EXAMPLE OF A DATA ENTRY. Other formats are possible.

Date: 05.21.96 Tuesday Entry Date: 05.22.96

Place: river near village of Ixim Ton

Source: observation/conversation

Event: the Bec brothers go fishing.

Participants: Jose, Andres, and Pedro Bec. Jose's two sons and I watched from the bank.

The three brothers fished all afternoon today after they came home from weeding corn. They waded out knee deep and used poles, lines and grasshoppers, chan, for bait. They caught two small fish (like sunfish) cheb and were very disappointed. Indicated they could catch lots more if they only had some pox. Thought they might mean nets, and drew a picture but they said that was ret. Pedro said taconic ret, (we-exclusive throw the ret) and demonstrated casting an imaginary net. Wocol, (too hard), he said, and pointed to an old bottle on the bank and said that was pox. Then he made a sound like a boom and a face like a dead fish and everyone but me roared with laughter.

Lexical:

chan - grasshopper, or insect, generic?

cheb - small fish like sunfish, or is it generic for fish? Will this term work for generic fish in translation?

ret - net, fishnet (prob. loanword). tac-_ ret, to cast a net

Questions:

How important is or was fish in the diet at Ixim Ton? (Ask old folks.)

What other activities do these brothers do together? How did they divide the 2 fish?

Are they like other brothers in Ixim Ton?

What is pox? Maybe a fish bomb. But pox is also term for aspirin. Or is that p'ox? Check.

With translation themes of brother and brotherhood in mind, what applies from this event?

Is cheb a good vocab choice for loaves-and-fishes story in translation? Check other fish.

OCM: 226 Fishing; 461 Labor and leisure; 593 Family relationships; 137 Fauna; 825 Ethnozoology