author
Juan Félix de la Encarnación
1806–1879
A Spanish Augustinian Recollect missionary and lexicographer, he became one of the notable nineteenth-century students of Philippine languages. His dictionaries helped document and bridge Spanish and Bisaya at a time when that work was still taking shape.
1 Audiobook
Diccionario Español-Bisaya : Segunda edición
by Juan Félix de la Encarnación
About the author
Born in Geria, Valladolid, in 1806, Juan Félix de la Encarnación was a Spanish religious scholar in the Augustinian Recollect order. Sources describe him as a missionary active in the Philippines during the middle decades of the nineteenth century, where he devoted himself not only to pastoral work but also to the study of local language.
He is best remembered as a lexicographer. His Diccionario bisaya-español and Diccionario español-bisaya are the works most closely associated with his name, and they show the depth of his engagement with Bisaya, especially Cebuano. These books were practical tools for communication, but they also became lasting records of language use in their time.
Later writers have singled him out as one of the Augustinian Recollect figures especially noted for philological work in the Philippines. He died in 1879, leaving behind a reputation built less on literary fame than on careful, useful scholarship.