Chibcha language
| Chibcha | |
|---|---|
| Muisca or Muysca | |
| Muysccubun | |
| Pronunciation | mʷɨskkuβun |
| Native to | Colombia |
| Region | Altiplano Cundiboyacense |
| Ethnicity | Muisca |
| Extinct | ca. 1800 |
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Chibchan
|
|
| Dialects | Duit |
| only numerals | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | chib1270 |
Chibcha was spoken in the southernmost area; Central-Colombia
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Chibcha is an almost extinct language of Colombia, spoken by the Muisca, one of the four advanced indigenous civilizations of the Americas. The Muisca inhabited the central highlands (Altiplano Cundiboyacense) of what today is the country of Colombia.
The name of the language Muysccubun or muyskkubun in its own language means "language of the people" or "language of the men", from muyska / muysca ("people" or "men") and kubun / cubun ("language" or "word"). Chibcha in the Chibcha language means "look man!".
Important scholars who have attributed to the knowledge of the Chibcha language were Juan de Castellanos, Bernardo de Lugo, José Domingo Duquesne and Ezequiel Uricoechea.
In prehistorical times, in the Andean civilizations 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.
As early as 1580 the authorities in Charcas, Quito, and Santa Fe de Bogotá mandated the establishment of schools in native languages and required that priests study these languages before ordination. In 1606 the entire clergy was ordered to provide religious instruction in Chibcha. The Chibcha language declined in the 18th century.
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Wikipedia