qichwa

• qhichwa (Cuzco-Collao)

From Proto-Quechuan *qiĉwa (“temperate area, valley”). It is theorized that its use as a glottonym was brought about by the Spanish and that the language had no specific name in pre-colonial times. Instead, it would have been taken from the "Quichoa" people of today's Apurímac, who would have taken their ethnonym from the "valleys" (*qiĉwa) where they lived and who, according to tradition, would have been the first disseminators of Cuzco Quechua.^[1] This theory, however, is disputed. A competing theory holds that the Incas had a sophisticated system of naming languages according to ecological regions.^[2]

• IPA^(key): /qɪt͡ʃ.wa/
  • (Ayacucho) IPA^(key):
  • (Cuzco) IPA^(key):
  • (South Bolivian) IPA^(key):

qichwa

1. temperate area, sierra valley, valley.
2. Andean altitude between 2,300 m and 3,500 m.
3. Quechua people or language.

   Ñuqanchik qhichwa simita rimachkanchik.

   We are speaking Quechua (language).

4. (weaving) a valley motif

• (Peruvian ecoregions) Piruwpi allpa suyukuna; challa, hanka, puna, qichwa/qhichwa, rupha rupha, sallqasuni, umawa, yunka ^{(Category: qu:Peruvian ecoregions)}
• runasimi