Duit language

Duit
Native to Boyacá, Colombia
Region Altiplano Cundiboyacense
Ethnicity Muisca
Extinct yes
Chibcha
  • Kuna-Colombian

    • Muysccubun
      • Duit
Only numerals
Official status
Official language in
Muisca Confederation
Language codes
ISO 639-3 None (mis)
Linguist list
qrx (also used for the unrelated Mittlere Neu-Hebriden)
Glottolog duit1239[1]

The second-most southern yellow dot indicates roughly the area where Duit was spoken

Duit is an extinct Chibcha language, spoken by the Muisca of present-day Boyacá, Colombia. The language appears in the modern name of the pre-Columbian settlement and last ruler Tundama; Duitama.[2]

Description

The language is only known from one fragment analysed by scholar Ezequiel Uricoechea in 1871. The linguist mentioned that the analysed text was part of a larger work that hitherto not has been found. From the short text it was clear that the Duit language differed slightly from the main version of Chibcha, Muysccubun, spoken by the Muisca on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense.[3]

As the Muisca did not have a script, only for their numerals, written Duit language texts do not exist.[4]

Comparison to Muysccubun and numerals

English Duit Muysccubun Numerals as noted by Acosta, Humboldt and Zerda
one atia ata
two bocha bosa
three meia mica
Sun sa súa
Moon tia chía
star cúrcha fagua[5]
Earth coga quica

See also

Comparison of Muysccubun with other Chibchan languages

References

  1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Duit". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. (Spanish) Biography Cacique Tundama - Pueblos Originarios
  3. Uricoechea, Ezequiel. 1871. Gramática, vocabulario, catecismo y confesionario de la lengua chibcha, según antiguos manuscritos anónimos e inéditos.
  4. Izquierdo Peña, 2009
  5. (Spanish) fagua - Muysccubun online dictionary

Bibliography

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.