The diary of the circumnavigation of the globe by Antonio Pigafetta, includes extensive translations of words in native languages with their respective phonetic transcription. He did this by interview the villagers of each town he stopped at and writing down the meaning and sound of the words they used.
These peoples had no written language, therefore, Pigafetta’s transcription was no less than enigmatic to the natives of the area.
From the region of Bhutan, on the island of Mindanao, the author points out:
“I wrote many words as they pronounced them. When the king and the others saw me write and say those same words to them, everyone was stunned...”
Regarding this same episode, Stefan Zweig, in his book “Magellan”, says:
“Take, for example, that sorcerer Pigafetta! He takes a piece of wood or the feather of some bird and when he is told something he scribbles black marks with it on a white sheet, and lo and behold, he knows how to repeat exactly what he has been told two days ago.”
This work is an original piece by Beto Grillasca, inspired by the story of the Italian sailor Antonio Pigafetta, who chronicled this great expedition. This piece is exhibited on page 148 of the book "Relación del primer viaje alrededor del mundo (1519-1522)", published by Minerva Editorial in 2022 (ISBN: 978-607-98460-6-0). When the collector acquires this piece, they will receive one of the 50 limited edition books signed by the artist, a printable file of the work in high resolution, as well as a certificate declaring them a friend of Minerva Editorial.
