24/10/2017 Chibcha language - Wikipedia

Chibcha language
Chibcha is an almost extinct language of Colombia, spoken by the Muisca, one of the four adv anced indigenous civ ilizations
of the Americas. The Muisca inhabited the central highlands (Altiplano Cundiboy acense) of what today is the country of
Chibcha
Colombia. Muisca or Muysca
Muysccubun
The name of the language Muysccubun or muyskkubun in its own language means "language of the people" or "language of
Pronunciation mskkuun
the men", from muyska / muysca ("people" or "men") and kubun / cubun ("language" or "word"). [3] Chibcha in the Chibcha
Native to Colombia
language means "look man!". [4]
Region Altiplano
Important scholars who hav e attributed to the knowledge of the Chibcha language were Juan de Castellanos, Bernardo de Cundiboyacense
Lugo, Jos Domingo Duquesne and Ezequiel Uricoechea. Ethnicity Muisca
Extinct ca. 1800[1]
Language Chibchan
family
Contents Kuna-Colombian
Chibcha
1 History
1.1 Spanish colonization Dialects Duit
1.2 Modern history Writing only numerals
system
2 Greetings in Chibcha [8]
Language codes
3 Alphabet and rough pronunciation
3.1 Numbers ISO 639-2 chb (https://ww
w.loc.gov/standa
4 Structure and grammar
rds/iso639-2/ph
4.1 Subject
p/langcodes_nam
4.2 Personal pronoun
e.php?code_ID=8
4.3 Possessive pronoun
0)
4.4 Verbs
4.4.1 Conjugations ISO 639-3 chb
4.4.2 Imperatives Glottolog chib1270 (htt
5 Selection of words p://glottolog.or
g/resource/langu
6 Comparison to other Chibchan languages
oid/id/chib127
7 Surviving words and education
0)[2]
7.1 Toponyms
8 See also
9 References
9.1 Bibliography
10 Further reading
11 External links
Chibcha was spoken in the
southernmost area; Central-
History Colombia

In prehistorical times, in the Andean civ ilizations called preceramic, the

population of northwestern South America happened through the Darien Gap
between the isthmus of Panama and Colombia. Other Chibchan languages are
spoken in southern Central America and the Muisca and related indigenous
groups took their language with them into the heart of Colombia where they
settled in their Muisca Confederation.

Spanish colonization
As early as 1580 the authorities in Charcas, Quito, and Santa Fe de Bogot
mandated the establishment of schools in nativ e languages and required that
priests study these languages before ordination. In 1606 the entire clergy was
ordered to prov ide religious instruction in Chibcha. The Chibcha language
declined in the 18th century . [5]

In 17 7 0, King Charles III of Spain officially banned use of the language in the
region [5] as part of a de-indigenization project. The ban remained in law until
Colombia passed its constitution of 1991.

Distribution of Chibchan languages across southern Central and northwestern South

Modern history America
Modern Muisca scholars hav e inv estigated Muysccubun and concluded that the
v ariety of languages was much larger than prev iously thought. The quick
colonization of the Spanish and the improv ised use of trav eling translators has reduced the differences between the v ersions of Chibcha ov er time. [6]

Since 2009 an online Spanish-Muy sccubun dictionary containing more than 2000 words is online. The project was partly financed by the Univ ersity of Bergen,
Norway . [7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibcha_language 1/7
24/10/2017 Chibcha language - Wikipedia

Greetings in Chibcha[8]
chib - hello (to 1 person)
(chib) yswa - hello to more people
chow? - Are you good? [How are you?]
chow - I am / we are good
haspk wa sihipk w - goodbye!

Alphabet and rough pronunciation

The muysccubun alphabet consists of around 20 letters. The Muisca didn't hav e an "L" in their language. The letters are pronounded more or less
as follows:[9][10] Phoneme Letter

/i/ i
a - as in Spanish "casa"; ka - "enclosure" or "fence"
e - as in "action"; izhe - "street" // y
i - open "i" as in "'inca" - si - "water" or "riv er" /u/ u
o - short "o" as in "box" - to - "dog"
/e/ e
u - "ou" as in "y ou" - uba - "face"
/o/ o
y - between "i" and "e"; "a" in action - ty - "singing"
b - as in "bed" - bohozh - "with" /a/ a

/p/ p
between the vocals "y" it's pronounced [w] - kyby - "to sleep"
/t/ t
ch - "sh" as in "shine", but with the tongue pushed backwards - chuta - "son" or "daughter"
/k/ k
f - between a "b" and "w" using both lips without producing sound, a short whistle - fo - "mantle"
/b/ b
before a "y" it's pronounced [w] - fyzha - "everything" /g/ g

g - "gh" as in "good" - gata - "fire" // f

h - as in "hello" - hu - "inwards" /s/ s

- "i-e" as in Beelzebub - e - "road" or "pray er" // ch
k - "c" as in "cold" - kony - "wheel"
/h/ h
m - "m" as in "m an" - m ika - "three"
/t/ zh
before "y" it's pronounced [mw], as in "Muisca" - myska - "person" or "people"
/m/ m
in first position before a consonant it's pronounced [im] - mpkwak - "thanks to"
/n/ n
n - "n" as in "nice" - ny ky - "brother of sister"
/w/ w

in first position followed by a consonant it's pronounced [in] - ng - "and" /j/

p - "p" as in "people" - paba - "father"

before "y" it's pronounced [pw] as in Spanish "puente" - pyky - "heart"

s - "s" as in "sorry " - sahaw - "husband"

before "i" changes a little to "sh"; [] - si - "water" or "river"

t - "t" as in "text" - y ta - "hand"

w - "w" as in "wow!" - we - "house"
zh - as in "chorizo", but with the tongue to the back - zhy sky - "head"

The accentation of the words is like in Spanish on the second-last sy llable except when an accent is shown: Bacata is Ba-CA-ta and Bacat is
Ba-ca-TA. Numbers 1-10 and
20 in Chibcha
In case of repetition of the same v ocal, the word can be shortened: fuhuch ~ fuch - "woman". [10]

In Chibcha, words are made of combinations where sometimes v ocals are in front of the word. When this happens in front of another v owel, the v owel changes as
follows:[11] a-uba becomes oba - "his (or her, its) face"
a-ita becomes eta - "his base"
a-y ta becomes ata - "his hand" (note: ata also means "one")

Sometimes this combination is not performed and the words are written with the prefix plus the new v owel: a-ita would become eta but can be written as aeta, a-uba
as aoba and a-y ta as ay ta

Numbers
Counting 1 to 10 in Chibcha is ata, bozha, mika, myhyk, hyzhk, ta, kuhupkw, suhuzh, aka, hubchihik. [11] The Muisca only had numbers one to ten and the
'perfect' number 20; gueta, used extensiv ely in their complex lunisolar Muisca calendar. For numbers higher than 10 they used additions; hubchikik asaqui ata ("ten
plus one") for elev en. Higher numbers were multiplications of twenty ; gue-hisca would be "twenty times fiv e"; 100.

Structure and grammar

Subject

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibcha_language 2/7
24/10/2017 Chibcha language - Wikipedia
The subjects in Chibcha do not hav e genders nor plurals. to thus can mean "male dog", "male dogs", "female dog" or "female dogs". To solv e this, the Muisca used the
numbers and the word for "man"; cha and "woman"; fuhuch to specify gender and plural:[12]

to cha ata - "one male dog" (literally: "dog" "male" "one")

to cha mik a - "three male dogs" ("dog male three")
to fuhuch myhyk - "four female dogs"

Personal pronoun

Muysccubun[3] Phonetic English

hycha /ha/ I

mue /mue/ you (informal and formal)

as(y) /as/ or /as/ he / she / it / they

chie /ie/ we

mie /mie/ you (plural)

Possessive pronoun
The possessiv e pronoun is placed before the word it refers to.

Muysccubun[12][13] English

zh(y)- / i- my

(u)m- your

a- his / her / its / their

chi- our

mi- your (plural)

i- is only used in combination with ch, n, s, t or zh; i-to = ito ("my dog")
zh- becomes zhy- when followed by a consonant (except ); zh-paba = zhypaba ("my father")
in case of a , the letter is lost: zh-ohozh = zhohozh ("my buttocks")
m- becomes um- when followed by a consonant; m-oky = umoky ("your book")
zhy- and um- are shortened when the word starts with w; zhy-wa & um-wa = zhwa & mwa ("mi mother" & "your mother")
when the word starts with h, zhy- and um- are shortened and the vocal following j repeated; zhy-hu & um-hu = zhuhu & muhu ("my sir" & "your sir")

Verbs
The Muisca used two ty pes of v erbs, ending on -skua and -suka; bky skua ("to do") and guity suka ("to whip") which hav e different forms in their grammatical
conjugations. [3] bky skua is shown below, for v erbs ending on -suka, see here.

Conjugations

Muysccubun English

k yk a to do

Present tense or imperfect

Muysccubun English

ze bk ysk ua I do or did

um bk ysk ua you do or did

a bk ysk ua he / she / it does or did

chi bk ysk ua we do/did

mi bk ysk ua you do/did

a bk ysk ua they do/did

Perfect and pluperfect

Muysccubun English

ze bk y I did or have done

um bk y you did or " "

a bk y he / she / it did or has done

chi bk y we did or have done

mi bk y you did or " "

a bk y they did or " "

Future tense

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibcha_language 3/7
24/10/2017 Chibcha language - Wikipedia
Muysccubun English

ze bk ynga I will do

um bk ynga you " "

a bk ynga he / she / it " "

chi bk ynga we " "

mi bk ynga you " "

a bk ynga they " "

Imperatives

Muysccubun English

k y do (singular)

k yuua do (plural)

Volitive modality

Muysccubun English

cha k yia may I do

ma k yia may you do

k yia may he / she / it do

chi k yia may we do

mi k yia may you do

k yia may they do

Selection of words
This list is a selection from the online dictionary and is sortable. Note the different potatoes and ty pes of maize and their meaning. [7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibcha_language 4/7
24/10/2017 Chibcha language - Wikipedia
Muysccubun English

aba "maize"

aso "parrot"

ba "finger" or "finger tip"

bhosioiomy "potato [black inside]" (species unk nown)

chihiza "vein" (of blood) or "root"

cho "good"

chyscamuy "maize [dark]" (species unk nown)

chysquyco "green" or "blue"

coca "finger nail"

fo "fox"

foaba Phytolacca bogotensis, plant used as soap

fun "bread"

funzaiomy "potato [black]" (species unk nown)

fusuamuy "maize [not very coloured]" (species unk nown)

gaca "feather"

gaxie "small"

gazaiomy "potato [wide]" (species unk nown)

guahaia "dead body"

guexica "grandfather" and "grandmother"

guia "bear" or "older brother/sister"

hichuamuy "maize [of rice]" (species and meaning unk nown)

hosca "tobacco"

iome "potato" (Solanum tuberosum)

iomgy "flower of potato plant"

iomza "potato" (species unk nown)

iomzaga "potato [small]" (species unk nown)

muyhyza "flea" (Tunga penetrans)

muyhyzyso "lizard"

nygua "salt"

nyia "gold" or "money"

phochuba "maize [soft and red]" (species and meaning unk nown)

pquaca "arm"

pquihiza "lightning"

quye "tree" or "leaf"

quyecho "arrow"

quyhysaiomy "potato [floury]" (species unk nown)

quyiomy "potato [long]" (species unk nown)

saca "nose"

sasamuy "maize [reddish]" (species unk nown)

simte "owl [white]"

soche "white-tailed deer"

suque "soup"

tyba "hi!" (to a friend)

tybaiomy "potato [yellow]" (species unk nown)

xiua "rain" or "lake"

usua "white river clay"

uamuyhyca "fish"; Eremophilus mutisii

xieiomy "potato [white]" (species unk nown)

xui "broth"

ysy "that", "those"

zihita "frog"

zoia "pot"

zysquy "head" or "skull"

Comparison to other Chibchan languages

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibcha_language 5/7
24/10/2017 Chibcha language - Wikipedia
Muysccubun Duit Uwa Bar Chimila Kogui Kuna Guaym Boruca Malku Rama English Notes
Boyac Boyac N. de Cesar S.N. de Darien Panama Costa Costa Nicaragua
N. de Santander Magdalena Santa Gap Costa Rica Rica
Santander Marta Rica
Arauca

chie tia si chibai m saka s s tebej tlijii tukan Moon [14][15][16][17]

ata atia bistia intok ti-tasu/ny kwati xi dooka one [18][19]

person
muysca dary ts ngbe ochpak nkiikna man [20][21]
people

aba eba maize [22][23]

pquyquy t heart [24]

bcasqua yt purkwe to die [25][26]

u hta ju uu house [27][28]

cho mex morn good [29][30]

zihita yn pek-pen frog [26][31]

Surviving words and education

Words of Muysccubun origin are still used in the departments of Cundinamarca of which Bogot is the capital, and the department of Boy ac, with capital Tunja. These
include curuba (Colombian fruit banana passionfruit), toche (y ellow oriole), guadua (a large bamboo used in construction) and tatacoa ("snake"). The Muisca
descendants continue many traditional way s, such as the use of certain foods, use of coca for teas and healing rituals, and other aspects of natural way s, which are a
deep part of culture in Colombia.

As the Muisca did not hav e words for specific things in early colonial times, they borrowed them from Spanish, such as "shoe"; apato, [32] "sword"; espada, [33] "knife";
cuchillo [34] and other words.

The only public school in Colombia currently teaching Chibcha (to about 150 children) is in the town of Cota, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) by road from Bogot. The
school is named Jizcamox (healing with the hands) in Chibcha.

Toponyms
Most of the original Muisca names of the v illages, riv ers and national parks and some of the prov inces in the central highlands of the Colombian Andes are kept or
slightly altered. Usually the names refer to farmfields (ta), the Moon goddess Cha, her husband Su, names of caciques, the topography of the region, built enclosures
(ca) and animals of the region. [35]

See also
Quechua
Spanish conquest of the Chibchan Nations
Muisca numerals, calendar

References
1. Chibcha (http://multitree.org/codes/chb) at MultiTree
on the Linguist List
2. Hammarstrm, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath,
Martin, eds. (2017). "Chibcha" (http://glottolog.org/re
source/languoid/id/chib1270). Glottolog 3.0. Jena,
Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of
Human History.
3. (in Spanish) Quick guide muysccubun (http://muysc
a.cubun.org/Gram%C3%A1tica/Muisca_gu%C3%AD
a_r%C3%A1pida)
4. (in Spanish) Fmeque, cinco siglos de progreso:
1500-2003, p.3 (http://www.fomeque-cundinamarca.g
ov.co/apc-aa-files/39346566643665373238383830353
061/F_MEQUE__CINCO_SIGLOS_DE_PROGRES
O.pdf)
5. "Chibcha Dictionary and Grammar" (http://www.wdl.o
rg/en/item/8988/). World Digital Library. Retrieved
2013-05-23.
6. Gamboa Mendoza, 2016
7. (in Spanish) Diccionario muysca - espaol. Gmez,
Diego F. 2009 - 2017 More than 2000 words in the
Chibcha language (http://muysca.cubun.org/Catego
r%C3%ADa:Diccionario)
8. Saravia, 2015, p.13
9. Saravia, 2015, p.10
10. Saravia, 2015, p.11
11. Saravia, 2015, p.12
12. Saravia, 2015, p.14
13. Saravia, 2015, p.15
14. (in Spanish) Diccionario muysca - espaol. Gmez,
Diego F. 2009 - 2017 Muysccubun: chie (http://muys
ca.cubun.org/chie(2))
15. Casimilas Rojas, 2005, p.250
16. Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1947, p.30
17. Quesada & Rojas, 1999, p.93
18. (in Spanish) Diccionario muysca - espaol. Gmez,
Diego F. 2009 - 2017 Muysccubun: ata (http://muysc
a.cubun.org/ata)
19. Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1947, p.38
20. (in Spanish) Diccionario muysca - espaol. Gmez,
Diego F. 2009 - 2017 Muysccubun: muysca (http://m
uysca.cubun.org/muysca)
21. Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1947, p.25
22. (in Spanish) Diccionario muysca - espaol. Gmez,
Diego F. 2009 - 2017 Muysccubun: aba (http://muys
ca.cubun.org/aba)
23. Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1947, p.37
24. (in Spanish) Diccionario muysca - espaol. Gmez,
Diego F. 2009 - 2017 Muysccubun: pquyquy (http://m
uysca.cubun.org/pquyquy)
25. (in Spanish) Diccionario muysca - espaol. Gmez,
Diego F. 2009 - 2017 Muysccubun: bcasqua (http://
muysca.cubun.org/bcasqua)
26. Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1947, p.36
27. (in Spanish) Diccionario muysca - espaol. Gmez,
Diego F. 2009 - 2017 Muysccubun: u (http://muysc
a.cubun.org/u%C3%AA)
28. Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1947, p.31
29. (in Spanish) Diccionario muysca - espaol. Gmez,
Diego F. 2009 - 2017 Muysccubun: cho (http://muys
ca.cubun.org/cho)
30. Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1947, p.18
31. (in Spanish) Diccionario muysca - espaol. Gmez,
Diego F. 2009 - 2017 Muysccubun: zihita (http://muy
sca.cubun.org/zihita)
32. (in Spanish) Diccionario muysca - espaol. Gmez,
Diego F. 2009 - 2017 "Shoe" in muysccubun (http://
muysca.cubun.org/zapato)
33. (in Spanish) "Sword" in muysccubun (http://muysca.
cubun.org/espada)
34. (in Spanish) Diccionario muysca - espaol. Gmez,
Diego F. 2009 - 2017"Knife" in muysccubun (http://m
uysca.cubun.org/cuchillo)
35. (in Spanish) Etymology Municipalities Boyac (htt
p://www.excelsio.net/2011/11/sabe-el-origen-del-nom
bre-de-su.html) - Excelsio.net

Bibliography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibcha_language 6/7
24/10/2017 Chibcha language - Wikipedia
CASILIMAS ROJAS, CLARA INS. 2005. Expresin de la modalidad en la lengua uwa (https://www.vjf.cnrs.fr/sedyl/amerindia/articles/pdf/A_29-30_13.pdf). Amerindia 29/30. 247-262.
Accessed 2016-07-11.
GAMBOA MENDOZA, JORGE. 2016. Los muiscas, grupos indgenas del Nuevo Reino de Granada. Una nueva propuesta sobre su organizacon socio-poltica y su evolucon en el
siglo XVI - The Muisca, indigenous groups of the New Kingdom of Granada. A new proposal on their social-political organization and their evolution in the 16th century (http
s://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAJ-EM5h4N0). Museo del Oro. Accessed 2016-07-11.
QUESADA PACHECO, MIGUEL NGEL, and CARMEN ROJAS CHAVES. 1999. Diccionario boruca - espaol, espaol - boruca (https://book s.google.com.co/book s?id=xOuCfzqoX-0C&d
q=boruca++idioma+luna&source=gbs_navlink s_s), 1-207. Universidad de Costa Rica. Accessed 2016-07-11.
REICHEL-DOLMATOFF , GERARDO. 1947. La lengua chimila - The Chimila language (http://www.persee.fr/doc/jsa_0037-9174_1947_num_36_1_2358). Journal de la Socit des
Amricanistes 36. 15-50. Accessed 2016-07-11.
SARAVIA, FACUNDO MANUEL. 2015. Curso de aproximacin a la lengua chibcha o muisca - Nivel 1 - Introduction course to the Chibcha or Muisca language - Level 1 (http://www.
zaquenzipa.org/ewExternalFiles/Cartilla.pdf), 181. Fundacin Zaquenzipa. Accessed 2016-07-11.

Further reading
ARANGO, TERESA. 1954. Precolombia: Introduccin al estudio del indgena colombiano - PreColombia: Introduction to the Study of Colombian Indigenous People. Sucesores
de Rivadeneyra.
BOTIVA CONTRERAS, LVARO; LEONOR HERRERA; ANA MARIA GROOT, and SANTIAGO MORA. 1989. Colombia prehispnica: regiones arqueolgicas - Pre-Hispanic Colombia:
Archeological Regions (http://www.banrepcultural.org/blaavirtual/arqueologia/prehisp/apendice.htm). Instituto colombiano de Antropologa Colcultura. Accessed 2016-07-11.
MARTN , RAFAEL, and JOS PUENTES. 2008. Culturas indgenas colombianas - Indigenous Cultures of Colombia.
TRIANA, MIGUEL. 1922. La civilizacin Chibcha (https://book s.google.com.co/book s/about/La_civilizacion_chibcha.html?id=-uVlAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y), 1222. Accessed
2016-07-11.
W IESNER GARCA, LUIS EDUARDO. 2014. Etnografa muisca - Muisca Ethnography (http://www.banrepcultural.org/blaavirtual/geografia/geohum2/muisca1.htm). Central Andean
Region IV. 2. Accessed 2016-07-11.

External links
(in Spanish) Diccionario y gramtica chibcha (http://www.wdl.org/en/item/8988/) - World Digital Library
(in Spanish) Muysc cubun Project (http://muysca.cubun.org) - with Muysc cubunSpanish dictionary
(in Spanish) Archives and sources on the Chibcha language (https://archive.org/search.php?query=Chibcha) - Rosetta Project
(in Spanish) Animated video about the last Muisca rulers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDdtcYz_ME8) - Muysccubun is spoken with Spanish subtitles

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chibcha_language&oldid=789001069"

This page was last edited on 4 July 2017, at 18:47.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibcha_language 7/7