The Vocabulary of Iapam Lingoa (日 葡 辞書, Nippojisho) is the first Japanese-Portuguese dictionary realized and the first one translated into a Western language. It was published in Nagasaki (Japan) in 1603. It explains 32,000 words in Japanese translated into Portuguese. There is a version translated into Spanish (1630) and French (1869). Compilation
The Society of Jesus, with the cooperation of the Japanese, compiled the dictionary over a span of several years. For them, he intended to help the missionaries to study the language. It is believed that the Portuguese priest João Rodrigues was the main organizer of the project. With published works such as Nihongo Bunten and Nihongo Kobunten explaining the Japanese language to the missionaries, Rodrigues was known in the Portuguese community as the most skilled with the Japanese, and it is believed that he edited the dictionary. > Structure
The approximately 32,000 entries are sorted alphabetically. Each word is shown in the Latin alphabet, according to the Portuguese conventions and explained in Portuguese. When necessary, the authors identified words that belonged to regional dialects, spoken or written forms, the language of women and children, formal and vulgar words, and Buddhist vocabulary. This provides a valuable source to today's linguists about the Japanese language as it was spoken during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. The dictionary has information on rhymes, individual pronunciations, meanings, linguistic uses, names of plants and animals, popular phrases and customs of the time. Examples
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