32 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



rites, and customs. In this way they introduced over those widespread 

 realms the lingua franca of the Incas, the language called Quichua, 

 although they had other special mother tongues, as will be stated in 

 the following chapter. 



Chapter XIV 



Some Notes with Regard to the Quichua, Aymara, and Other 

 Languages of Those Kingdoms of the Districts of Peru, Chile, the 

 New Kingdom of Granada, and the Rio de la Plata. 



77. Seeing that in the preceding chapters I have discussed the con- 

 fusion of tongues in the Tower of Babel (caused by the ingratitude 

 and sins of mankind) and the origin of the first settlers in the Indies, 

 and that after this first confusion of tongues there followed numerous 

 others, which kept increasing, as we have seen and learned by experi- 

 ence, especially in the regions of the New World, I shall now set 

 down some of the most important and frequently occurring words, 

 with an explanation of their meaning as clear and concise as I can 

 make it. 



78. The Quichua language of Peru is the most widely spoken in 

 those kingdoms ; introduced by the Inca kings, as has been described, 

 it is very polished and sententious. They count as we do up to lo, 

 as follows: i, su; 2, iscai ; 3, quinga; 4, tagua; 5, pixca ; 6, socta ; 

 7, canches ; 8, pacalco ; 9, ixcon ; 10, chunga, or chunca, for in this 

 language there is no g, or letter so pronounced. What is your name? 

 imasuticanci ? where are you from? imallacta canqui? may the Son 

 of God keep you, churi Dios huacaichassunqui ; are you a baptized 

 Christian? Christiano bautizacachucanqui ? who baptized you, where, 

 and how ? pim baptizassurcanqui, muipim, y mahinam ? 



79. And I would remark that, in order to express certain features 

 of Christian doctrine, they make use of our words after their fashion, 

 for they had no conception of them ; e.g., for crossing one's self : 

 In the sign of the Holy Cross, set us free from our enemies, O Lord 

 our God. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy 

 Ghost: Amen, Jesus — Santa Cruz pa unancharaicu, aucaicu cuna- 

 manta, quispi chihuaicu Dios apuicu. Yayap Churi, Spiritu sanc- 

 topsutimpi, Amen lesus. The word for man is runa; father, yaya ; 

 son, churi ; mother, mama ; sun, inti ; moon, quiclla ; Devil, supai ; 

 cori, the stars ; camayu is a generic term, like workman in our lan- 

 guage ; e.g., to express shepherd, they say michi camayu ; porter, 

 puncu camayu, and so on in all other occupations and callings. These 

 notes on the lingua franca (Lengua General) of Peru must suffice 

 if I am to say something about the other languages. 



