Quaoar (mythology)

Chingichngish (also spelled Chinigchinix, Chinigchinich, Changitchnish, etc.) also known as Quaoar (also Qua-o-ar, Kwawar, etc.) and by other names including Ouiamot, Tobet and Saor is the name of an important figure in the mythology of the Mission Indians of coastal Southern California, a group of Takic-speaking peoples, today divided into the Payomkowishum (Luiseño), Tongva (Gabrieliño and Fernandeño), and Acjachemem (Juaneño) peoples.

Chinigchinix was born, or first appeared, after the death of Wiyot, a tyrannical ruler of the first beings, who was poisoned by his sons. Wiyot's murder brought death into the world, and as a consequence, the male creator Night divided the first human ancestors into distinct peoples, assigning them languages and territories.

In 2002, a large Trans-Neptunian object was named Quaoar after this deity.

The name Ouiamot is ostensibly similar to Wiyot (Ouiot), the name of another important figure, the primeval tyrant killed just before the appearance of Chinigchinix. Ouiamot is possibly to be taken as Ouiamot the childhood name of Chinigchinix. The name Quaoar was first recorded by Hugo Reid in his 1852 description of Tongva, in the spelling Qua-o-ar. Quaoar's parents were Tacu and Auzar, or, according to other accounts, he was born of Tamaayawut (Mother Earth). According to yet other accounts, "he had neither father nor mother".

Both the Tongva mythology and language are recorded only fragmentarily. As a consequence, the pronunciation of the name Quaoar is not known with certainty. Hugo Reid (1852) recorded it as Qua-o-ar, suggesting that it was trisyllabic. But the Spanish transcribed it Quaguar, suggesting two syllables ([ˈkwawar], reflecting the Spanish use of gu for [w]). Kroeber (1925) spells it Kwawar, though he notes Reid's spelling as well: Kwawar (" Qua-o-ar "). Harrington (1933) gives the most precise transcription, K(w)á’uwar, in interpreting an 1846 translation of a Spanish text.

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