Q U E C H U A

Quechua, pronounced (and sometimes spelled) Kechua, is the most widely spoken Indian language of South America. Its 7 million speakers are located mainly in Peru (5 million), Bolivia (1.5 million), and Ecuador (500,000).

Quechua was the language of the great Inca Empire, which at its zenith in the late 15 century extended from Ecuador in the North to central Chile in the south. The Spanish conquest of the 16th century did not diminish the importance of Quechua, for the new conquerors continued its use throughout the area, and in fact extended it to other areas not part of the original empire. In succeeding centuries many Indian languages of the area have died out, the natives adopting Quechua in some cases, Spanish in others. There are more speakers of Quechua at the present than at the time of the Spanish conquest and the number is still increasing.

For all their great techological skills, the Incas never developed an alphabet. What written records there were, were kept by means of a quipu (the Quechua word for "knot"), an arrangement of cords of various colors which were knotted in different ways. All literature prior to the Spanish conquest was handed down by oral tradition. The Spanish introduced the Roman alphabet but to this day the spelling has never been standardized. Quechua grammar, however, has been found to be extremely regular and consistent. English words of Quechua origin include llama, puma, vicuña, condor, quinine, coca, and guano.

Ollantay, a drama of life at the Inca court, is perhaps the best-known work of Quechua literature. It was composed by an unknown author about 1470.

Kenneth Katzner, The Languages of the World, Routledge, 1977, 1986.

The South American language with the largest number of speakers, Quechua, is of uncertain genetic affiliation: it is widely claimed to be related to the neighboring Aymara language, as the Quechumaran familiy, which is in turn, though less widely, claimed to be related to a number of small languages as the Andean family. Different dialects of Quechua are not always mutually intelligible, so on this criterion Quechua should perhaps be considered a language family rather than a single language. Quechua was the language of the Inca civilisation, centred on Cuzco in what is now Peru, and the spread of the language is due both to Inca colonisaion and to the use of Quechua as a lingua franca by the early Spanish colonists. It is spoken over much of Peru and Bolivia, with extensions into neighboring countries.

Bernard Comrie, The World's Major Languages, Introduction, Oxford, 1987.

Quechua update!

Flipping through the Webster's Collegiate dictionary on my nightstand last evening, I found that the word quechua has an interesting derivation. Apparently, its the hispanized version of the Quechua word kkechúwa, meaning, piquantly enough, "plunderer, robber." Which made me think of the following scene:

CONQUISTADOR #1 (speaking in ridiculously anachronistic posh English accent): I say, Hernando, old boy, won't this golden deathmask look simply smashing in my billiards room?

CONQUISTADOR #2: Brilliant, old chap! I think I'll use this silver-skull thing for my toothpicks!

INCA MOB: KKechúwa! KKECHÚWA!

CONQUISTADOR #1: What's that they're jabbering about? I can never understand a thing they're saying with those ridiculous lip plugs.

CONQUISTADOR #2: Labrets, old man, they're called labrets. You'll never get on with the panjabs unless you pick up a bit of the native pidgin. I say, look at this inlaid box! That's pure gold if ever I've seen it, by Isabella's beard!

INCA MOB: KKechúwa! KKECHÚWA!

CONQUISTADOR #1: I say, this "quechua" business is getting rather tiresome. Is that all they can say?

CONQUISTADOR #2: 'Fraid so, old bean. On the upside, at least we know what to call their language. Andean Hottentots, what?

Exeunt Incae et sic transit gloria Incarum.