413 



The name of Andes in the Quichua language 

 (language of the Inca), which wants the conso- 

 nants d,f, and g, Antis, or Ante, appears to me 

 to be derived from the Peruvian word anta, sig- 

 nifying copper, and metal in general. They 

 also say anta chacra, mine of copper ; antacuri, 

 copper mixed with gold ; puca anta, copper, or 

 red metal. As the group of the Altai moun- 

 tains * has taken the denomination in the 

 Turkish dialects of the word alto?- or altyn, in 

 the same manner the Cordilleras must have 

 been termed Copper-country or Anti-suyu, on 

 account of the abundance of metal which the 

 Peruvians employed for their tools. The Inca 

 Garcilasso, son of a Peruvian princess, who 

 wrote with an affecting simplicity the history 

 of his native country in the first years of the 

 conquest gives no etymology of the name 

 of the Andes. He only opposes Anti-suyu, or 

 the region of summits covered with eternal 

 snows (ritiseca), to the plains or Yuncas, that 

 is, to the lower region of Peru. I thought that 

 the etymology of the longest chain of the globe 

 would have some interest for the mineralogic 

 geographer. 



* Klaproth, Asia poly glut ta, p. 211. It appears to me 

 less probable that the tribe of the Antis gave its name to 

 the mountains of Peru. 



f Basil Hall, Journal in Chili and Peru, 1824, Vol. \, 

 p. 3. 



