BAKIT “GINOONG” MARIA?

Icon of the Annunciation wherein the Angel Gabriel greeted the Virgin Mary, "Hail, Full of Grace"

ABA, “GINOONG” MARIA!


Mr. Ben Douglas, an American Catholic apologist emailed me sometime in 2006 asking for some information about Mr. Eliseo Soriano of Ang Dating Daan. At that time, Ben Douglas was preparing an article on Soriano and his Ang Dating Daan. Among others, Mr. Douglas wanted to refute Soriano’s accusation that the Tagalog version of “Hail Mary” (“Aba Ginoong Maria”) is erroneous. Being an American, Mr. Douglas is not very much conversant on Tagalog. Hence, he requested me to provide him some information about the language, specifically about the Aba Ginoong Maria translation.

Mr. Douglas wanted to react to Soriano’s tirades against Filipino Catholics for praying the Aba Ginoong Maria. In a Bible exposition, Soriano, froth in the mouth, lamented: “If you were a woman, how would you feel about being addressed as Ginoo? (mister)? Wasn’t she the wife of Joseph? Why don’t you call her Ginang Maria instead?”

To help a fellow Catholic apologist, I replied to Mr. Douglas’s email on April 26, 2006 explaining that in classical Tagalog, both “ginoo” and “maginoo” were applied to both men and women. Mr. Ben Douglas prepared a well argued article debunking Soriano.

 In addition, he referred to a secular site to prove our case. In the Wikipedia, it categorically states: “Kung mapapansin ang "Ave Maria" sa Tagalog ay tumukoy sa "Ginoo" imbes na "Ginang o Binibini" ito ay dahil sa Lumang Tagalog, ang mga "kalalakihan" ay may "mataas" na pagkilala kumpara sa kababaihan. Ipinilit na gamitin ang "mataas na pagkilalang ito" sa kalagayan at katauhan ni Maria, na ayon sa Romano Katoliko ay Ina ng Diyos.”

There’s no need to change the wording of Aba Ginoong Maria as there is no need to bring coal to Newcastle. When aint broke, don’t fix it. Even if we amend the Aba Ginoong Maria to placate anti-Catholics, would they stop attacking our Marian devotion?

The Aba Ginoong Maria is part of classical religious literature. There’s certainly no need to update it. Would King James-only Protestants ever wish to change the archaic words in the King James Version? I don’t think so. Should we modernize the language of Shakespeare? Definitely not. The same holds true for the Aba Ginoong Maria as it has already been part of the unique Tagalog heritage, language and culture long before the advent of Protestants and fundamentalists in our land.

Going back to the request for references from the 1800’s, I already pointed out in my blog that our National Hero, Dr. Jose P. Rizal, mentioned in his letter Sa Mga Kababayang Dalaga ng Malolos: "Pukawin ninyo ang sigla at sipag, maginoong asal, mahal na pakiramdam at huag isuko ang pagkadalaga sa isang mahina at kuyuming puso” [Jose P. Rizal, Sa Mga Kababayang Dalaga ng Malolos, Nilo S. Ocampo, ed., Si Rizal at ang Wikang Tagalog (Quezon City: UP Press, 2002) 526]. I argued, “Malinaw na para sa pambansang bayani, ang maginoong asal ay hindi lamang para sa mga lalaki bagkus ay marapat din para sa mga babae. Sa madaling sabi, ang mga babae ay dapat na mga maginoo rin. Ang sulat ni Dr. Jose Rizal sa mga dalaga ng Malolos, Bulacan ay hindi lingid sa kaalaman ng mga mag-aaral sa mataas na paaralan at kolehiyo sapagkat ito ay isinasama sa mga babasahing itinatakda ng mga guro sa asignaturang Ang Buhay, mga Gawa at mga Sinulat ni Rizal na bahagi ng kurikulum sa ating mga paaralan. Lumalabas na ang tunay na kahulugan ng ‘Ginoo’ ay marangal o ikinararangal, maging lalaki man o babae.”

In Panganiban’s Diksyonario Tesauro Pilipino-Ingles, it is stated in p. 443 –

“Note: Noceda & Sanlucar report in 1860 that ginoo referred to ‘a lady in rank,’ while maginoo was ‘gentleman of rank.’ The Tg. Version of Ave Maria (Hail, Mary!) starts with Aba, Ginoong Maria. But today both ginoo and maginoo are masculine.”



In Yirmeyah.Net, Filipino Catholic (an apologist from Davao) finally posted my article “ABA, GINOONG MARIA! ABA PO, SANTA MARIANG HARI!” in the forum. That to settle the matter and put the issue at rest. Filipino Catholic concluded, “Is it permissible to call a lady “GINOO”? We already proved na pwede. Even Dr. Jose Rizal called the ladies of Malolos as GINOO. … So … do you agree na pwedeng tawaging GINOO ang babae? Will that "somebody" apologize for calling Bro. Marwil "INCOMPETENT?” (http://yirmeyah.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=661&start=30).