Diaguitan etymologies
Peter Sauli Piispanen
[Second draft paper version]
Piispanen, Peter Sauli 2020. Diaguitan etymologies. journal name, xx–xx.
In this paper, a total of eighty-three prospective Diaguitan words are presented, discussed and etymologized. Six of these are
lexical borrowings from Aymara, Quechua, Atacameña and Eastern Bolivian Guaraní. Eight of these are believed Quechuan
borrowings and pertain to the semantic field of chicha brewing, preparation and drinking. Three of these are etymologized
merely on phonological grounds, and a full sixty-six words are etymologized and clarified as flora, fauna, etc. words which
were borrowed into northern Argentinian Spanish (which contains some nine thousand non-standard Spanish words). These
findings, if correct, would more than triple the number of known Diaguitan words and etymologies. The results also show
that the Diaguitan languages used to be extensively spoken in the studied are, interacted strongly with other languages, and
left traces in the local Spanish (and Quechua) language.
Keywords: Lexical borrowing; etymology; Diaguitan (Kakán); Quechua; Aymara; Atacameña; Mapudungun; chicha;
dialectology; Northwestern Argentinian Spanish
Peter Sauli Piispanen, Department of Slavic and Baltic Languages, Finnish, German and Dutch, Stockholm University, 106
91 Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail: peter.piispanen@finska.su.se
1. Introduction
The languages of the Diaguita and Calchaquí tribes were spoken in the Argentinian province of Catamarca, and in
the valley of Calchaquí, Chile, which was the southernmost edge of the Inca Empire; the language(s) has many
names, including Cacan, Kakán, Calchaquí, Chaka, Diaguita, and Kaka.1 Both Loukotka (1968) and Mason (1950)
proposed a very large number of Diaguitan varieties; however, most likely some of these were not Diaguitan at all,
while others likely described the same language or dialect. A better subdivision of Diaguitan may be as Calchaquí,
Capayán, Catamarcano, Hualfín, Paccioca (Pazioca), Pular, Quilme, and Yacampis (Adelaar (w/ Muysken)
2004:407-408; Tovar 1961:31; Nardi 1979). In any case, we may securely talk about the Diaguitan language, or,
perhaps even less securely a Diaguitan language family. It is generally believed that they all became extinct some
time during the late 17th century or early 18th century (albeit I believe this dating is too early, see below). The genetic
affiliation of the language remains unclear because of extremely limited attestation – some place it as part of a
Atacameña-Diaguita group (Schmidt 1926)2 – but in light of modern lexical data it seems safe to say that the two are
not related – the small number of lexical borrowings between the two does not make them genetically affiliated
languages – and therefore Diaguitan is, at least currently, best described as an isolate language (family).
According to some researchers the word Calchaquí is meant to literally mean 'where the Inca Empire ends' in the
local language. The word Diaguita itself, then, is from tiac-y-ta, meaning ‘village inhabitant’ in Kakán. Early
researchers found that the Diaguitan tribes did speak a common language, but that there were differences in
pronunciation in the language spoken by different groups, as well as, in some cases some lexical differences, and
this we may take to mean at the very least different dialects. Naturally, there were probably to be found lexical
1
2
In this paper, I have opted to refer to all of these possibly different languages or dialects simply as Diaguita.
To this group was also added the languages of the Omahuaca and the Humahuaca (Jijón y Caamaño 1941-1943).
borrowings from the surrounding languages in the different dialects, rather than lexical hapax legomena, but we
have no data allowing for studying such details.
Nardi (1979) indeed summarizes the local history well. There is little doubt that the Diaguitan languages used to be
spoken in the Catamarca area; after a) the quelling of the uprising of Chalimín (1630-1643), and b) the failure of the
rebellion in 1658-1659 led by the adventurer Pedro Chamijo (real name: Pedro de Bohórquez Girón, born in Spain),
who had been crowned king of the Incas by the populations of Calchaquí, and c) the triumphant subsequent wars led
by Governor Alonso de mercado y Villacorta in 1659-1665, the language of Kakán in particular was suppressed.
The learning of Quechua was imposed as a Lingua Franca, but still in 1683 the natives of Tucumán spoke Quechua
badly because they spoke only their own common language; the old men knew only the Calchaquí language (i.e.
Kakán) and many women did not speak or understand Quechua (Larrouy, P. Antonio 1923:357). Later on, in 1713
in Campogasta (Chumbicha, Catamarca), according to documentation, a Calchaquí woman – if this is taken to
represent a standard case – still did not speak Quechua well, only her own native language (Larrouy, A. Antonio
1914:12). In 1770, a Royal Order was issued that the different indigenous languages were to be extinguished and
only Spanish to be spoken. To this effect, in 1772, the Tucumán governor Gerónimo Matorras (during 1772-1775)
took measures to decisively uproot indigenous languages: schools were only to teach in Spanish; all doctrines were
written in Spanish; the use of Spanish was compulsory in town houses when speaking to children or servants, and in
country houses and haciendas when speaking to servants; an obligation to know Spanish in order to be allowed to
appoint a chief, mayor, prosecutor, etc. It stands to reason to assume that only after this period of time – because
otherwise these measures would not have been put into practice at all in the first place – did several local languages
become extinct, including the Diaguitan ones (that is in the late 18th century).
There are a few known Quechuan and Aymaran borrowings in Diaguitan, but considering the geographic location of
the language(s), it is possible that borrowings also from Mapudungun and the Huarpean languages, as well as from
Atacameña, could be found. Indeed, in this paper, I shall propose a few such etymologies.
2. Status of Diaguitan language studies
Bibliographically, the major work on Diaguitan lexicon is Nardi (1979), which collects and summarizes Diaguitan
materials from dozens of sources, including Durand (1931), Cabrera (1917), and Serrano (1936), among others. The
lexicon of the Diaguitan languages is not well-studied due to a perceived lack of documentation. Collections of texts
exist at disparate places, but not even the meanings of most of said texts are known, and as such we have a
collection of six hundred and eighty-seven distinct morphemes mostly without assigned meanings (Nardi 1979). This
presents a large hurdle and great difficulties with genetic language classification studies, historical phonology and
much more, rendering all such attempts very difficult.
However, some Diaguitan matters can be and have been concluded, such as the meanings of a total of thirty-three
tentatively worked out words: examples of such, albeit most of unknown etymology (that is beyond these being
actual Diaguitan words), include vile ‘town, region; river; valley’, ahao ‘town’ (possibly in northern Kakán only),
ali ‘cactus thorn’3, gasta ‘town’ (possibly in southern Kakán only; Eusebia, H. Martin 1969-1970),4 cacanchik ‘a
deity of fertility’, titakin ‘lord and king’, inca ‘Inka’ (an obvious Quechuan borrowing and designation), kalcha
‘courageous’, qui ‘much’, zupka ‘altar; place of sacrifice’, machi ‘shaman; medic’ (a Quechuan or Mapudungun
borrowing), enxam ‘head’, ma ‘water’, ango ~ anco ‘water’, mampa ‘channel, stream’, tutu ‘fire’, fil ‘sun’, ki ‘tree’,
bisco ‘a type of acacia’, guacala ‘a type of lignum vitae, aka. pockenholz’,5 chica ‘a type of edible fruit legume’,
sibil ‘toponym and possible the name of a hallucinogen fruit’, tasi ‘likely a type of fruit-bearing plant’, nio ‘a type of
poisonous bush’ (a Quechuan borrowing), quimil ‘a type of cactus’, colcol ‘a type of owl’6, choya ‘a type of bird of
prey’, viñi ‘trush’, isma~ishma ‘a type of small bird’7, waco ‘a sea bird’, walpa ‘chicken’ (a Quechuan borrowing),
champi ‘a type of beetle’,8 talca ‘a type of guanaco’, walu ‘tortuga’, mishi ‘cat’ (another borrowing), paja ‘likely a
type of raven or vulture’, talcol ‘arrow’ and hua ‘maize’. Furthermore, Diaguita alijuche ‘scorpion’ can be and has
been morphologically analyzed as ali ‘thorn of a cactus’ + juche ‘a spider’, rendering the meaning of ‘thorn spider,
i.e. a scorpion’ (Loukotka 1968:278; Nardi 1979; Lozano 1754-1755:295). In the above, we find Quechuan and
possibly also Mapudungun borrowings. Interestingly, a few Diaguitan words have been borrowed in the opposite
direction into Santiagueño Quechua.9 In the field of toponymy (potamology, oronomy, etc.), Schuller (1908) lists
hundreds of place names, many of which would appear to have been Diaguitan designations in the Kakán language,
but, unfortunately, these offer little lexical information of value – beyond suffixation patterns and methods of
naming - other than some borrowings from the surrounding languages.
Furthermore, Nardi (1979) has categorized no less than two hundred and six additional local words, also believed to
be Kakán (as far as I can tell – his argumentation is difficult to follow through the given references – all items are
associated with this language only bona fide as they are used in the former Diaguitan-speaking areas and lack
obvious etymologies from other languages); some of these words must be natively Diaguitan, while others are
probable lexical borrowings from some of the surrounding languages (such as Quechua, Aymara, Atacameño,
3
I note that there is a similar Proto-Aymara *ali ‘plant, stem’ (Emlen, N.Q. 2017), but this is probably unrelated.
Although, in agreement with Nardi (1979), classification of languages according to one single word is hardly
justified. One can merely say that towns up north were generally called ahao, while towns down south were instead
called gasta. These might both have been basic Diaguitan words, but used differently in different local naming
traditions. Possibly, the two words meant something similar like ‘town’, ‘village’, ‘settlement’, ‘center’ or the like.
5
I suggest that this word is identical to Spanish guacal (ɡwaˈkal) ‘wooden crate; calabash tree (Crescentia cujete);
tub (vessel of about equal height and width for storing or washing things in)’, which was borrowed from Classical
Náhuatl huacalli. The Náhuatl word is likely also the ultimate etymological origin of the Diaguitan word.
6
I note that this word is actually borrowed as Argentinian Spanish colcol ‘great horned owl (bubo virginianus)’,
which likely also tells us the exact meaning on the Diaguitan side (Real Academia Española 2010).
7
I note that this word is also borrowed as Argentinian Spanish isma ‘chiguanco trush (turdus chiguanco)’, which
likely tells us the exact meaning on the Diaguitan side (Real Academia Española 2010).
8
The champi is known in Argentinian Spanish as ‘insecto coleóptera, negro, perseguidor de la langosta’, and the
word is originally of Quechuan etymology (Real Academia Española 2010).
9
Other examples of what appear to be Diaguitan borrowings are Santiago del Estero Quechua wax̣alu ‘a type of ant’
and očoʁo ‘a type of aquatic bird’, based on the presence of voiceless and voiced postvelar fricatives (believed
common in Diaguitan), respectively, in these two words (Adelaar (w/ Muysken) 2004:409). Here we might want to
pose the question: are at least some Quechuan borrowings into Diaguita from Santiago del Estero and Santiageuño
Quechua?
4
Eastern Bolivian Guarani, and the Chaco languages). Indeed, in this present study a few Quechuan, Aymaran,
Atacameñan and Mapudungun loanword etymologies can be presented. Nardi offers no details beyond this – but
strongly asserting that these are Diaguitan words – and categorizes the words into clear semantic groups, which is
most helpful for our pursuits. These words are thus, if we believe Nardi’s research and the summary from numerous
historical sources, all excellent candidates for being words of either native Diaguitan origins, or words transmitted to
local Spanish through Diaguitan as a proxy language for other neighboring languages. Even though their exact
meanings are not known, we still have the semantic and phonological details from which we are well able to work
out believable etymologies. For the sake of argument, it is important to understand that the words presented as
Diaguitan are generally not found in any of the other surrounding languages – except as Diaguitan borrowings into
northwest Argentinian Spanish, or, in a few cases, as earlier borrowings into Diaguitan from a neighboring language
or another. The categories are: centipedes (2 words), insects (18 words), spiders (5 words), fish (4 words), reptiles (8
words), birds (34 words), mammals (5 words),10 algae and lichen (2 words), cacti (15 words), cactus thorns (3
words), products of the carob tree (8 words), other vegetables (72 words),11 flowers and fruits (6 words), rocks (2
words), utensils and devices (6 words), quality (4 words), excretions and sexual denominations (5 words), belief (4
words), songs (2 words) and interjections (4 words). Of these, beyond what is given in the footnotes, the exact
meanings of only two words are known: machi ‘shaman; medic’, and quistupa ‘sacrificial animal offering to the
Chiqui’.
Thus, in this study, a number of new findings will be presented:
a.
A total of six of the words in Nardi’s Diaguitan list are etymologized as lexical borrowings, with the
tentative meanings given. The donor languages were in these cases Aymara, Quechua, Atacameña, and
Eastern Bolivian Guaraní, respectively.
b.
A grand total of sixty-six flora, fauna etc. words found in northwestern and northern Argentinian Spanish
are securely etymologized as Diaguitan lexicon; this also gives us the exact meanings of the Diaguitan
words, and which previously were known only by approximate semantics. This finding practically triples
the number of fairly securely known Diaguitan words!12 Some of these Diaguitan words, however, are in
themselves earlier borrowings from other local languages.
c.
Tentative meanings will be assigned to no less than eight previously completely unclassified Diaguitan
words/morphemes, based on them being tentative Quechuan loanwords; these words are all semantically
connected and represent a group of cultural borrowings from the Quechuan languages related to chicha.
10
One of these words, chiñe, is believed to be a Mapudungun borrowing, but of which word is unclear. However,
because there is also Argentinian Spanish chiñe ‘striped skunk’ (Real Academia Española 2010), a later borrowing,
we may conclude that this was also the original meaning in both Diaguitan and Mapudungun.
11
Perhaps due to tribal medicine we might expect a larger number of fauna borrowings between the languages of the
South America; after all, medicinal plants have been used for over four thousand years, and there are some half
million different species (Gobierno de Chile 2018:10), only a fraction of which thus far have been investigated
medicinally. Herbal and medicinal knowledge surely was historically the domain of the medicine men, and such
valued knowledge surely was spread around from tribe to tribe.
12
All such words should be phonologically, prosodically and morphologically analyzed in the future since this may
provide us with hitherto unforeseen insights into the Diaguitan languages, and even into Proto-Diaguita (to be best
of my knowledge not discussed at all so far in the scientific literature).
d.
And finally, a total of three very tentative loanword etymologies are presented for some Diaguitan words
based merely on phonological grounds.
Thus, a total of eighty-three prospective Diaguitan words are presented and discussed in this paper, and additional
comments are given some older suggestions.
3. Loanword etymologies for Diaguitan
First off, regarding loanword etymologies, we should respect a few guidelines and criteria to make such matters
accurate and scholastically believable. De Carvalho (2017) suggests the following conditions for determining
contact etymologies:
a. absence of an internal etymology for the presumed loanword. b. identification of a source language; c.
identification of a source form; d. as complete as possible an account of the form and meaning deviations between
the source form and the presumed loanword; e. identification of a contact situation.
To the above, I would also want to add: f. an explanation of the phonological form of the presumed loanword based
in historical linguistics and known sound laws, as well as g. is the presumed loanword part of a semantic group of
borrowings? For example, a group of words from a donor language pertaining to agriculture, religion, technology,
flora, fauna, etc.?
With these matters in mind, let us attempt to etymologize the following words from Nardi’s semantic lists as
loanwords. Among these we prospectively find one Aymara borrowing, one Atacameña borrowing, three Quechua
borrowings and one Guaraní borrowing, as well as one possible native Diaguitan etymology.
1. Diaguita puisquillo~pushquillo 'a species of cactus' < Aymara p'uskalu 'a kind of cactus fruit' (1951:132),
phuskalla (2011:80); Ayacucho Quechua pusuquy ‘a kind of cactus’ (Parker 1964:19). Nardi (1979) actually gave
the Diaguitan words in two separate semantic categories, ‘cactus species’ and ‘flowers and fruit’, and the Aymara
correspondence shows that ‘cactus species’ was the right assignment. The phonological and semantic details thus
make this a secure Aymaran borrowing. Curiously, Argentinian Spanish has puisquillo ‘dammer bee’, which would
seems to have developed from this Aymaran/Diaguitan word.
2. Diaguita airampu~airampo 'a species of cactus' < Quechua ayranpu ~ haranpu 'Opuntia soehrensii Briton et
Rose) (GRC 2005:21); Argentinian Spanish airampo ‘airampo cactus (opuntia soehrensii)’. The GRC further notes
the following information about the Ayrampo: Especie altoandina de la familia cactácea. Crece en los cercos de las
chacras y en las rocas. Espinas delgadas y obscuras, flores amarillas, semillas rojas obscuras, utilizadas en bebidas
refrescantes. Área geográfica: Perú, Bolivia y Ecuador. Med.Folk. Se usa para curar aptas y casos de fiebre. The
phonologic and semantic details thus make this a secure Quechua borrowing, and the word has subsequently also
been borrowed into local Spanish varieties (including also into Peru, Bolivia and Colombia).
3. Diaguita coshco 'a species of bird' <> Atacameña cósco ~ ckoscko 'lechuza = owl' (Vaïsse et al. 1896:20;
Schuller, R.R. 1908), cósco 'lechuza = owl' (1890:11). Given that this word for ‘owl’ is found only in Diaguita and
Atacameña, the direction of borrowing is unclear. Phonological details may be clarified: in Atacameña
documentation, the ck- is a guttural sound quite similar to the German /ch/ sound, but also followed by an /r/-sound
before the following vowel. However, the same word has also been documented separately as a common affricate
/č/. If the guttural form is primary, however, then we may assume a direction of borrowing from more complex
sound to simpler sound, i.e. Atacameña > Diaguita.
4. Diaguita ulincha ’a kind of bird’ <> Cochabamba Quechua ulinču ‘paloma = dove’ (Parker 1964:42); Argentinian
and Bolivian Spanish ulincha ‘picui ground dove (columbina picui)’. The Diaguitan word likely describes a ‘dove’,
making this a fairly secure Quechuan borrowing. The word has subsequently been borrowed also into local Spanish
variants.
5. Diaguita túaj ‘a kind of bird’ <> Cuzco Quechua and Ayacucho Quechua tuya ‘alondra = lark’ (Parker 1964:77).
This suggestion is phonologically problematic as it presupposes metathesis, and it also poses problems of possibly
accidental similarities, as there are actually numerous other bird species in several local languages of similar
phonologic form. The suggestion is very tentative at best.
6. Diaguita alilicnco ‘a kind of bird’ <> Eastern Bolivian Guaraní alilicuco ‘lechuza = owl’ (Jover Peralta & Osuna
1950:492). I suspect that this Diaguitan word has been documented wrong (i.e. an original /u/ is turned upside
down), and that the word should actually instead be alilicuco, exactly like the Guaraní word; otherwise, as written,
the Diaguitan form is almost unpronounceable (and the cluster –cnc- is not found in any other attested Diaguitan
lexicon either). The Guaraní word is actually a topononym, but it means ‘owl’, and given this matter, the direction of
borrowing should be into Diaguitan.
Diaguitan lexical borrowings in Argentinian Spanish
In this section, I will demonstrate that Northwest Argentinian Spanish has borrowed numerous Diaguitan words.
This regional Spanish variant, also called Rioplatense Spanish (also spoken in parts of Uruguay) is known to have
some 9000 words not used or understood elsewhere; these pertain to words for fruits, garments, foodstuffs, car parts,
etc., Further, Marcos A. Morínigo, who studied the Northwest Argentinian Spanish (1952), noted the existence of
two distinct types of intonations in the area. One of them, called the mountain type, extended from the mountains of
San Luis and Córdoba to the northwest of the province of Salta, including all of La Rioja, all of Catamarca and the
mountainous part of Tucúman and Salta (that is the Calchaquí Valley). He was convinced – and I agree with this –
that this marked intonation had originated as a substrate of the then disappeared Diaguitan languages.13 An example
is the strange melodic curve and accentuation in the first syllable of some words within a phonetic group that occurs,
13
Morínigo also believed that the local Spanish had been affected by Atacameña, which seems likely.
for example, in certain regions of La Rioja. Morínigo also believed that there existed no traces of neither Diaguitan
grammar nor lexicon, but this is incorrect. Rather, Nardi later demonstrated that it is possible to collect and
reconstruct parts of the Diaguitan languages, some lexicon of exactly known meanings, other lexicon with
approximate meanings, and some words of completely unknown meanings. In particular, the field of toponymic
studies provides us with hundreds of likely Diaguitan place names.
Here I will build upon the assumption that Northwest Argentinian Spanish has been deeply influenced by the
Diaguitan languages, and therewith I will also suggest that many of the local words, particularly pertaining to, but
not being limited to, flora and fauna words, originate as borrowings from the earlier local languages, including the
Diaguitan ones. Other languages known to have left marks, including lexical borrowings, in the local Spanish are
Guaraní and Quechua (and, I will suggest, likely also Aymara and Atacameña). To the best of my knowledge, no
one has previously etymologically, phonologically or semantically connected the below Diaguitan and Northwestern
Argentinian Spanish words to this precision. Because the meanings in Spanish likely mirror the Diaguitan meanings,
this finding also reveals the more or less exact meanings of all of these below Diaguitan words. Nardi (1979) was
indeed categorically correct in assuming that many of these words are Diaguitan (Kakán). In a few cases, the
Diaguitan word was, in itself, an earlier borrowing from yet another local language; in such cases, additional
etymologies are given. While Nardi never went into details regarding etymologies, phonological comparisons and
specific considerations about various loanwords and donor and recipient languages, we are here fully able to do so
using modern dialectological dictionaries (Real Academia Española 2010) suitable for our purposes. The following
very clear correspondences, showing Diaguitan borrowings into local Spanish, sometimes subsequently also
borrowed into other more distantly located languages, can be found:
7. Diaguita piquillín ‘a type of plant’ <> Argentinian Spanish piquillín ‘condalia microphylla’. This Diaguitan fruitbearing plant is likely the condalia microphylla, of the Rhamacaea family, endemic to many parts of Argentina. The
name of this plant has also become the name of an Argentinian village in the province of Córdoba. Etymologically,
the name is not at all clear. Some researchers believe that the word originates in Quechua piquillay, which means
‘careful! Do no kneel!’ (Villafuerte 1984); while Muiño (2006:5) agrees with this, but this imaginative solution
seems semantically unlikely to me. After all, the plant, while somewhat thorny, does bear edible fruit and poses no
real threat to anyone (not even cacti are named in such a fashion as far as I can tell). Rather, the plant name of
condalia microphylla could be originally Diaguitan, and be borrowed into local Spanish!
8. Diaguita ampalagua ‘a species of reptile’ <> Argentinian Spanish ampalagua ‘Argentinian boa constrictor (Boa
constrictor occidentalis)’. Similar to the case above, this could be another Diaguitan borrowing into local Spanish.
The exact meaning was in highest likelihood ‘boa constrictor’ also in Diaguitan, but etymologically speaking the
word is ultimately of Aymaran origin, cf. llampa ‘suave, liso’ + lahua ‘palo’. Further, at places, the word exists as
the variant lamapalagua.
9. Diaguita chelco ‘a species of reptile’ <> Northwest and Central Argentinian Spanish chelco ‘lava lizard’.
10. Diaguita hualu ‘a species of reptile’ <> Peruvian Spanish hualo ‘smoky jungle frog (leptodactylus
pentadactylus)’. The word is, to the best of my knowledge, only documented in Peruvian Spanish, and not in
Argentinian Spanish. Despite this, I believe that the connection is valid, that the name has been borrowed into
undocumented Argentinian Spanish, and then been subsequently borrowed into Peruvian Spanish.
11. Diaguita matuasto ‘a species of reptile’ <> Argentinian Spanish matuasto ‘etheridge’s lava lizard (tropidurus
etheridgei)’.
12. Diaguita umucuti ‘a species of reptile’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish umucuti ‘cope’s mabuya lizard
(mabuya frenata)’.
13. Diaguita soco ‘a species of fish’ <> North and East Argentinian Spanish soco ‘tiger fish, wolf fish (hoplias
malabaricus)’.
14. Diaguita alquiche ‘a species of insect’ <> Spanish alquiche ‘chinch bug’.
15. Diaguita tabolango ‘a species of insect’ <> Colombian, Chilean and Argentinian Spanish tabolango
([ta.βoˈlaŋ.go) ‘walking stick (insect) (agathemera crassa)’. The word appears to be etymologically Diaguitan, and it
has spread into numerous variants of South American Spanish.
16. Diaguita tucotuco ‘a species of insect’ <> North Argentinian and South Colombian Spanish tuco ‘click beetle’.
17. Diaguita cacuy ‘a species of bird’ <> Argentinian Spanish cacuy ‘common potoo (nyctibius griseus)’.
18. Diaguita chumuco ‘a species of bird’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish chumuco ‘neotropic cormorant
(phalacrocorax olivaceus)’.
19. Diaguita chuña ‘a species of bird’ <> Argentinian Spanish chuña (ˈtʃu.ɲa) ‘crested cariama; black-legged
seriema (cariama cristata; chunga burmeisterii)’. This word, however, is etymologically of Quechuan origin with
chuña ‘cariama cristata; chunga burmeisterii’.
20. Diaguita chuschín ‘a species of bird’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish chuschín ‘rufous-collared sparrow,
chingolo (junco capensis)’.
21. Diaguita huaco ‘a species of bird’ <> At least in Peruvian Spanish huaco (gwa.ko) ‘black-crowned night-heron
(nycticorax nycticorax)’. This bird species, however, is found in Eurasia, Africa and America, and it is unclear why
the name would have been borrowed from Diaguitan, but it is still possible.
22. Diaguita huiñi ‘a species of bird’ <> Rural Northwest Argentinian Spanish huiñi ‘black trush (turdus
infuscatus)’.
23. Diaguita icaco~icanco ‘a species of bird’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish icaco ‘rufous-collared sparrow,
chingolo (junco capensis)’.
24. Diaguita guechupay ‘a species of bird’ <> Argentinian Spanish quechupay ‘great kiskadee (pitangus
sulphuratus)’. It is noteworthy that the word quechupan also exists in Mapudungun as a name, and so this may
originally have been a Mapudungun borrowing into Diaguitan.
25. Diaguita quilila ‘a species of bird’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish quililo ‘guira cuckoo (guira guira)’.
26. Diaguita siao ‘a species of bird’ <> Spanish autillo de siao ‘siau scops owl’.
27. Diaguita yulu~yulo ‘a species of bird’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish yulo ‘maguari stork, Chilean flamingo
(ciconia maguari)’.
28. Diaguita gujlacate ‘a mammal’ <> Argentinian Spanish gualacate ‘six-banded, yellow armadillo (euphractus
sexcinctus)’.
29. Diaguita huilla ‘a mammal’ <> Rural Northwest Argentinian Spanish huilla ‘hare’.
30. Diaguita sajasta ’an algae or lichen’ <> Argentinian Spanish sajasta ‘beard lichen’.
31. Diaguita milloco ‘a cactus species’ <> Ecuadorian Spanish milloco ‘ulluco tuber (ullucus tuberosus)’.
32. Diaguita guimil ‘a cactus species’ <> Argentinian Spanish quimil ‘quimil cactus (opuntia quimilo)’.
33. Diaguita ucle ‘a cactus species’ <> Argentinian Spanish ucle ‘ucle (cereus forbesii)’.
34. Diaguita ulala ‘a cactus species’ <> Bolivian Spanish ulala ‘rattail cactus (disocactus flagelliformis)’. The word,
however, is etymologically from Aymara ulala ‘cactus’, making the Diaguitan word an early Aymaran borrowing.
35. Diaguita ulúa~uluya ‘a cactus species’ <> Argentinian Spanish ulúa ‘moonlight cactus’.
36. Diaguita patay ‘a product from the carob tree’ <> Argentinian Spanish patay (paˈtaj) ‘sugar cookies made from
carob flour and half roasted in a round mold; Harina de la vaina del algarrobo’.
37. Diaguita afata ‘a kind of plant’ <> North Argentinian Spanish afata ‘rhombus-leaved sida (sida rhombifolia)’.
38. Diaguita calauchín ‘a kind of plant’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish calauchín ‘garlic herb, guinea-hen
weed’.
39. Diaguita cochucho ‘a kind of plant’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish cochucho ‘(fruit of the) smelly sauco tree
(fagara coco)’.
40. Diaguita chalchal ‘a kind of plant’ <> Argentinian and Uruguayan Spanish chalchal ‘chalchal, a coniferous tree
(allophylus edulis)’.
41. Diaguita huañil ‘a kind of plant’ <> Argentinian and Chilean Spanish huañil ‘a type of shrub w/ toothed edge
and white flowers (proustia cuneifolia)’.
42. Diaguita ichivil ‘a kind of plant’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish ichivil ‘pacific yew shrub (vassilia
brevifolia)’.
43. Diaguita itín ‘a kind of plant’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish itín ‘a South American leguminous tree
(prosopis kuntzei)’.
44. Diaguita jumi~jume ‘a kind of plant’ <> Argentinian Spanish jume ‘a type of shrub (allenrolfea vaginata)’.
45. Diaguita lampaya ‘a kind of plant’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish lampaya ‘lampaya plant’.
46. Diaguita loconti ‘a kind of plant’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish loconte ‘leather flower, clematis’.
47. Diaguita mistol ‘a kind of plant’ <> Northwest Argentinian and Bolivian Spanish mistol (mis.ˈtol) ‘(fruit of the)
mistol tree (ziziphus mistol)’.
48. Diaguita páaj ‘a kind of plant’ <> Rural Northwest Argentinian Spanish paaj ‘rash caused by contact with the
red quebracho’. Here, the Spanish word interestingly means the physical effect of the plant; the Diaguitan word, no
doubt, however, meant the red quebracho.
49. Diaguita palanchi ‘a kind of plant’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish palancho ‘tree tobacco (nicotiana
glauca)’.
50. Diaguita pillijay~pillíján ‘a kind of plant’ <> Central and Western Argentinian Spanish pilliján ‘piligan of Brazil
(lycopodium saurus)’.
51. Diaguita píscala ‘a kind of plant’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish piscala ‘yellow bird of paradise bush
(caesalpinia gilliesii)’.
52. Diaguita quimpi ‘a kind of plant’ <> North Argentinian Spanish quimpi ‘lesser swinecross (coronopus
didymus)’.
53. Diaguita sacansa ‘a kind of plant’ <> Central and Western Argentinian Spanish sacanza ‘a type of brush
(gochnatia glutinosa)’.
54. Diaguita sebil ‘a kind of plant’ <> North and Northwest Argentinian Spanish cebil ‘sachasebil plant’.
55. Diaguita shinqui ‘a kind of plant’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish sinqui ‘sinqui plant (mimosa farinosa)’.
56. Diaguita simbol ‘a kind of plant’ <> North Argentinian Spanish simbol ‘naked fountain grass (pennisetum
frutescens)’.
57. Diaguita suico ‘a kind of plant’ <> North and Central Argentinian Spanish suico ‘marigold’.
58. Diaguita tasi ‘a kind of plant’ <> Argentinian Spanish tasi ‘strangler vine (morrenia odorata of the
asclepiadaceae family; morrenia brachystephana)’.
59. Diaguita tupe ‘a kind of plant’ <> Argentinian Spanish tupe ‘desert panicgrass (panicum urvilleanum)’.
60. Diaguita vinal ‘a kind of plant’ <> Argentinian and Ecuadorian Spanish vinal ‘visnal, a hardwood plant
(prosopis ruscifolia)’.
61. Diaguita visco(te) ‘a kind of plant’ <> Argentinian Spanish visco(te) ‘a tree of the leguminosae family (acacia
visco)’.
62. Diaguita pachiguil ‘an utensil or device’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish pachiquil ‘ring of fabric used to
stabilize loads carried on the head’.
63. Diaguita patalca ‘a quality’ <> Rural Northwest Argentinian Spanish patalco ‘with a bittersweet taste’.
64. Diaguita pispo ‘a quality’ <> Archaic Northwest Argentinian Spanish pispo ‘pretty’.
65. Diaguita uti ‘excretion or a sexual denomination’ <> Rural Northwest Argentinian Spanish uti ‘human
excrement’.
66. Diaguita baguala ‘a song’ <> Argentinian and Uruguayan Spanish baguala ‘popular northwest Argentinian
octo-syllabic folk song accompanied by a box drum’.
67. Diaguita joijói ‘a song’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish joi joi ‘singing of three notes accompanied by cajas
musical instruments’.
68. Diaguita cayasán ‘a type of insect’ <> North Argentinian cayasán ‘the lemon bee (Lestrimelitta sp.)’. This word
is actually missing from the American dialectal Spanish dictionary of Real Academia Española (2010), but every
bee-keeper in the Argentinian north knows the cayasán, the common lemon bee.
69. Diaguita chichina ‘a type of insect’ <> North Argentinian chichina ‘Agathemera crass; Agathemera luteola’.
This word was also missing from the RAE (2010), but it is found in North Argentina and belongs to the order of
Phasmatodea, in English it is a sort of stick-bug.
70. Diaguitan chilalo ‘a type of insect’ <> ?North Argentinian chilalo ‘Pacific Hornero, Pale-legged Hornero
(Furnarius leucopus cinnamomeus)’. Another species missing in RAE (2010), but there exists a bird species that is a
builder of clay nests near a water source. It is mostly found in Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Colombia and Bolivia. I
assume the word also exists in North Argentinian Spanish, as is does in the local varieties in all of these countries,
and if the Diaguitan word actually describes this species, it is a bird, and not an insect, as possibly erroneously
recorded. The name also refers to the rufous hornero or red ovenbird in Ecuador and Peru.
71. Diaguita chuy! ‘an interjection’ <> Central and Northwest Argentinian Spanish ¡chuy! ‘interjection: brrr!’.
72. Diaguita tuy! ‘an interjection’ <> Northwest Argentinian Spanish ¡tuy! ‘interjection: tsss!’. Cuzqueño Quechua
has tuy ‘minute’, but that must be unrelated.
Phonologically, we may note that in the Spanish borrowings, adjectives and nouns that originally ended in a vowel
have become –o instead. Also, Diaguitan does not have the /r/-sound, and otherwise only very minor phonological
and explainable differences can be observed with the borrowings.
4. The Diaguitas – drinkers of Chicha?
In many parts of South America (for example among the Quechuas, the Aymaras, the Atacemeñas (ceashir
‘chicha’), the Huarpeans, the Mochicas and the modern South American Spanish populations) there is a long
tradition, with history dating back thousands of years, of brewing alcoholic beverages out of maize, so-called
chicha. The chicha of, for example Peru, is either chicha de jora ‘fermented chicha made from the yellow maize
called jora’ or chicha morada ‘non-fermented chichi made with purple maize’. Chicha was an important component
in pre-Hispanic political meetings, where any agreement was ceremoniously sealed with the consumption of the
drink. In Chile, the target area of this study, chicha was produced from maize and carob, both being important
mainstays in the Calchaqui valley. As time went by, the production was replaced in the 17th century by grape, wine
and schnapps. Drinking and production containers were naturally also of importance, and such can today be found in
various local museums, beautifully adorned and very carefully made (Museo Chileno de arte Precolombino,
Santiago, Chile).
In many of the Quechuan languages, the word for chicha is actually aqha. The brewing technique is fairly refined,
and in the Quechuan languages alone there are many dozens of words related to chicha-brewing and other chicharelated activities. In principle, the corn beer known as chicha is prepared by germinating maize, extracting the malt
sugars, boiling the wort, and fermenting it in large vessels for several days.
Now, it seems as if the Diaguitas were brewers and drinkers of chicha early on too – probably due to Pre-Columbian
cultural and technological trade with the north – because they appear to have borrowed much of the related
terminology from the Quechuan languages. This entire hypothesis is tentative only, because we do not know what
the documented Diaguitan glosses actually mean, but the phonological match with Quechuan words is so great in
every regard, and the sheer number of such possible chicha-related correspondences is so large (no less than eight of
them), that it would be surprising if (most of) the below were not cultural lexical borrowings from the Quechuan
languages into Diaguitan: [NOTE: LOCAL QUECHUA FORMS WILL BE ADDED HERE INSTEAD xxx]
73. Diaguita chicha~chiccha <> Quechua chicha 'drink made from fermented maize'.
74. Diaguita chima <> Quechua cchima 'variedad del maíz de granos pequeños lustrosos, utilizados para tostar =
variety of glossy small-grain corn used for roasting' (Gobierno Regional de Cusco 2005:36).
75. Diaguita chacha <> Cochabamba Quechua c'acay 'to drink chicha' (Parker :43).
76. Diaguita chaqui <> Cochabamba Quechua c'akiy 'drink made from chicha' (Parker :43).
77. Diaguita maqui <> Cochabamba Quechua mak''uy 'to chew (flour to make chicha)' (Parker :24).
78. Diaguita upi <> S Quechua upi; Ayacucho Quechua upi 'the juice squeezed and strained from the corn and ready
to begin fermenting' (Parker :24); Quechua upi 'chicha mosta, aun sin fermentar' (Gobierno Regional de Cusco
2005:219).
79. Diaguita mulli~molli <> Quechua mulli 'Schinus molle; Árbol de la familia anacardiáceas, de tallo rugoso, hojas
compuestas, flores blancocrema en racimo. Sus frutos se utilizan en la elaboración de chicha especial = Shinus
molle; a tree of the anacardiáceas family, of rough stem, compound leaves, creamy white flowers in clusters. Its fruit
is used in the elaboration of special chicha' (Gobierno Regional de Cusco 2005:111); Jaqaru mulli ‘tree with small
fruit for preparing mazamorra and chicha’.
80. Diaguita tala <> Quechua t'ala 'liquido aqua turbia = turbid water' (Gobierno Regional de Cusco 2005:209).
This term is also used in chicha-making by using it as an adjective before the word for chicha, rendering the
meaning into ‘turbid chicha’. While in many of the Quechuan languages this would be t’ala aqha ‘turbid chicha’, in
Diaguitan it was likely tala chicha ‘turbid chicha’.
5. More tentative loanword etymologies for Diaguitan
The below suggestions are based merely on phonological and cultural considerations as, again, the meaning of the
Diaguitan glosses are not actually known. Still, argumentation follows, which tentatively suggests that the following
Diaguitan words are further Quechuan borrowings.
81. Diaguita ajla, probably means 'social group', and it originates in Proto-Quechua *ayʎu ‘unit of social
organization (Emlen, N.Q. 2017) & Chilean Aymara ayllu ‘casta; Unión familiar que con el tiempo ha llegado a
formar la actual comunidad Indígena = breed; family union which, throughout history, has become the current
Indigenous community’; Bolivian Aymara ayllu ~ aylu ‘casta, linaje; comunidad’. It has also been borrowed more
extensively than generally believed or reported in the scientific literature into numerous other languages; cf.
Atacameña aullo ‘grandfather’ (Schuller, R.R. 1908); Mochica ayʎu (ayllu) ‘lineage, kin group’ (forthcoming);
Mapudungun ayllu ‘agrupación social = social group’ (forthcoming). Evidently, the hierarchical and community
system of the ayllu, common among the Quechuas and Aymarans, must have spread around at rapid pace during the
rule of the Inca Empire in many directions. Vaïsse et al. (1896:14) suggests that Atacameña aulo
’grandfather’ is a mis-pronunciation of Spanish abuelo ‘grandfather’. However, I believe that this word is
the Quechuan original word, borrowed with the meaning of ‘progenitor, family head’, which, however,
may phonologically have been contaminated by the Spanish word. After all, every ayllu, that is a clan-like
family unit, was headed by a kuraka (meaning ‘superior’), an aristocrat and magistrate serving as tax
collector and religious authority. Ayllus today are symbolic extended family or kin groups with defined
territories, each with their own names (after a particular person or place). Every ayllu has a putative or
fictive common ancestor, that is a progenitor (McEwan, Gordon, F. 1996:248).
82. Diaguita chili <> chili peppers! [Argumentation to follow in future draft version. xxx]
83. Diaguita pacha <> Proto-Quechua *pača ‘world; time; era; weather; circumstance’; Proto-Aymara *patʂa
‘world; time; era; circumstance; sky’, * patʂa mama ‘Madre Naturaleza = mother nature’ (Emlen, N.Q. 2017). This
word is culturally important as it describes the world-view of the Inca population and beyond. It is also found
borrowed further down south; cf. Atacameña Paatcha ’La Tierra = planet Earth’. These factors in common do
suggest that the Diaguitan word is fairly probably a Quechua/Aymara borrowing. Most noteworthy, the word is also
found in Chipaya pacha ‘time’, which likely is another separate Quechua borrowing.
84. Diaguita china <> Quechuan *china ‘female (animal)’. In this case, the only safely agreeable details are
phonological. We do not at all know the Diaguitan meaning, nor the context, and not even the semantic category –
albeit if correct this word likely pertains to animal husbandry – and so this etymological suggestion (i.e. that this is
another Quechuan borrowing) must remain tentative at best.
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