Abstract
This chapter presents the second of three case studies, applying the framework for studying lost languages to the Andes of the southern Ecuadorian highlands. While both (from the Quechuan point of view) “exotic” toponymy and a layer of lexical items with similarly “exotic” sound structure have been noted in the Quechuan of Cañar and Azuay at the outset of modern Quechuan historical linguistics, this case is still much less explored than the one of the previous chapter. This chapter analyzes the toponymy of the Ecuadorian provinces of Cañar and Azuay in the greatest detail so far, and not only carves out its phonological characteristics, but also shows continuities of certain toponymic endings of the region with the north, in particular the Ecuadorian-Colombian border area. Drawing on an earlier study, the chapter shows that the local Quechuan lect has been imbued with a lexical layer of foreign origin that at the same has altered its segmental phonology. The different types of Sprachdenkmäler are suggestive of a Barbacoan presence throughout the Ecuadorian highlands, though there are some loose threads and open question that invite further research.
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Notes
- 1.
The chronology of this expansion is a matter of current debate. Alongisde coincidental spread both to the north and south, it is also possible that the spread initially was to the south only, and that the north was then “colonized” from there.
- 2.
See Stark (1985: 453–458) for another proposal for a “deep chronology” of Quechuan in Ecuador.
- 3.
- 4.
Paz y Miño (1941: 46) already suggested the Barbacoan affiliation of Cara (though he denied that there were any similarities with Pasto and Panzaleo).
- 5.
Jijon y Camaaño (e.g., 1943: 181) posits a particularly close relationship between Cara and the Southern Barbacoan languages Tsafiqui and Cha’palaa.
- 6.
Gómez Rendón (2017: 61), however, says, that Cañari, Puruhá, and their southern neighbor Palta were all different from one another.
- 7.
Pablos (1965 [1592]: 265) actually says that Tomebamba is the Quechuan translation of Guapdondelic. This could only be true if his explanation for the Cañari placename is inaccurate: tumi is the name for a ceremonial knife used in the pre-Colombian cultures of the Central Andes. It appears in Carranza Romero’s (2003) dictionary of Ancash Quechua and also in the Cuzco Quechua dictionary of the Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua (2005), but with the additional information that it is a historic term. Given that tumi appears in Bertonio’s (1612) dictionary of Aymara and is still in use today as the word for ‘knife’ in Bolivian Aymara (Huayhua Pari, 2009), an Aymara origin is likely.
- 8.
Relevant Cañar and Azuay tokens include Quebrada Mishquiapi, which, however, seems to be of a curious Quechuan derivation, meaning “sweet porridge.” Hacienda Cachipambi, the second token, might perhaps be a typo for Cachipamba, which would be interpretable as Quechuan ‘salt plain.’ A third token is Murucu Limpi.
- 9.
For reasons of brevity and ease of reference I will use the phrase “Cañar -Azuay region” as a shorthand for the area in which the substratal Cañari language was once spoken. Note however, that in reality, this area also includes adjacent parts of eastern El Oro and northern Loja, which should be thought of as forming part of the “Cañar Azuay region,” too.
- 10.
A rather large number of toponyms involving Spanish material in combination with the indigenous placename Micay were presented in Colombia. Such doublets are not shown on the map.
- 11.
Paz y Miño (1961)’s sets feature some elements that can clearly be attributed to Quechuan, e.g., -cocha or -pirca, or even Spanish, e.g., -loma, rather than the pre-Quechuan language of the region.
- 12.
Paz y Miño (1942) has made similar observations and offers a complicated interpretation of the facts. He claims not only to be able to infer that Puruhá was notably different from Cara and Panzaleo, but also that there is another language, “Makají,” underlying Puruhá, whose speakers were related to the people of Azuay before the immigration of the Cañari. This he deduces from the observation that Puruhá and Cañari share toponyms with a certain structure, namely ones ending in -ud which is sometimes preceded by a set of different consonants and sometimes is not. These toponyms he assigns to this hypothetical older “Makají” linguistic stratum.
- 13.
“Hablan la lengua general quichua del Inga los más la lengua particular dellos, ques la cañar de la provincia de Cuenca, y en partes revuelta con la de los purguays de la provincia de Ríobamba.” Renard-Casevitz et al. (1988: 213) suggest that, west of the Nudo del Azuay, the Alausí basin may have hosted a mixed bilingual population. The same region may also have been a junction of interregional trade.
- 14.
There is also a strong presence of this ending on the Guajiro peninsula of which, however, it seems safe to say that it is unrelated to the Ecuadorian toponymic set and more likely associated with the Arawakan Wayuu (Guajiro) language spoken there.
- 15.
There also is a Río Piatus in Napo, though this appears to be a clerical error for intended “Río Piatua”.
- 16.
In the Colombian department of Tolima, the ending occurs in the names of gorges, rivers, and mountain crests called Cambrín and Sincerín. There also is a place called El Jadrín, which may be a clerical error for Spanish jardín ‘garden.’ There are scattered tokens of Sincerín and also one Circerín in Northern Colombia; these may have a Spanish origin, too, and there is a Río Tzurin in the Ecuadorian lowland province of Morona Santiago, a name which may have a Chicham origin.
- 17.
There is one token in Colombia’s Huila department, and another one much further to the east in Southern Colombia, in Caquetá; there are further scattered tokens still further east and north.
- 18.
Pichipud, Chachupud, Chillapud, and Sasaput.
- 19.
The apparent association of this ending with the Pasto language has also been noted by Jijón y Camaaño (1940: 199–217). He mentions Cayalapud, Cualapud, Cuaspud, Chalipud, Muelambud, Nispud, Palampued, Pialapud, Pispud, Puchimbud, Tanyarbud, Tembud, Tepud, Ujampud, Yanguibud, Yurambud as placenames (or names of huacas, which likely are natural landmarks) that go back to the Pasto language (as well as Casbuepud, Coambued, Cuasapud, Chalapud, Chalpued, Guachagpud, Guelpud, Ipialpud, Malambud, Malapud, Malpud, Puergualpud, and Taimbud, which are personal names).
- 20.
There is also a Quebrada Albadán in the Huila department and El Sudan and Topundan in Bolívar.
- 21.
Note the placename Suescún in an area much further north, in which the Duit language, apparently a close sister of Muisca, was once spoken.
- 22.
Parker (1969b: 155) notes that there is another way by which Ecuadorian Quichua dialects can acquire a voicing distinction, namely when voiceless stops after nasals re-enter “by pronunciation borrowing,” but this doesn’t seem to be involved here.
- 23.
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Urban, M. (2023). The Barbacoan Languages and the Southern Ecuadorian Highlands. In: Linguistic Stratigraphy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-42102-0_5
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