Talk:Kaqchikel language

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[edit] Move proposal (Aug 2006)

An article rename is proposed for this page and a number of other Mayan language articles. Please see and comment at the centralised discussion for these at Talk:Mayan languages.--cjllw | TALK 05:55, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Kaqchikel = Qué pasa

When I traveled to Guatemala, I met a Mayan girl one of whose native language is Kaqchikel language, and she told me that the name of the language ´kaqchikel´ actually means ¨Qué pasa¨ in Spanish, i.e. ¨What happened?¨ But I´m not sure. Could anybody here prove it?--Bellenion 04:35, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

That sounds to be a bit of an apocryphal version. I believe that kaqchikel is the autonym for the people, deriving from kaq "red" and che' "tree/branch/stick". Apparently the late 16thC MS Memorial de Tecpán Atitlán (also mentioned in the Annals of the Cakchiquels and Título de Totonicapán) gives the mythical origin for the name: when the ancestral peoples passed from their mythical place of origin Tollan/Tula(n) they carried a red branch or staff with them, which the progenitor rulers Q'aq'awitz and Saqtekaw used to 'part the sea', and hence their name. There's a spanish-translation quote from the Memorial of this passage on the ALMG site, here.--cjllw | TALK 01:42, 27 February 2007 (UTC)