Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Marc
No, you can't. It's called proper spelling. 
Now, the "Spanish" spoken in the Philippines at the time was in fact a local version, which could include such variation of spelling, but it would only reinforce the indigenous character of the piece.
I just wanted to clarify the possibilities for the flexibility, or lack thereof, of the spelling of the Spanish language in a particular time framework.
Said this, the first letter COULD also be a capital "G", and the " ~" symbol above the word usally indicates some kind of contraction. So, "General" is a very very good candidate.
|
Ok ok I guess it could be a "G".
But even today we(I live next to the border of Mexico) use the letter "J" with the "H" sound for Spanish(ie La Jolla, Jamacha, Tijuana, Jose, Jorge, etc...). The word "General" in Spanish is spelled the same as in English but in Spanish it is pronounced with a "H" sound as well.
Marc, I study a lot of Philippine History, particular this era...I believe you have as well. I am not sure if you know about the PRR(Philippine Revolutionary Records) which are the collection of actual documents, reports, and transcripts captured by the Americans during the Phil-Am War. These were turned over to the Philippines and are now housed in the National Library of the Philippines. Many of these documents show, Filipino Generals have signed their name, El Gral...and not El Gen. Using "Gen." for "General" is a English abbreviation...which was not in existence in the Philippines language or culture prior to American intervention. All documents were written 75% of the time in Spanish, the other 25% were written in Tagalog.
Part of a document signed by Gen Licerio Gerónimo reads:
(Palabra ilegible) en la Jefatura Militar de S. Mateo a 12 de abril de 1899
El Gral. Primer Jefe
(Fdo.) L. Gerónimo
(Ilegible) con nombramiento definitivo y enviado al Gral. D. L. Grónimo
So I kind of stand by the fact that "Jral" or "Gral" does indeed stand for General on that particular dagger. Leandro Fullon was a well recognized General during that time. Photos of all the Generals of Aguinaldo show most of them had personalized "daggers".