Quichua Words in Icaza's Hu asipungo

Abstract

Many of the novels produced in recent years in the Andean region of South America, particularly those that treat of the Indian, contain terms that have their origin in native Indian languages.1 This is true of Huasipungo, by the Ecuadorian novelist, Jorge Icaza; the language of the Indian characters in the story has many words from Quichua, the only, or at least the primary, language of thousands of, Indians in the Ecuadorian highlands. Quichua is so widely used in the Andean region of the country that an Ecuadorian of that section, even though he did not speak the language, would still find among the Quichua words in the novel a good many which form part of his own vocabulary. But for the reader of Huasipungo in this country such words are exotic and totally without meaning. Their use is not likely to lessen his appreciation of the story as a whole, but there is little doubt that a knowledge of them should make possible a fuller understanding of it. Some of these words are to be found, of course, in such well-known dictionaries of South Americanisms as those of Malaret and Santamaria, but specialized vocabularies of this sort are not always readily available. Moreover, all these words are not in a single dictionary, unless it be a comprehensive vocabulary of the Quichua language, and it is not likely that the reader will have one of these at hand. With these things in mind a list of such words and their meanings has been drawn up to facilitate the reading of the novel. In the compilation of the list a number of sources was used, principally vocabularies found in Quichua grammars, and treatises written by Ecuadorians on the language of their country. For a number of words, indicated by his name, I am greatly indebted to Mr. Icaza, who so very kindly supplied the meanings of those which were not given in the references. The texts consulted and the abbreviations used to identify them are listed below: