Antônio Lemos Barbosa

Antônio Lemos Barbosa
Barbosa on 25 July 1959, during his priestly silver jubilee Barbosa on 25 July 1959, during his priestly silver jubilee
Born	(1910-09-15)15 September 1910 Três Corações, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Died	5 September 1970(1970-09-05) (aged 59) Rio de Janeiro, Guanabara, Brazil
Notable work	Curso de tupi antigo: gramática, exercícios, textos

Antônio Lemos Barbosa (15 September 1910 – 5 September 1970) was a Brazilian priest, notably recognized for his contributions to Tupinology, that is, the study of Old Tupi.

Born in Três Corações, Barbosa took a humanities course in Campanha, studied for seven years in Rome, and was ordained in 1934. He held a doctorate in Philosophy and Theology, a bachelor's degree in canon law, and also took a linguistics course. Barbosa was a professor of Ethnography and Indigenous languages at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). After more than ten years of work, in 1956 he published his Curso de tupi antigo, which came to be considered a "didactic revolution".

Barbosa died in 1970 at the age of 59, after two months in the hospital. His death is considered premature, as it prevented him from continuing his work on Tupi.

Biography

File:Júlia Lemos Barbosa.png

Júlia Lemos Barbosa

Antônio Lemos Barbosa was born on 15 September 1910, in Três Corações, Minas Gerais, being the second of four children. His father, Luís Ferreira Barbosa, was a teacher at the house of his grandfather; there, Luís met Júlia Lemos Barbosa (née Lemos), who died when Barbosa was 11 years old, during the birth of the couple's fifth child, who also died.

Barbosa took a humanities course at then Jesuit-led Diocesan Seminary of Campanha. He pursued studies for seven years, from 1927 to 1934, at the Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned doctoral degrees in Philosophy and Theology and a bachelor's degree in canon law. He was ordained priest by Marchetti Selvaggiani on 25 July 1934. Barbosa celebrated his first Low Mass in the Catacombs of Domitilla, and his first High Mass at the Pontifical Pio Brazilian College. He also took a linguistics course at the Biblical Institute.

Barbosa served as professor of Ethnography and Indigenous Languages (specifically Old Tupi) at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). In 1956, after more than ten years of work, he published the book Curso de tupi antigo: gramática, exercícios, textos (lit. 'Course of Old Tupi: grammar, exercises, texts'), which received favorable reviews from contemporary critics. Basílio de Magalhães, for instance, declared the work constituted a "didactic revolution". Barbosa's book has also been called "the most complete and perfect grammar of the Tupi language". It is considered that the work contains "interesting insights", but also that one of its weaknesses lies in the made-up, non-attested examples; it is deemed more reasonable that the description of a dead language contains only attested examples. Starting in the 1950s, in 1951 and 1970, Barbosa published two short Old Tupi vocabularies, while acknowledging the need to publish a dictionary of that language. In 2013, Eduardo de Almeida Navarro considered them the only serious and reliable works that had existed in the genre.

File:Antônio Lemos Barbosa and Jandira Café.png

Antônio Lemos Barbosa and Jandira Café

Barbosa assisted in the reconstruction of the Paróquia da Ressurreição, whose first headquarters was located where the Fort Copacabana is today, dedicating himself to it from 1947 until his death in 1970 and lefting two properties for its construction. For it, he also received the support of Brazil's then first lady, Jandira Café, as well as other contemporary figures, such as Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Eduardo Gomes, Amorim do Valle, and Juarez Távora. In 1954, Barbosa became its rector. After his death, Eduardo Koaik was appointed to lead it.

Death

Barbosa died on 5 September 1970, after being hospitalized for two months at Casa de Saúde São José. His death is regarded as premature for having prevented him from fulfilling his wish to write an Old Tupi dictionary similar to Antonio Ruiz de Montoya's Tesoro de la lengua guaraní.

External links

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