Totonicapan is a K'iche' speaking town in the western highlands of Guatemala. The Yax clan is its leading lineage. The Title of Totonicapan, composed in K'iche' using Latin script in 1554, was copied over time as the original deteriorated. It was translated into Spanish by Father Dionisio Jose Chonay in 1834. A copy of Chonay's translation made its way to France and a dual French/Spanish edition was published in 1885 as Titulo de los Senores de Totonicapan. A widely-read edition was published by Adrian Recinos in Spanish in 1950 and English in 1953, bundled with the Annals of the Cakchiquels.
In a once-in-a-lifetime discovery, anthropologist Robert M. Carmack in 1973 found the K'iche' manuscript Chonay had used for his 1834 translation in a strong box maintained by the Yax family in Totonicapan. Carmack and James L. Mondloch authored a scholarly edition of the work in K'iche' and Spanish that was published by UNAM in 1983.
Mayan decipherment really got underway at the first Palenque Roundtable convened in December, 1973. By the time El Titulo de Totonicapan appeared ten years later, the Maya studies discipline was still very young and fresh with important new discoveries appearing regularly. This volume by Carmack and Mondloch was a significant contribution to that progress. Scholarly versions of other Quichean texts soon followed. These are the editions of important precontact Quichean documents we are analyzing for Book of Mormon correspondences.
In a once-in-a-lifetime discovery, anthropologist Robert M. Carmack in 1973 found the K'iche' manuscript Chonay had used for his 1834 translation in a strong box maintained by the Yax family in Totonicapan. Carmack and James L. Mondloch authored a scholarly edition of the work in K'iche' and Spanish that was published by UNAM in 1983.
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| Titulo de Totonicapan 1983 Edition |
- El Titulo de Totonicapan, translated by Robert M. Carmack & James L. Mondloch, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, 1983
- Popol Vuh, translated by Dennis Tedlock, Simon & Schuster, 1985, 1996
- Rabinal Achi, translated by Dennis Tedlock, Oxford University Press, 2003
- Kaqchikel Chronicles, translated by Judith M. Maxwell & Robert M. Hill II, University of Texas Press, 2006
- Popol Vuh, translated by Allen J. Christenson, University of Oklahoma Press, 2007
These four post-classic Quichean documents share many names, places, ideas, and narrative motifs. Their content is corroborated by artwork from many Mesoamerican sites. They also have a great deal in common with the pre-classic and early classic Mesoamerican codex called the Book of Mormon. That should not surprise us since the best current Book of Mormon scholarship places the land of Nephi in what would later become Kaqchikel, Quiche, and Rabinal territory in highland Guatemala. Furthermore, the Book of Mormon explicitly says the Lamanites kept records Mosiah 24:6, Helaman 3:15.The blog article "Kaqchikel Chronicles" analyzes 117 correspondences between that text and the Book of Mormon. The blog article "Rabinal Achi" analyzes an additional 91 correspondences between that text and the Book of Mormon, in addition to corroborating 20 of the Kaqchikel parallels. One additional important correspondence (#209) is documented in the blog article entitled "Quichean Directionality." The blog article "Quichean Distance Measurement" expands on correspondences previously identified. A correspondence with the letter "k" means it is found in Kaqchikel Chronicles, while "r" means Rabinal Achi and "t" refers to Titulo de Totonicapan.
1 k r t. Titulo de Totonicapan was written in K'iche' using Latin script, then translated into Spanish (1834), French (1885) and English (1953) (pp.; 9-10).
3 k t. Titulo de Totonicapan focuses on the Cawek lineage (p. 12).
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210 t. When Chonay translated El Titulo de Totonicapan from K'iche' into Spanish in 1834, he omitted the first seven folios because they followed the Bible so closely. We now know the author(s) of the 1554 Totonicapan document were copying freely from Domingo de Vico's 1553 Theologia Indorum written in K'iche' as a Dominican missionary tract (p. 13). Vico's book included translations of biblical passages and Catholic traditions such as stories of Santa Ana and San Joaquin (parents of the Virgin Mary). The Book of Mormon also has many significant intertextual dependencies with both the Old and New Testaments. See the blog article entitled "English in the Book of Mormon" for notes from a March, 2015 conference at BYU that explored some of the quotations, allusions and echoes shared between the Book of Mormon and the Bible.
211 t. Titulo de Totonicapan is the most important of a group of at least seven works written in K'iche' using Latin script in the colonial era in and around Totonicapan. Others include:
212 t. The last page of the Titulo de Totonicapan contains a number of signatures (p. 12). Mormon signed his name at the end of the small plates of Nephi Words of Mormon 1:1. Moroni2 signed his name at the end of the plates of Mormon Moroni 10:1.
213 t. Old Testament stories reproduced in the first seven folios of the Title end with the Babylonian captivity (p. 10). The brass plates of Laban included Old Testament writings up to the time immediately preceding the exile. The Babylonian captivity was a matter of prophecy among the Nephites 2 Nephi 1:4, 2 Nephi 25:10 until Mosiah1 discovered the Mulekites and it became part of the historical record Omni 1:15, Helaman 8:21.
214 t. The Title is a compound document redacted from multiple sources (p. 13). Ditto the Book of Mormon Words of Mormon 1:3, Mormon 2:17-18, Ether 1:2.
215 t. In their use of the biblical materials from Theologia Indorum, the Quiche authors of Titulo de Totonicapan quoted some passages outright, paraphrased others, and changed others to conform to their native cultural traditions (p. 13). The Book of Mormon quotes many biblical passages outright such as the Isaiah chapters and paraphrases others such as Nephi's glosses on Isaiah in 1 Nephi 22 and 2 Nephi 25. The Book of Mormon also describes a process of interpreting biblical passages in light of readers' or hearers' cultural traditions. The Book of Mormon term for this cultural accommodation is "liken"1 Nephi 19:23, 2 Nephi 11:2, 8.
216 t. The Title was written by multiple authors, one of whom was a Quiche prince baptized Diego Reynoso (p. 15). Book of Mormon authors included Nephi1 1 Nephi 1:1, Zeniff Mosiah 9:1, Mormon Words of Mormon 1:9, and Moroni2 Mormon 8:1.
1 k r t. Titulo de Totonicapan was written in K'iche' using Latin script, then translated into Spanish (1834), French (1885) and English (1953) (pp.; 9-10).
3 k t. Titulo de Totonicapan focuses on the Cawek lineage (p. 12).
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210 t. When Chonay translated El Titulo de Totonicapan from K'iche' into Spanish in 1834, he omitted the first seven folios because they followed the Bible so closely. We now know the author(s) of the 1554 Totonicapan document were copying freely from Domingo de Vico's 1553 Theologia Indorum written in K'iche' as a Dominican missionary tract (p. 13). Vico's book included translations of biblical passages and Catholic traditions such as stories of Santa Ana and San Joaquin (parents of the Virgin Mary). The Book of Mormon also has many significant intertextual dependencies with both the Old and New Testaments. See the blog article entitled "English in the Book of Mormon" for notes from a March, 2015 conference at BYU that explored some of the quotations, allusions and echoes shared between the Book of Mormon and the Bible.
211 t. Titulo de Totonicapan is the most important of a group of at least seven works written in K'iche' using Latin script in the colonial era in and around Totonicapan. Others include:
- Titulo de Tamub II written in 1567, dealing with the Tamub lineage
- Titulo de Caciques written in 1544, published in 1925
- Titulo de C'oyoi published in 1979, dealing with the Cawek lineage in the Quetzaltenango area
- Titulo de los Yaxes, dealing with the Yax lineage in the Totonicapan area
212 t. The last page of the Titulo de Totonicapan contains a number of signatures (p. 12). Mormon signed his name at the end of the small plates of Nephi Words of Mormon 1:1. Moroni2 signed his name at the end of the plates of Mormon Moroni 10:1.
213 t. Old Testament stories reproduced in the first seven folios of the Title end with the Babylonian captivity (p. 10). The brass plates of Laban included Old Testament writings up to the time immediately preceding the exile. The Babylonian captivity was a matter of prophecy among the Nephites 2 Nephi 1:4, 2 Nephi 25:10 until Mosiah1 discovered the Mulekites and it became part of the historical record Omni 1:15, Helaman 8:21.
214 t. The Title is a compound document redacted from multiple sources (p. 13). Ditto the Book of Mormon Words of Mormon 1:3, Mormon 2:17-18, Ether 1:2.
215 t. In their use of the biblical materials from Theologia Indorum, the Quiche authors of Titulo de Totonicapan quoted some passages outright, paraphrased others, and changed others to conform to their native cultural traditions (p. 13). The Book of Mormon quotes many biblical passages outright such as the Isaiah chapters and paraphrases others such as Nephi's glosses on Isaiah in 1 Nephi 22 and 2 Nephi 25. The Book of Mormon also describes a process of interpreting biblical passages in light of readers' or hearers' cultural traditions. The Book of Mormon term for this cultural accommodation is "liken"1 Nephi 19:23, 2 Nephi 11:2, 8.
216 t. The Title was written by multiple authors, one of whom was a Quiche prince baptized Diego Reynoso (p. 15). Book of Mormon authors included Nephi1 1 Nephi 1:1, Zeniff Mosiah 9:1, Mormon Words of Mormon 1:9, and Moroni2 Mormon 8:1.