The most searched Quechua words on the internet

I have already written several articles about many of the most searched Quechua words on the internet, such as: yes, good mornig, thank you, thank you very much, hello, greetings, colors, black, animals, cat, verbs, days of the week, months, family, sun, moon, parts of the body, welcome, woman, I love you, child, baby, rich y nature, but there are still several words, which I cannot group, so I put them all in this article.

  • Book in quechua could be: ‘Qelqa mayt’u‘ or just ‘Qelqa‘, but considering that the inkas did not have an equivalent to what we understand today by book, you can simply use the Spanish ‘Libro‘, or as some have quechuaized: ‘Liwru‘.
  • Clothes: P’acha.
  • Strenght, force: Kallpa.
  • Cusco in quechua is Qosqo, for some scholars it means cairn or stone cairns; or also milestone, signal, reference point, core. The chroniclers Inka Garcilaso de la Vega, Wamán Poma de Ayala and others define Qosqo, such as the navel or the center, highlighting the political and administrative function of the capital city of Tawantinsuyo. In turn, the chronicler Femando de Montesinos reports that it comes from qosqos which means lots of stones, which was in the Watanay valley where Cusco is.
  • Meaning of the word “Quechua“. The word Quechua comes from ‘Qheswa‘, this word refers to a temperate or moderate climate ravine. Quechua-speakers do not refer to their language as Qheswa, but as ‘Runa simi’ (Language of man), however Father Domingo de Santo Tomás, author of the first dictionary entitled “Lexicon and Vocabulary of the General Language of Peru” He called the language Runasimi as Qhiswa, without explaining the reasons for this change to posterity. Possibly he took the lexical terms of the town of Qhiswa Panpa, near the Pachachaka and Matara river in the current department of Apurírnac, Peru, where he lived for several years, publishing his first book in 1560, in Valladolid, Spain.
  • Writing in Quechua could be Qelqa (graphic sign, stroke) o Seq’e (scribble), there is no exact equivalent because the Inkas did not have a writing system, at least as far as is known.
  • Hotel in Quechua is said: ‘Tampu wasi‘ or ‘Qorpa wasi‘, the word ‘Qorpachay‘ means: to lodge, is related to the hospitality.
  • News in Quechua are said: Willakuy or its plural Willakuykuna. Willakuy can also mean: To tell, to inform.
  • Cheese in Quechua could be: Kachipa (small cheese), Kachikurpa (salted cheese), but in view of the fact that cheese is something that appeared with the arrival of the Spaniards, the Spanish ‘Queso’ is commonly used (some write the quechuaized form “Kisu“).
  • Quinoa in Quechua is written Kinua, it is pronounced the same as in Spanish.
  • Chair in Quechua is said ‘Tiyana‘ (something that serves to sit) or ‘K’irana‘ (something that serves to lie down, rest).
  • To learn in Quechua is said Yachay.
  • Game in Quechua is said Pukllay.
  • Place in Quechua is said K’iti, if you talk about a populated place you should use Markani or Llaqta.
  • Medicine in Quechua is said Hanpi (medicine, remedy, medication) or Hanpina (something to cure, that is a medicine).

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