Brinton.] "^ [Feb. 5, 



Kechua radical.^ Dr. Middendorf holds his opinion not so much 

 on the evidence, as to support his favorite theory that the Kechua 

 civilization was derived from the Aymaras and that the Inca gens 

 was of Aymara descent. Unfortunately, he has not acquainted 

 himself with the real constitution of the Kechua social system. It 

 has been ably and satisfactorily analyzed by Dr. Gustav Briihl f and 

 later by Heinrich Cunow.J 



The precise relationship of the Aymara language to the Kechua 

 has received considerable further elucidation through Dr. Midden- 

 dorf 's recent studies. He supplies a list of about five hundred and 

 seventy words, which have approximately the same form and sense 

 in the two tongues, and a second list of about one hundred words 

 which are alike in form but with more or less variation in sense. 

 There is also a strong phonetic likeness between the tongues, and 

 their grammatical characteristics approach each other. His conclu- 

 sion is that ''Aymara and Kechua are sister languages, but are like 

 children of mixed marriages; for while they agree in their essential 

 nature (in ihrem Wesen) quite to the most trivial peculiarities, yet 

 in external grammatical form, as well as in the larger part of their 

 vocabulary, they are wholly asunder." § 



This is substantially the conclusion reached by that master of 

 linguistic science, Prof. H. Steinthal, who has ably explained the 

 identities and diversities of these two tongues on principles of 

 the general philosophy of language. || 



It is probable that further light would be thrown on this question, 

 so interesting for the information its settlement would yield on the 

 origin of Peruvian civilization and the archaeology of the region 

 around Lake Titicaca, were the comparison instituted between the 

 oldest, and therefore purest, forms of the two tongues; and it is 

 partly to call attention to some rare or unpublished materials suit- 

 able for this purpose that I have introduced the subject. 



* Von Tschudi, Organismus dcr KhetKua-Sprache, Eialeituiig, s. Go. Wilhelm von Hum- 

 bolflt was the first to ideutify the words adduced by Garcilasso as members of the 

 Kechua. 



tGustav BrCihl, Die Culturvolker AU-Amerikas (Cincinnati, 1887). 



I " Das peruanische Verwandtschaftssystem und die Geschloclitsverbiinde der Inlia," in 

 Das Ausland, 1891. As to the " secret lauguage," Cuuow says, after discussing what words 

 of it we find in Garcilasso—" Man sieht, von einer Geheimsprache liann keiue Rede 

 scin." 



§ Sec Dr. E. W. Middendorf, Die Aimard-Sprache, a. 285, scq. (Leipzig, 1891), and Das 

 liana Siini oder der fCeshua-Sprache, s. 25 (Leipzig, 1890). 



I " Das Verliiiltuiss zwischeu dem Ketschua und .\iniar4," in the Cumpte Rendu of the 

 Congrte des Amdricauistes, V^me Session (1888), p. 465. 



