana, are compared to modern Filipino. For example, we syllabicate the words ngayón (today) and gagawín (will do) as follows: nga-yon and ga-ga-wín respectively. But the Baybayin text of the Doctrina reveals a different syllabic division. Ngayón was written, ngay-on, and gagawin was written ga-gaw-in.

Method 37

THE R SOUND

The Tagalogs used only one character for da and ra.

The pronunciation of this letter depended on its location within a word. The grammatical rule has survived in modern Filipino that when a d is between two vowels, it becomes an r as in the words dangál (honour) and marangál (honourable), or dunong (knowl-edge) and marunong (knowledgeable).

However, this rule could not be relied upon in other languages, so when other linguistic groups

adopted the Baybayin, different ways of represent-ing the r sound were required. The Visayans apparently used the d/ra character for their own words but used the la character for Spanish words. Fr. Lopez’s choice of d/ra or la seemed to be random in the Ilokano Doctrina, which caused many corruptions of Ilokano words. However, a chart drawn by Sinibaldo de Mas in 1843 showed la doubling for the Ilokano ra while his Pangasinan list showed no substitute for ra at all. The Bikolanos modified the d/ra character to make a distinct letter for ra.

This is a chart of some Baybayin forms and the original source of each. They are sorted chronologi-

cally and grouped by their familiar region names but they are not distinct alphabets from different

regions or languages; they are only variations of typestyles and handwriting.


The Spanish priests found this problem to be an impediment to the accurate translation of their religious texts. So, when they printed a lesson in Baybayin it was usually accompanied by a Spanish translation and the same Tagalog text using the Spanish alphabet, as in the Doctrina Christiana. Other priests simply stopped using the Baybayin in favour of the alphabet. The first attempt to

“reform” the Baybayin came in 1620 when Fr. Francisco Lopez prepared to publish the Ilokano Doctrina. He invented a new kudlít in the shape of a cross. This was placed below a Baybayin consonant in order to cancel the inherent a sound.

Lopez wrote: “The reason for putting the text of the Doctrina in Tagalog type... has been to begin the correction of the said Tagalog script, which, as it is, is so defective and confused (because of not having any method until now for expressing final consonants - I mean, those without vowels) that the most learned reader has to stop and ponder over many words to decide on the pronunciation which the writer intended.”

Although Lopez’s new way of writing provided a more accurate depiction of the spoken language, native Filipino writers found it cumbersome and they never accepted it.

In 1776, Pedro Andrés de Castro wrote about their reaction to the invention, “They, after much praising of it and giving thanks for it, decided it could not be incorporated into their writing because it was contrary to the intrinsic character and nature which God had given it and that it would destroy the syntax, prosody and spelling of the Tagalog language all at one blow...”

THE NGA CHARACTER

A single character represented the nga syllable. The latest version of the modern Filipino alphabet still retains the ng as a single letter but it is written with two characters. The ng is the alphabet’s only remaining link to its Baybayin heritage.

PUNCTUATION

Words written in the Baybayin script were not spaced apart; the letters were written in a continuous f low and the only form of punctuation was a single vertical line, or more often, a pair of vertical lines. || This fulfilled the function of a comma and a period, and indeed, of practically any punctuation mark in use today. Although these bars were used consistently to end sentences, they were also used to separate words, but in an unpredictable manner. Occasionally a single word would be enclosed between these marks but usually sentences were divided into groups of three to five words.

FINAL CONSONANTS

The most confusing feature of the Baybayin for non-native readers was that there was no way to write a consonant without having a vowel follow it. If a syllable or a word ended with a consonant, that consonant was simply dropped. For example, the letters n and k in a word like bundók (mountain) were omitted, so that it was spelled bu-do.

Method 39

The Baybayin was read from left to right in rows that progressed from top to bottom, just as we read in English today. However, this has been a point of controversy among scholars for centuries due to conflicting accounts from early writers who were confused by the ease with which ancient Filipinos could read their writing from almost any angle. As the historian William H. Scott commented:

“The willingness of Filipinos to read their writ-ing with the page held in any direction caused understandable confusion among European observers who lacked this ability - and causes some irritation to Tagalog teachers in Mangyan schools today.” [Note: The peoples collectively known as Mangyans still use their own form of the Baybayin in Mindoro.]

Some observers were mistaken to believe that the Baybayin should be read vertically from bottom to top in columns progressing from left to right because that was how the ancient Filipinos carved their letters into narrow bamboo strips. However, it was simply a matter of safety that when they used a sharp instrument to carve, they held the bamboo pointing outward and they carved away from their bodies, just as modern Mangyans do today. This gave the appearance that they were writing from the bot-tom upward. However, this did not necessarily mean that the text was supposed to be read that way too.

Although the ancient Filipinos did not seem to mind which way they read their writing, the clue to the proper orientation of the text was the kudlíts, or diacritic marks that alter the vowel sound of the letters. In syllabic scripts such as Kavi, Bugis and others closely related to Baybayin, the text was read from left to right and the diacritics were placed above and below the characters (i/e was above and u/o was below). When the ancient Filipinos carved the Baybayin into the bamboo strips, they placed the kudlíts to the left of the letter for the i/e vowel and to the right for the u/o vowels. Thus, when the finished inscription was turned clockwise to the horizontal position, the text flowed from left to right and the kudlíts were in their proper places, i/e above and u/o below.

Writing vs. Reading

A Hanunóo boy of Mindoro

carves letters into a piece of

bamboo. The Hanunóo script

is one of three forms of the

Baybayin that is still in use today.

Method 41

above: Sword and cover,

bamboo forest and bamboo tip

opposite page: Sword with

Baybayin script on its cover

Method 43

Pre-Hispanic Filipinos made use of the natural materials around them, such as leaves, fruit rinds, palm fronds, tree bark and, most commonly, bamboo to act as the surface of their communica-tion. Their panulat (writing tools) were points of a dagger or small pieces of iron.

The Boxer Codex describes how they used these tools to literally carve their thoughts on the various materials.

“When they write, it is on some tablets made of the bamboos which they have in those islands, on the bark. In using such a tablet, which is four fingers wide, they do not write with ink, but with some scribers with which they cut the surface and bark of the bamboo, and make the letters. ”

After the inscriptions were carved, the surface was wiped with an ash to make the writing more visible. If the writing surface was more delicate, like a leaf, sharpened splits of bamboo were used with colored plant saps. More durable materials like clay, stone or metal, were not explored because ancient Filipinos did not traditionally keep long-term written records. The early reports from the Spaniards concur that pre-Hispanic literature was taught orally.

Legazpi’s account of 1567, quoted earlier, went on to say: “They have their letters and characters... but never is any ancient writing found among them nor word of their origin and arrival in these islands; their customs and rites being preserved by traditions handed down from father to son without any other record.”

The Boxer Codex manuscript from 1590, goes on to say that “They have neither books nor histories nor do they write anything of length but only let-ters and reminders to one another... [And lovers] carry written charms with them.”

This perspective from the Boxer Codex was a limited view because the LCI was inscribed by hammering letters onto metal with a sharp instru-ment, visible by the closely joined and overlapping dots from hammering, in order to form the letters.

There is beauty in the way the culture uses raw materials as nature had made them instead of try-ing to alter them to be more sustainable. Instead of labeling this as an inferior, this approach to the written word could alternatively be viewed as a reflection of the ancestral hindu - buddist beliefs to always try to live in the present moment because it is the only moment that truly matters. The culture’s mentality could have very well intention-ally embraced the natural and ephemeral nature of their writing system as a way to compliment how life should be lived.

Aside from writing letters and poetry to each other, the ancient Filipinos adorned the entrances of their homes with incantations written on bam-boo so as to keep out evil spirits.

The Art of Carving

The bamboo document and the dagger used to write it

opposite page: a woman carves into a bamboo pole

Chapter 5: Meaning

Meaning 47

The pictographic significance of each character in the ancient Filipino script shows a coherent ontological foundation. The precise relationship between the ideographs and their significations linked with the idea of God demonstrates a profound metaphysical view of how Filipinos expressed their communications.

In the article “Bathala and Our Baybayin” (Union Espiritista Cristiana de Filpinas, Inc. 1972) Guillermo Tolentino gives an awakening explica-tion of how this metaphysical view permeates the Baybayin script visually and in construction. This can be seen by deconstructing the Filipino word for God, Bathala, which is composed of the letters BA, TA, HA, and LA.

BA, written as a stylized drawing or outline of the female organ, hence the first letter of the word for woman, Babae, signifying the female principle.

LA is taken from the contour of the male organ, hence the first letter of the word for man, Lalake, representing the male principle.

TA is an imitation of an ancient hammer that in striking hard objects as stones or metal produces sparks of light or fire, hence the first letter of the word work Tao which means “man” but also can mean a spark of divine intelligence.

HA stylizes the blinding lightening caused by the ignition of electric particles in dense, black nimbus clouds, as well as the rising warm air from the hot earth crust that creates thunderstorms. HA is the source letter for Hininga (breath), Hangin (air), and Habagat (thunderstorm).

The culmination of the whole word evokes the STORY that God fuses in his being the eternal unity of the opposites, male and female, spirit and matter, with the life force in the form of breath connecting the two.

Evoking the Nature of Being

HA

TA

LA

BA

opposite page: Kulaman head provided by the

Treasures of the Philippine National Museum


The Filipino story of creation tells of how man and woman

emerged simultaneously full-blown from the same cylinder of

bamboo. They were released from non-being when a great prime-

val bird was pecking at a bamboo grove. They stepped together

into life, hand in hand, equal and bound to each other only by a

common nature and a simultaneous emergence. Each had their

own particular attribute to complement the other, the Man called

Malakas, or Strong, and the Woman, Maganda, Beautiful.

This story reflects how man and woman are equally represented

in the Baybayin characters when deconstructing the Filipino word

for God, Bathala

Meaning 49


Sections in this text are taken directly from or paraphrased from the following sources:

The Filipina: A Humanizing Force in Philippine Development / National Media Production Center

Baybayin, the ancient script of the Philippines : a concise manual / Bayani Mendoza de Leon

The Filipino story of creation, as depicted in The Filipina, A Humanizing Force in Philippine Develop-ment tells of how man and woman emerged simultaneously full-blown from the same cylinder of bamboo. They were released from non-being when a great primeval bird was pecking at a bamboo grove. They stepped together into life, hand in hand, equal and bound to each other only by a common nature and a simultaneous emer-gence. Each had their own particular attribute to complement the other, the Man called Malakas, or Strong, and the Woman, Maganda, Beautiful.

previous spread:

illustraion from The Filipina,

A Humanizing Force in

Philippine Development

“Each letter of the alphabet

is like a door to a whole

dimension of thinking.”

This story reflects how man and woman are equally represented in the Baybayin characters when deconstructing the Filipino word for God, Bathala. De Leon’s manual highlights the richness of the graphic characters as such:

“The impeccable grace, f lair, graphic power and integrity of the ancient Filipino script are easily discernible. But more than these, each letter of the alphabet is like a door to a whole dimension of thinking. It reveals the inner eye of a people who cognizes inherent relationships between different orders of realities, tangible or otherwise.”

Meaning 51

MA

MA is from a primitive weapon (bow) that only a strong arm can pull. The bow’s ability to release power, as through an arrow heading for a target, is obviously the reason why MA, when used as prefix to any name or noun, activates said word into an adjective.

LAKAS = strength

MALAKAS = strong

»

GANDA = beauty

MAGANDA = beautiful

»


KAISA = unity

KASAMA = companion

KAUGNAY = united

KAKABIT = linked

KABIYAK = marital partner

KA

KA is composed of two lines or stakes tied together, strongly suggesting the idea of union, cohesion and related concepts. Thus it forms the basis for words like these:

KATIPUNAN, the official revolutionary arm of the Filipinos during the Spanish rule, had on its flag three KAs, proclaiming the collective upris-ing against Spain.

Meaning 53

SA

SA has the shape of wind passing through a small or narrow opening; also of breath streaming through the teeth when one says shhh, murmurs (SITSIT) or whistles (SUTSOT).

NGA

NGA conveys the sound made by animals, especially a cow which moos (UNGA) and thus the character closely resembles a cow or carabao.

UNGA

sound of a cow’s moo

SITSIT

murmurs

SUTSOT

whistles


WAKAS = end

WALA = nothing

WASAK = to destroy

WALAY = to separate

WATAK = chaotic

WA represents the turning back of the end of the thread from a spool. It describes the nihilistic impulse to turn against oneself, to yield to the dark forces of destruction, to deny life and existence.

WA

Meaning 55

DA DAAN = road

DOON = there

DITO = here

DAKO = place

DULO = end of the road

DA shows parallel lines, either straight or curved, indicating animal or human trail. Words like road and anything to do with direction indicate this.


opposite page: Calatagan Pot provided by the Treasures of the Philippine National Museum

Meaning 57

In Baybayin, the Ancient Script of the Philippines: A Concise Manual, Bayani Mendoza de Leon examines a bit of the onthology and formation of words in Baybayin. He points out that one characteristic of Filipino is that it’s onomatopoeic. It imitates natural sounds associated with the objects or actions involved, like “ubo” (cough),

“hatsing” (sneeze), “untog” (bumping of the head), “halakhak” (laughter), “pagaspas” (flapping wings, like a bird’s), “langitngit” (creaking of a door) and “taguktok” (horse’s gallop).

There is no phonetic ambiguity in Filipino. Each letter composing it has only one definite, specific, and unchanging phonetic value or pronounica-tion or sound effect in speaking and writing. The vowels a e i o u are sounded as in Spanish, although some may take the global sound in the end vowel of a word: e/g/ báta, puno, hapdi, sampu, gantimpala.

By the one-letter-one-sound rule, the con-sonants each possess a peculiar sound all its own not identical with any other consonant within Filipino.

He goes on to show Neologistic cohesion in how root words used as prefixes (neologisms) acquire a certain level of meaning that indicates a highly integrated and systematic internal structure. He uses the prefix ka to illustrate this point. Ka always indicates a state of relationship, defining diverse contexts, personal and social interactions, as seen in the following examples:

Kapatid (brother/sister)

Kamag-anak (relative)

Kababayan (fellow countryman)

Kapitbahay (neighbor)

Katipan (sweetheart)

Kabiyak (marital partner)

Kababata (childhood friend)

Kakambal (twin)

Kaaway (enemy)

Kakampi (ally)

Kakilala (acquaintance)

A Straight Forward Sound

Chapter 6: Conclusion


Origins - sprang from bamboo

originally carved into bamboo

now carved onto the body

Conclusion 61

A variation of Baybayin script lives on in the modern world today in Mindoro, but also is displayed as a sense of pride in tattoos. Like the diversity of words in language, tattooing among various regions held different meanings. Filipino Tattoos by Lan Wilcken gives some insight into the ancient tradition:

“For some tribes tattoos were symbols of courage in battle with specific parts of the body linked to outward marks of valor, manhood and marital prowness. For others it was used as a form of cloth-ing, reflecting roles in society, tribal identity, status, prestige, eligibility for marriage and personal beauty. Above these reasons were the spiritual beliefs associated with it. Tattooing was part of an important rite of passage for both men and women. Certain designs recognized manhood and personal accomplishments while others conveyed a woman’s attractiveness and promoted fertility and

Imbued in the Body

the continuity of the family or village. Still other tattoos gave a direct passage into the afterlife, while some illustrated the important link between mortals, their ancestors, gods and the intimacy of communication between them.”

The flowing lines of Baybayin make beautiful tat-toos today although this was not commonly prac-ticed in the past. Words such as “ina” (mother) or “ama” (father) are common as well as children’s names. Looking at the symbolism of the script, it is easy to make the connection of the past shining through to the present. What once was carved on the bamboo shoot that gave birth to mankind in the story of origin is now carved on the body that emerged and persevered through time. The Baybayin script visually represents the blood that runs deep through the land it has never lost, inadvertently uniting a people with its written word once again.

opposite page: Prince Giolo

from the engraving made for

his exhibition in 1692

this page left: Kalinga Elder

Apo Leg-leg with differing

tattoos on the right and left

arms. Photo by Farlet Vale

this page right:

The Baybayin tattoo of

Claudell Duldulao.


Tattooing kit of artist Lakay Jacob Angn-

ganai of Lubo Tanudan. His final tattoo he

drew at the age of 90 was on his grandson.

The coconut shell was used to hold the ink

and the pieces of string were used as stencils

to create straight lines. The gisi (kisi) tool

is made of lemon thorn. Photo by Professor

Analyn Salvadore-Amores.

this page: Ifugao man with

a chest tattoo called chak-lag,

signifying his headhunter status.

Photo by Dean Worcester

circa 1900

opposite page: Engraving of a

partially tattooed warrior in

the Benguet region circa 1850

Conclusion 63

Conclusion 65

As with most ancient languages whose artifacts are not well documented, the script of the ancient Filipinos is accompanied by confusion and obfuscation. From historians misinterpreting ancient charts, to submissions of false historical evidence, the path to fully understanding this mysterious language is a winding one. Though much work lies ahead for researchers, this book offers a brief look into the deep Filipino cultural heritage expressed through language. There is inherent beauty in the way Baybayin reveals an ancient view of the world. It is rich with symbol-ism of an understanding of the Universe and shows a respect for how nature provides life. There is a balance portrayed of both sexes, each being equally vital in their roles for existence. The metaphysical view of the world shown through our ancestral eyes and the knowledge of this script continues to strengthen the Filipino cultural foundation.

Final Thoughts

opposite page: wooden bullol,

Ifugao Granary Deity


Agoncillo, Teodoro A. History Of The Filipino People. 8th ed. Quezon City: Garotech Publishing, 1990. Print.

Fox, Robert B., Concepcion, Leonardo Molina, Antonio J. Casino, Eric S. Beyer, William, Martires, Myrna Ocampo, Galo B. Pre-history of the Philippines. 1967. Print.

Locsin, Maria Elena Paterno-, and Centro Escolar University. Bamboo. Manila: Mendiola, 2000. Print.

Mendoza de Leon, Bayani. Baybayin, the ancient script of the Philippines : a concise manual / Bayani Mendoza de Leon. Paramus: Bycynthium Treasures, 1992. Print.

Morrow, Paul. Baybayin - The Ancient Script of the Philippines Web. <http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/bayeng1.htm >.

National Media Production Center. The Filipina: a humanizing force in Philippine development. Manila: National Media Production Center. 1975. Print.

Roces, Alfredo R., IV ed., Filipino Heritage: the Making of a Nation, “Boxer Codex”, Philippines: Lahing Pilipino Publishing, Inc. 1977. Print

Scott, William Henry. Prehispanic Source Materials For The Study Of Philippine History. Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1984. Print.

Web. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Philippine_scripts>.

Web. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language>.

Web. <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16119/16119-h/16119-h.htm>.

Web. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_Copperplate_Inscription>.

Bibliography

67

Information about Philippine history, language, writing, etc by Paul Morrow (includes a tutorial on how to write with the Tagalog alphabet and free Tagalog fonts):http://www.mts.net/~pmorrow/

Ating Baybayin, Our Filipino Script - includes a page on which you can type words in the Latin alphabet and see them transformed in the Tagalog alphabet (click on the ‘translate’ link on the left: http://www.eaglescorner.com/Baybayin/

Alibata, Filipino’s Ancient Writing Scripthttp://www.paradisephilippines.ph/2007/12/24/alibata-filipinos-ancient-writing-script/

An introduction to the alphabets of the Philippines by Hector Santoshttp://www.bibingka.com/dahon/

Information about the Tagalog languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog

Online Tagalog lessonshttp://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/http://www.tagalog1.com/Index_Lessons.jsphttp://www.tagaloglang.comhttps://learningtagalog.com/grammar

Online Tagalog dictionaryhttp://www.tagalog-dictionary.com

Tagalog Translatorshttp://www.tagalogtranslator.nlhttp://home.planet.nl/~roosiedb/tagtrans3/tagtrans3.html

Tagalog Electronic talking dictionarieshttp://www.ectaco.com

Resources/Links


Colophon

This book has been laser printed on Epson 4 star premium presentation paper, double-sided in San Francisco, California. Font choices for this work are Goudy Old Style and Goudy Old Style Italic.

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