Quechua's topics - tribe.net

online Quechua-English dictionary

2008-08-02T18:27:00Z

http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/translation/Quechua/

posted in Quechua - 1 reply

Shamanic Intensive Training Course in Bolivian Andes & Amazon

2008-07-31T17:52:48Z

Sacha Runa Collective offers two Month-long Shamanic Intensive Training Courses a year
(Jan/Feb and August) in the Bolivian Andes& Amazon (www.sacharuna.com).
The course is indeed Intensive and deeply transformational.
It is intended to help train those people who trully want to entrust themselves to Spirit
and dedicate themselves to Service.
No prerequisite is necessary, except the absolute determination to face oneself
and do what is needed to allow spirit to flow through us and bless creation.
The next one is August1-30.
Have to fly in and out of la Paz, Bolivia.
Application letters are due ASAP.
The next course is Jan/Feb 2009

For serious apprentices who intend to become full fledged shamans and
conduct medicine ceremonies, at least 4 courses are recommended but it
ultimately dependes on everybody's skills.

For a description of the course, please visit www.sacharuna.com
Blessings:
Miguel A. Kavlin

posted in Quechua - 14 replies

NY Times article about Quechua translator

2008-07-23T19:15:20Z

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/world/americas/07tupac.html?_r=1&emc=eta1&oref=slogin

posted in Quechua - 0 replies

Teachers needed, must speak quechua, no exp neccesary

2008-07-23T03:49:40Z

Hello Folks

I'm organizing/gathering funding for a school for indigenous kids in Southern Peru who speak only Quechua. Kindergarden through 4th grade. Approximately 6 committed billingual (or maybe trillingual: Spanish, English, Andean Quechua) people are needed, no previous teaching experience neccesary.

Perks: Live with some of the most genuine, kind and amazingly spiritually balanced people on the planet. Learn weaving, traditional Q'eros Cooking, animal husbandry, farming and become a part of the tribe. This is an experience that will change your life forever..

Requirements: MUST have a deep respect for indigenous culture, must not mind getting his or her hands dirty and living, with little electricity or running water. Must be able to commit to a year of service and live in the village as a part of the tribe.

This is a grassroots project put on mostly by volunteers. We are in the proccess of gathering a full grant, but a teachers' salary will be the basic teachers wage by Peruvian standards.

For more info send me a message.

:)

posted in Quechua - 0 replies

GOING TO IQUITOS THIS SUMMER? VA A IQUITOS ESTE VERANO?

2008-06-30T06:30:24Z

PLEASE BRING INFANT, CHILDREN AND WOMEN'S CLOTHING, SHOES AND SCHOOL SUPPLIES.

POR FAVOR TRAIGAN ROPA PARA INFANTES, NINOS Y MUJERES. ADEMAS DE CALZADO, ZAPATOS Y ARTICULOS PARA ESCUELA.

You may contact Amazonistas for details at rareworlds@gmail.com or if you are Spanish speaking contact Amazon Action at rombolo@hotmail.com or call Marco Schneider at Phone: +51 65 605558; +51 193117475 while in Iquitos.

Para Ingles contacte Amazonistas para cualquier pregunta a rareworlds@gmail.com

Si habla espanol contactenos a rombolo@hotmail.com
Para contactarnos via telefonica en espanol llamenos a +51 65 605558 o +51 193117475 Pregunte por Marco Schneider

In Iquitos you may leave your donations at Morona 531

Para donaciones en iquitos puede ir directamente a morona 531

posted in Quechua - 2 replies

please watch this video!

2008-04-10T21:01:08Z

mining is really threatening peruvian quechua village

http://www.qeros.net/mining.html

posted in Quechua - 0 replies

Defy UN: Chew Coca!

2008-03-15T21:08:26Z

Legislators in Peru chew coca to defy UN
Reuters
Published: Friday, March 14, 2008
LIMA -- Lawmakers defiantly chewed coca in Peru's Congress Thursday while
criticizing a UN recommendation to criminalize traditional uses of the
plant.
The coca leaf, the raw ingredient of cocaine, is used by millions of people
to stave off hunger and fight altitude sickness. It is also used in teas,cooking and by fortune tellers.
"The coca leaf has existed for thousands and thousands of years. It's part
of our agriculture, our food and our medicine. It's sacred," Congresswoman
Hilaria Supa told Reuters before the start of Thursday's session.
"The United Nations doesn't know our culture. It doesn't understand our
values," she said.
Supa offered coca to colleagues on the Congress floor from small hats.

i have been following this story for some time and am appalled! i think it's great for the peruvian legislators to take a stand, though i certainly hope that things don't descend into a state of civil chaos and 'anti-gringo' sentiment, the extreme likes of which peru has experienced in the past, largely due to the hypocrisy of US entanglement with the coca plant.

it just goes to show that there is not just one, but many medicines which are currently under attack and deserving of our attention, especially in the international arena, which is where these pressures stem from, not from the local cultures and people themselves. and i think it is fair to say that the global interests at play have precious little to do with the preservation of medicine, technology, culture, and overall well-being.

this is indeed a 'global era', one in which the UN (US?) seems poised to pick up the gauntlet of the war on plants. i believe in letting sleeping dogs lie -- that is, if traditional practice can soar under the radar, then good -- but clearly, this is not the case here, and so i believe one good turn deserves another. in other words, since there have been international proclamations & recommendations made, i do not believe it should be solely up to indigenous people to defend their practice on the world stage, which is not a level playing field to begin with.

since the allegations of the ills of coca belong to a paradigm that is utterly alien to their way of life and belief, and underscore a hidden agenda which is embarrassingly evident, i believe that those of us abroad who represent the "other side of the coin", as it were, have a certain responsibility to represent here, and to stand in the light of the truth that their practice is also ours, that their reverence for this unparalleled food, medicine, and sacrament is also our own.

in view of this, i plan to attend and document this year's International Forum on the Coca Leaf, which is slated to take place in lima in mid-june. it is my hope to be able to learn of ways in which we can be of use in this movement, and to be able to share these insights and strategies with our communities, both here and there. i also hope to be able to incorporate some new issues and perspectives into my presentations at the the first annual Convergence Conference, organized by sita and hosted by Espiritu de Anaconda, july 10 - 18 (http://www.amazonconvergence.com/), and at the 4th annual Conference on Amazonian Shamanism, july 19 - 27 (http://www.soga-del-alma.org/ConferenceSite/presenters.html).

then there is the Global Integrative Traditional Medicine Conference (whew!), scheduled for september 26 - 28 in vancouver (http://www.crish.org/documents/GITM_call_for_abstracts_final.pdf), during which, as most of you know, ken has received approval to hold a one-day seminar on traditional amazonian medicine in which many of us will be taking part.

i feel these forums can create an ideal opportunity for many voices and interests to come forward together in concert, conversation and communion to explore many of the aspects and angles so germane to the current debate on freedom & control, as pertains to our relationship with the plants in particular, and our global outlook in general.

i recognize there is so much to be learned on this subject, and hope to acquire more tools for understanding its intricate design. being so relatively new to this path, i am grateful for all that has been shared with and imparted upon me. i hope to reciprocate in kind, and, as always, welcome any and all comments and feedback from any and all sources, in furtherance and elucidation of this work.

in this spirit, i wish everyone my best, and look forward to more communication on these and other topics.

yours ever,
~AyasminA

posted in Quechua - 0 replies

hummingbird

2008-03-13T18:44:29Z

Can someone please tell me the Spanish and Quechua translation for Hummingbird?

Gracias

posted in Quechua - 11 replies

ima sumach

2008-03-03T23:28:16Z

does anyone have ideas on the definition of this word?

the indigenous village I visited in Peru told me it meant "spirit of the heart"

but other sources are telling me it means "pretty flower: or "pretty girl".

ideas?

posted in Quechua - 10 replies

some words from a song

2008-02-27T23:12:54Z

i was given a song last night from ayahuasca and i think it is quechua, but i do not know much about this language.
these are the words as i sound them so spelling is prolly not right does anyone here who knows the language have any idea of what they mean? or if they are even quechua.

aya aya aya ayahuasca wasi
ton-kan-shil-la wasi.

does that make any sense to anyone here?

thank you and much love to you all.

posted in Quechua - 8 replies

Don Solon

2008-02-11T00:05:39Z

this night i offer my prayers and love to Don Solon, who, at the tender age of 86, has fallen and broken his hip and is in serious condition. i know i am not alone in saying that i had the privilege of sitting with this humble and incredible curandero, teacher of our teachers' teachers, in his little room on a noisy iquitos sidestreet, as thrice per week he continued to offer medicine, blessings, and sopladas to the young and eager, while his own health was flagging, but certainly never his spirit.

no jungle maloca. no fancy retreat. just seven of us on a concrete floor, knees scrunched up, mototaxis screaming though the city night, marveling as this man, old as time , nearly blind, and practically unintelligible in speech, led us through a ceremony of pure light, love, and gratitude, with icaros so vibrant that it seemed they could not possibly have issued forth from his ancient lips. he asked for so little, but his blessings meant so much.

thank you, Don Solon, for being there those many, many nights, for opening your door the next morning when we needed more, for the cleansing tap of your shakapa, and the protective smoke of your mapacho. you swept away the cobwebs and chased away the demons. and you left something of yourself with us. thank you for the gifts. thank you for your icaros, especially the one you sang to me and permitted me to share with others. tonight, i wish to return the favour and share it with you. and henceforth whenever i chant it, i will feel your eternal vibration flowing within and through me. i only hope i can carry it with as much grace and dignity as you do.

"El Senor de los Milagros", por favor, cuidele a este hombre, a este curandero tan humilde, que nos ha dado tanto. Bendigale a el como el nos ha bendito a nosotros. Curelo a el, como el nos ha curado a nosotros. Protejalo a el y a su alma inmortal, y dele paz y amor para siempre. Con su Poder Santisimo, comparta con el su candela eternal, para alumbrar el camino hacia el gran Encuentro.

Don Solon, your space was a realm beyond rules, where the freedom to love and and heal opened up to us in all its simplicity and glory. get well soon. i will see you in Amazonia, where, cradled in the embrace of our beloved Mother, her lullabies shall rock us gently to sleep.

with deepest of blessings and respect to all,
~AyasminA

posted in Quechua - 1 reply

Andean music!

2008-02-08T21:23:45Z

I decided to search for some music videos in Quechua ... came across this which is in Spanish, not Quechua, but it brings back so many awesome memories as this song was popular in Bolivia when I first went there in 1976, the first song on the first album of Los Kjarkas, who are now one of Bolivia's most famous musical groups. ... wow. Memories. Bolivia! Enjoy... I'll still look for some music videos in Quechua.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrsKvtdSDlY

posted in Quechua - 36 replies

In Search of the Divine Vegetal

2008-01-22T00:50:42Z

Hey Everyone!

Here's a link to a demo video my crew and I are working on (very rough, and dated by this point, but oh well...), as a follow-up to our audio documentary by the same name: In Search of the Divine Vegetal." Feedback welcomed!

www.dailymotion.com/panoramabox

Incidentally, the audiodoc is available as a podcast -- if you're interested in listening, go to:

www.cbc.ca/ideas/podcast.html

or simply google it by its name.

Cheers!
~Ayasmina

posted in Quechua - 0 replies

Some informative web pages

2007-12-25T02:27:37Z

Good for a basic orientation to the language:

http://www.zompist.com/quechua.html

http://www.quechua.org.uk/Eng/Main/i_LEARN.HTM

posted in Quechua - 2 replies

about Quechua

2007-12-25T02:26:01Z

Welcome to all the new members, and I guess it is time to post something, like a general orientation to Quechua. I have a degree in Linguistics with a specialization in Native American languages (my original life-dream had been to be a field linguist and help save endangered indigenous languages) so I may use some linguistics terminology at times, but I will always try to explain it.

First - we talk about "Quechua language," but it would be more accurate to call it a family of languages. Quechua has innumerable regional dialects, many of which are mutually unintelligible. There is one major dialect that stretches from Cuzco south into Bolivia, but headed northward from Cuzco, the language becomes very different, and in Ecuador, where it is called Quichua, it is seriously different. Historically, this is because, although Quechua is best known as the official language of the Inca Empire, and the lingua franca used to communicate among different groups, the Incas were only taking advantage of an existing lingua franca that had already been used in many areas for centuries. The Incas introduced Quechua, their own Cuzco dialect, to Bolivia, and so Bolivian Quechua is relatively recent and hasn't had so much time to change (for convenience, I will refer to this variety as "Cuzco Quechua") but the Quechua of Ecuador shows at least 800 to 1000 years divergence from Cuzco Quechua (but the Incas brought their own Cuzco Quechua when they conquered Ecuador, complicating the picture with the overlay of Cuzco Quechua, with the areas with greatest Inca influence having the most similarity to Cuzco Quechua and the more remote regions being very different). Quechua has also historically been used as a lingua franca in the Amazon, specifically the Napo River region, which was a major trade toute. The Napo River starts in the Amazon region of what is now Ecuador and flows through what is now Peru to meet the Amazon River near Iquitos. The Incas never conquered this region, so this variety of Quechua is seriously different from Cuzco Quechua. The Quechua associated with Ayahuasca practice in the Peruvian Amazon is clearly connected to the Napo River Quechua and not to the Cuzco Quechua of the Incas, which makes geographical sense.

Under the Incas, Quechua was used as a lingua franca, or second language of communication, throughout the empire (Tawantinsuyu). When the Spanish missionaries came, they realized it would be much easier for them to take advantage of an existing lingua franca than to try to force all these millions of people to switch to Spanish, so the missionaries learned Quechua, evangelized in it, and forced the extinction of the local languages. Thus, it is due to the Spanish conquest that so many people today speak Quechua as their first language . After the rebellion of Tupac Amaru in 1781, the Spanish crown changed its policy and outlawed Quechua, but by then it was too late.

Although sometimes we may hear about "Quechua people," Quechua is not an ethnicity. The Quechua-speaking peoples are many different ethnicities speaking dialects of a common language. They do all refer to themselves as "Runa," though, a word which literally means "person," but in practice, in the highland Andes, connotes humble common people, the Indians.

The word "Quechua" actually is an Inca term for an ecological zone. The Incas had terms for different altitude zones with their different climates ("puna," their word for the high cold dry altiplano, has been adopted into local Spanish). The word "qheshwa" was the Inca term fot the zone of temperate climate, neither tropical nor cold. When the Spaniards asked "What are you people called?" someone told them they were the temperate-zone folks, and the name stuck. In Quechua, the name of the language is "Runa Simi" in Peru and "Runa Shimi" in Ecuador -- the "mouth of the people" or "language of the common humble Indians."

Quechua is a very learnable language, which accounts for its success as a lingua franca. It is 100% regular (except for some shortened forms found in different local dialects). In fact, I don't know of any other natural language in the world with no irregularities. This means that once you learn a rule, you can apply it with no exceptions. Quechua also has no useless grammatical rules (like gender, for example). Everything in Quechua grammar contributes directly to meaning.

posted in Quechua - 8 replies

Onamonapeias

2007-12-25T02:25:23Z

Here are a few of the words in Quechua to symbolize sound. The spellings are from a workbook by Tod Swanson that we used in our class.

Cus, Cus: The sound of an opossum, dog, or jaguar killing its prey with its teeth.

Murus, murus: The sound of an animal eating crunchy, raw fruit. Like a human eating an apple or cherry.

Chaj, chaj: The sound of chewing cooked food. (The j is kind of a gutteral Germanic thing like a very throaty "k").

Tuluj, tuluj: Glug, glug (The sound of drinking).

Kwataj, kwataj: Glug, glug (The sound of drinking as well).

Puluj, puluj: The sound of something boiling.

Tsun: The sound of getting soaked. It's true, it is.

Tau, tau: The sound of something being pounded.

Putun, putun: The sound of falling fruit.

Tsants: The sound of something slipping from one's grasp.

Lin, lin: The sound of something slippery sliding.

Dzar, dzar: The sound of sawing.

Palau, palau: The sound of someone cutting soft second growth vegetation.

Chings, chings: The sound of someone cutting harder wood.

Guiu, guiu: The sound of someone slicing something soft with a knife.

Dulun: The sound thunder makes.

Sau: The sound of dumping out a large bucket of water.

Tsaras, tsaras: The sound of rustling leaves or paper, like a little mouse in dry leaves. Tsaras tsaras. I really like this one.

posted in Quechua - 3 replies

Peruvian / Andean Cooking

2007-09-29T04:03:28Z

Any interest in discussing favorite Peruvian /Andean dishes and sharing recipes?

I'll go first.....

Chupe de Trigo... yuuuummmmmm.

Main ingredients are Trigo (wheat kernels), yukon gold potatoes with queso fresco cubed and added at the end.

Soak 1 cup of Trigo in warm h2o while you dice 1 sweet or yellow onion & crushed garlic and saute in butter or oil.
Dice a few yukon gold potatoes & add to the onion garlic mixture... cook a bit till potatoes are softened.
Transfer trigo into a soup pot with 6 cups of h2o (or chicken stock) and salt/pepper.
Add the onion/potatoes and then slow boil on medium heat for about 45 minutes.
When trigo is soft, turn off heat and add 1-2 cups of cubed Queso Fresco.
Garnish with chopped parsely or cilantro

enjoy....

posted in Quechua - 1 reply

Is there a published dictionary of Kichwa - English or Kichwa - Spanish?

2007-09-03T18:01:58Z

I would like to learn and surprise the family at the dinner table one day and knock them all out of their chairs! That will teach them to joke about me in Kichwa during dinner! lol

posted in Quechua - 12 replies

El Condor Pasa (Quechua)

2007-07-01T20:27:09Z

El Condor Pasa (Quechua)

Yau kuntur llaqtay orgopy tiyaq
Maymantam gawamuhuakchianqui, kuntur kuntur
Apayllahuay llaqtanchikman, wasinchikman chay chiri orgupy,
Kutiytam munany kuntur kuntur.

fuga:
Kuzco llaqtapyn plazachallampyn suyaykamullaway,
Machupicchupy Huaynapicchupy purikunanchiqpaq.

El Condor pasa (Español)

Oh majestuoso Cóndor de los andes, llevame, a mi hogar, en los Andes, Oh Condor.
Quiero volver a mi terra querida y vivir con mis hermanos Incas, que es lo que man añoro oh Cóndor.

fuga:
Espérame en Cuzco, en la plaza principal,
para que vayamos a pasearnos a Machupicchu y Huayna-picchu.

El Condor pasa (English)

Oh mighty Condor owner of the skies, take me home, up into the Andes
Oh mighty Condor.
I want go back to my native place to be with my Inca brothers,
that´s what I miss the most, Oh mighty Condor.

fuga:
Wait for me in Cusco, in the main plaza,
so we can take a walk in Machupicchu and Huayna-picchu.

posted in Quechua - 1 reply

Quechua word for laughing

2007-05-06T04:21:01Z

Hi,

I am wondering if anyone could tell me what the word in quechua is for laugh, laughing or to laugh? Thanks!

posted in Quechua - 3 replies

Khuyas or Rumis? Sacred Stones

2007-05-05T15:04:53Z

This tribe is stagnating! What's going on!

Anyways I am curious if anyone knows the difference in meaning for the words Khuya or Rumi. I get the impression of Khuyas as small sacred stones among the Q'ero and other groups. I read it it Joan Parisi Wilcox's book. Rumi I learned in the Napo region of Ecuador to mean sacred stones/boulders or small sacred objects of any kind. Are these interchangeable?

posted in Quechua - 1 reply

Saminchasqa kanki, Gayle!

2007-04-09T22:47:21Z

Blessed, you are, Gayle for starting this tribe. I actually had 4 years of Qheshwa while a grad student at UCLA many moons ago. My teacher was Cochabambamanta so my dialect is quite Bolivian. The really interesting thing is that I've become OBSESSED with Quechua since a solo medicine journey I took in January (and have been gifted more than one medicine song in Quechua). Of course, since I've never had the chance to actually PRACTICE outside the classroom (where I lived and worked/still work in N. Peru Quechua speakers are very few and far between and only in very remote places of N. Andes of Peru is Quechua spoken) I imagine that the jaillis (the sacred songs) I've been gifted are quite stilted, from the perspective of a native speaker, anyway. So, I would LOVE to practice and to ask questions of those who know more and who've actually interacted "on the ground" with native Quechua/Quichua speakers as it seems you have, Gayle! Thanks again and I look forward to sharing with you all.

Jatun munay, kaypi tukuy runasimikunapaj,

Bonnie

posted in Quechua - 0 replies

Manioc planting song

2007-04-04T05:39:25Z

Here is a Napo Runa song that is sung by the women as they work in the fields or sung by the men praising the women as they work. The people I stayed with were partial horticulturalists, supplementing hunting and various jobs in the nearby city of Tena. I imagine when I get married I will sing this song for my wife after she comes home from a hard days work.

Maybe even with a guitar.

An ethnomusicologist was with us on the trip and he came up with guitar chords to go with the song that can give you a feel for how it sounds when sung. All but the last syllable of the first line of the verse is A minor. On the last syllable of the first line of the verse it changes to C major. On the very last syllable of the last line of the verse it changes back to A minor. The transliteration of the Quechua is by Tod Swanson.

Lumu Sisa Mama (Manioc Flower Woman):

Lumu sisa mamalla (Manioc flower woman)
Llandu llandu atarisha (Rising while it is still dark)
Ashangara aparisha (Carrying your basket)
Tushushami shayauni (Dancing, you stand)

Other verses:

Purutulla mamaga (Bean mother)
Purutulla tarpusha (Planting beans)
Purutu pukujpimi (When the beans ripen)
Pallashami apani (Gathering them I take them)

Inzhij sisa mamaga (Peanut flower mother)
Inzhijwara tarpusha (Planting my beloved peanuts)
Inzhijwa pukujpimi (When the peanuts are ripe)
Pallashami mikuni (Gathering them I eat)

To adapt it to the male version just change the -ni suffix in the last word of each verse to -ngui, to mean "you" instead of "I/me" and add the Kariuna verse after the original.

Kariuna verse:

Indi llandu punzhapi (On sunny days and cloudy days)
Kallamballa shayaungui (You stand straight like the Callamballa [An erect mushroom])
Ñuka warmishitalla (My beloved woman)
Ima kushi tarabangui (With what joy you work)

posted in Quechua - 1 reply

Quechua Google

2007-04-02T04:19:13Z

http://www.google.com/intl/qu/

posted in Quechua - 2 replies

What does Amaru Muru mean?

2007-04-02T00:33:23Z

Gayle, I am being pulled to visit the site of Amaru Muru on Lake Titicaca. Was wondering what it meant... Amaru Muru??? I think it is Quechua.

posted in Quechua - 10 replies

The Spanish influence

2007-03-25T08:24:34Z

It is interesting to me how Spanish has infiltrated, and begun to affect, Quechua. In the town where I lived in Bolivia - Aiquile, which is located in the center of the country in Cochabamba department - people would joke that they spoke not Spanish or Quechua but "Quechañol." Sort of like "spanglish."

Examples of this were abundant, even to a rudimentary speaker such as myself. The most obvious example was the frequent adoption of Spanish verbs into Quechua conjugation. For example, if people wanted to ask me if I understood something, they would often used the spanish verb, entender, with a Quechua conjugation: "entendinki?"

Pluralization (is that a word in any language?) had been thoroughly corrupted. I was taught that the suffix indicating a plural should be -kuna, but I mostly heard people just put an -s on the end of words like you do in Spanish.

Obviously there had been some Quechua influence on the local Spanish as well - I don't know how to say child in Spanish other than "wawa" - but the influnce was predominately in the opposite direction.

It's sad to think that Quechua might be on the decline, and might one day vanish. Are there any strategies for preserving a language? I have heard that Paraguay has a good system for preserving Guarani, by teaching both Guarani and Spanish in primary schools; however, I don't know the truth behind this. And anyways most primary schools around Aiquile did not impress me as being particularly effective.

posted in Quechua - 6 replies

The causative -chi-

2007-03-24T16:36:54Z

The use of causative -chi- came up in another thread, but I decided that some examples should have their own thread.

In my opinion, if you didn't already know English, the Quechua way would seem much simpler.

(Note that the hyphen at the end of the word means it is not a complete word -- it still needs an ending to show who did it: you, me, them, etc)

But see how nicely the pattern works:

wan~u- = to die
wan~uchi = to cause to die, to kill

yacha- = to know
yachachi- = to cause to know, to teach

riku- = to see
rikuchi- = to show, display, cause to see

ch'aki- = to dry out, to become thirsty
ch'akichi- = to dry something else, to make someone else thirsty

asi- = to laugh
asichi- = to cause someone else to laugh

ati- = to be able
atichi- = to enable, make possible

kallpa- = to run
kallpachi- = to cause to run, cause to flee

akni- = to burp
aknichi- = to cause to burp, to burp (a child)

aqtu- = to vomit
aqtuchi- = to cause to vomit; to make someone pay money owed

chinka- = to get lost, to lose
chinkachi- = to mislead

ali = good (Napo dialect)
alchi- (short for alichi-) = to make good, to heal

-ya- means "to become," and thus -yachi- means "to cause to become":

hatun = large
hatunya- = to become large, to increase
hatunyachi- = to enlarge (something else)

karu = far
karuya- = to become far, move far away
karuyachi- = to move something far away, cause something to go far away

chin = silent
chinya- = to become silent
chinyachi- = to silence something or someone else

chusu = hollow
chusuya- = to become hollow
chusuyachi- = to hollow out

achka- = much, many
achkaya- = to increase (become more)
achkayachi- = to increase (cause something to increase)

hanaq = high
hanaqya- = to rise up
hanaqyachi- = to lift something else up

chiqa = straight
chiqaya- = to straighten up

posted in Quechua - 6 replies

Tenses and Conjugations

2007-03-24T15:07:56Z

I am curious about the dialectic variations people have encountered with conjugation.

Here is what I remember for present tense in the Napo Kichwa we were taught.

First person First person plural
Second person Second person plural
Third person Third person plural

-ni -anchi
-ngui -don't remember
-n(a?) -nun

And example would be the very mikuna

-mikuni -mikunanchi
-mikungui -?
-mikun(a?) -mikunun

posted in Quechua - 4 replies

Mana kanchu

2007-03-23T21:29:45Z

The phrase that I miss the most from Bolivia is, within question, the Manu kanchu. Its meaning (at least in my area) is roughly equivalent to "no hay" in Spanish. It can be used to mean any of the following:
- there isn't any
- we're all out
- I couldn't find it/him/her/them
- it doesn't exist.
- he/she/they are not going to help us
- I didn't get what I came for

It could be followed by the item that was missing. For example, the all too common "man kanchu cambio," spoken in a whiny voice, meaning "there is no change." (NOBODY in Bolivia has change. Not even for small transactions. People will refuse to sell you things if you don't have exact change! I still hoard small coins.)

"Mana kanchu" was usually accompanied by a particular hand gesture: hold the hand our horizontally and then tilt it back and first, raising the thumb then lowering the thumb, etc. I still make that gesture sometimes and have had to explain its meaning to my boyfriend, family, friends, etc.

"Mana kanchu pueeeees."
Alice

posted in Quechua - 2 replies

The use of other languages and the sacred

2007-03-22T23:28:42Z

I am curious what you guys think about other languages as conducive to creating "sacred space" or being conducive to ceremony. I am not familiar with the history of non-first languages used in ceremonies, but I find it useful sometimes to use Quechua when I am thanking a plant or talking to a rock because having to think about which words I am going to choose is emphasized by my lack of fluency. Plus I love to say Quechua words. Kanguna wanganaguna (I mean come on). I have lately gotten into the habit of saying Kishpichipai (excuse me) to birds because when said like kshpeecheepew it sounds like a word a bird would say. I mean only respect to the Quechua language in this sense, and find it a centering practice. Not to say that English is not a beautiful language. Any thoughts or experiences?

posted in Quechua - 3 replies

Languages affecting perceptions

2007-03-22T07:26:28Z

This is from Joan Parisi Wilcox's book on the Q'ero of Peru. This is a great book if you are looking for a fairly intensive exploration of Andean mesa use and energy healing too. I found this passage on Quechua interesting. Has this been true in other peoples' experiences of the language?

"People in the English language say something like this, "I am wearing my poncho." Or, "I am wearing this poncho." You are the master of the poncho! You have it in your control to do with as you wish. In Quechua, we say, "The poncho is on [me]." The poncho has its own spirit! It is not something that I am doing something with. It is something that is doing something to me! We are in relation in a different way. We have this connection to the thing that is more equal or balanced. Here, in English and in many other languages, youhave a way of speaking that shows possession, that makes attachments. "My house." "Your car." That is the way your language is, so it is the way you think and perceive. And it is a way of perception that makes you very attached to things. But that does not have to be. You can balance your perception easily. Just change the words to say, "Our car." It's difficult here. It's difficult to let fo when you are very attached. This kind of language shift is very important for your healing.
Another example is that I notice the word "people" in English does not have the intensity it does in Quechua. We say "runa" in Quechua, but it does not just mean people, it means a living being, a "ch'aska, a light that shines, an individual star! That is what a person is in Quechua. But in English the word "person" doesn't have that intensity of meaning. Thus, you have so many labels for people. In Quechua, a runa is a runa! It is nothing else but a runa! And that is so much! In all these ways your words have power."

I am also interested in filial words and how they impact perceptions. Any ideas?

posted in Quechua - 4 replies

Evidentials

2007-03-22T06:59:13Z

One of the interesting features of Quechua (already mentioned in another thread) is the use of evidentials. These are particles, used in declariative statements, that tell how you know the information you are giving and how sure you are about it. In some dialects, evidentials are optional and used only for emphasis or clarification, while in other dialects, they are considered necessary and a statement would sound incomplete to a native speaker without a evidential.

Some dialects contain more finely distinguished evidentials than this, but the main evidentials are the following:

-mi (often reduced to -m after a vowel) = means the statement is based on personal first-hand knowledge

-si or -shi (often reduced to -s after a vowel) = means the information is based on hearsay or second-hand sources. (Or, if you saw something first-hand but you were drunk at the time, you would use this evidential.)

-cha = means the statement is based on what usually happens, or on other circumstantial evidence

-chu = means you are speculating about it. (This is sometimes not included in lists of evidentials, because -chu is a question-forming particle, but if it is used with certain tones of voice, it is not a question as much as a speculative statement.)

The evidential particles are normally suffixed to the verb of the sentence (the verb normally comes at the end of a sentence, so this places the particle at the end), but they can move around to change the focus of the sentence:

Juan broke-si the pot = They say that Juan broke the pot
Juan-si broke the pot = They say that it was JUAN who broke the pot
Juan broke the pot-si = They say that it was the POT that Juan broke.

The question particle -chu can move around the same way to change the focus of questions:

Juan broke-chu the pot? = Did Juan break the pot?
Juan-chu broke the pot? = Was it JUAN who broke the pot?
Juan broke the pot-chu? = Was it the POT that Juan broke?

posted in Quechua - 1 reply

imaynalla!

2007-03-21T11:54:19Z

Sumaj punchay, imaynalla kasanki? Sutiy Alicia. Quechuata yachakurqani Boliviapi. Noqa Peace Corpswan trabajasarqani.

Well, that's about the limit of my quechua....

Alice

posted in Quechua - 8 replies

Variance in spelling

2007-03-20T15:29:41Z

A couple of summers ago the Napo Valley with the ASU Amazon and Andes field school, I met a man named Don Luis De la Torre, an indigenous rights activist, who talked about a movement to move Quechua away from the Spanish alphabet, we were taught to spell Quechua as Kichwa etc. Does anyone have any insights or experience with this phenomenon?

posted in Quechua - 1 reply

Ali shamushkanguichi!

2007-03-19T20:38:12Z

That's "welcome" (plural) in Napo dialect, the dialect I know best.

It breaks down as follows:

ali = good
shamu- = come
-shka = past participle
-nguichi (the u is silent, following Spanish orthography) = second person plural (you guys)

Pronounced: AH-lee shah-moo-shkan-GEE-chee

To welcome one person, leave off the -chi

posted in Quechua - 2 replies