The ABC's of the Ancient
Baybayin
This is an excerpt from
the Doctrina
Christiana, en lengua española y tagala, which was one of the first
two books printed in the Philippines - the other being the Tratado de
la Doctrina de la Santa Iglesia y de ciencias naturales, written in
Spanish and Chinese. Both books were printed in 1593.
This excerpt from the fifth page introduces the reader to the baybayin
script. It shows the entire set of characters in the original Filipino
sequence or "alphabetical" order. The marks above and below the
consonants are diacritics called kudlíts, which alter the vowel
sound inherent in each letter. This arrangement manages to fit all 45
possible combinations of letters and kudlíts into a very small
space.
Transcription of Text
The abc. in the tagalog language
A U/O I/E Ha Pa Ka Sa La Ta
Na Ba Ma Ga D/Ra Ya
NGa Wa ||
Source:
Doctrina Christiana, The First Book Printed in the Philippines, Manila,
1593
Facsimile, National Historical Institute, Manila, Philippines, 2nd
printing, 1991
Foreword by Carlos Quirino. ISBN 971-538-041-X
Additional information from:
Harold C. Conkllin, Doctrina
Christiana, en lengua española y tagala, Manila, 1593
in Vision of a Collector: the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection in the
Library of Congress,
Washington, DC: The Library of Congress, 1991