Chibcha love poem
Espeho
Muba espehonaz
Zcubun mequin pquaoac abizine.
Ahizysu, aguezac bgasqua.
Xis "mahac atyzynsucaz" bgyuc aguene.
Reverse translation
The mirror
Your face in the mirror,
These are my most beautiful words.
Hurry up, it disappears.
This “I love you” is the last one.
→ French poem ←
Chibcha language
My poem is here translated into Muisca (Muysca, Mosca, Chibcha, autonym: Muysc Cubun), the Chibchane language of the Chibchas alive at the time of Spanish colonization, and which is now extinct.
Diego Fernando Gómez who is the author of this Muysca - Spanish dictionary, told me that in Muysca there is no word for mirror, so he used "Espeho", borrowed from Spanish. As he struggled with several words, he gave me the literal translation (put above).
Chibchan languages are spoken in Colombia and Panama. Some groups having crossed the Isthmus of Panama in ancient times.
During the conquest, Chibcha was spoken in the Cundinamarca (Western Andes, Altiplano Cundiboyacense). Today Cundinamarca is the most populated of the 32 departments of Colombia.
It is believed that there existed a continuum of dialects, but the colonization ended up to "normalize".
Indeed, Chibcha quickly became the language chosen by the Spaniards for administration and evangelization. Also it was learned and studied by missionaries (17th century).
The texts that remain are precious. These are essentially, grammars and religious translations.
The autonym Muysc Cubun) means "language of the people", Muysca = People,) and Cubun = Word.
The Chibcha, today, seek to revitalize their culture and their language, which has not survived more than 200 years to a conquest, which displaced and marginalized everything it encountered, until 1770 when Spanish be declared the language of the empire.
The task is difficult, as there is so much to recover! For its part, today, the Colombian State recognizes this community in its identity.
The Muisca
The Muisca (Chibcha, Muysca, Mosca) are the indigenous people of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense, in Colombia.
They encountered the Spanish during the conquest in the mid-16th century.
They formed a confederation of three large groups, numbering together probably more than 2 million people.
Rapidly their number fell (diseases, conflicts, assimilations). Today the Colombian state estimates them at around 15,000.
They lived on trade, salt (salt mines), crafts and agriculture.