View source for Social:Guanche language

{{Short description|Extinct language of the Canary Islands}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Guanche
| states           = Spain (Canary Islands)
| region           = Canary Islands
| ethnicity        = Guanches
| extinct          = 17th century<ref name=Kossman/>
| ref              = 
| familycolor      = Afro-Asiatic
| fam2             = Berber (?)
| stand1           = Guanche
| iso3             = gnc
| glotto           = guan1277
| glottorefname    = Guanche
| linglist         = gnc
| fam1             = Afro-Asiatic (?)
}}

'''Guanche''' is an [[Social:Extinct language|extinct language]] that was spoken by the Guanches of the Canary Islands until the 16th or 17th century. It died out after the conquest of the Canary Islands as the Guanche ethnic group was assimilated into the dominant Spanish culture. The Guanche language is known today through sentences and individual words that were recorded by early geographers, as well as through several place-names and some Guanche words that were retained in the Canary Islanders' Spanish.

==Classification==
Guanche has not been classified with any certainty. Many [[Social:Linguistics|linguists]] propose that Guanche was likely a Berber language, or at least genealogically related to the Berber languages to some extent as an [[Social:Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic language]].<ref>Richard Hayward, 2000, "Afroasiatic", in Heine & Nurse eds, ''African Languages,'' Cambridge University Press</ref><ref>Andrew Dalby, ''Dictionary of Languages'', 1998, p. 88 "Guanche, indigenous language of the Canary Islands, is generally thought to have been a Berber language."</ref><ref>Bynon J., "The contribution of linguistics to history in the field of Berber studies." In: Dalby D, (editor) ''Language and history in Africa'' New York: Africana Publishing Corporation, 1970, p 64-77.</ref><ref name="Militarev 2018">{{Cite web |last=Militarev |first=Alexander |date=2018 |title=Libyo-Berbers-Tuaregs-Canarians (Tamâhaq Tuaregs in the Canary Islands in the Context of Ethno-Linguistic Prehistory of Libyo-Berbers: Linguistic and Inscriptional Evidence)|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329403424  |website=Research Gate}}</ref> However, recognizable Berber words are primarily agricultural or livestock vocabulary, whereas no Berber grammatical inflections have been identified, and there is a large stock of vocabulary that does not bear any resemblance to Berber whatsoever. It may be that Guanche had a stratum of Berber vocabulary but was otherwise unrelated to Berber.<ref name=Kossman>Maarten Kossmann, [https://www.academia.edu/8902056/Berber_subclassification_preliminary_version_ Berber subclassification (preliminary version)], Leiden (2011)</ref> Other strong similarities to the Berber languages are reflected in their counting system, while some authors suggest the Canarian branch would be a sister branch to the surviving continental Berber languages, splitting off during the early development of the language family and before the ''terminus post quem'' for the origin of Proto-Berber.<ref name="Militarev 2018"/>

==History==
The name ''Guanche'' originally referred to a "man from [[Earth:Tenerife|Tenerife]]",<ref name=Britannica>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Guanches |volume= 12 | pages = 650–651, line two |quote= ....man of Teneriffe,” corrupted, according to Nuñez de la Peña, by Spaniards into Guanchos}}</ref> and only later did it come to refer to all native inhabitants of the Canary Islands. Different dialects of the [[Social:Language|language]] were spoken across the [[Earth:Archipelago|archipelago]]. Archaeological finds on the Canaries include both [[Social:Tifinagh|Libyco-Berber]] and [[Social:Punic language|Punic]] inscriptions in rock carvings, although early accounts stated the Guanches themselves did not possess a system of writing.

The first reliable account of the Guanche language was provided by the Genovese explorer Nicoloso da Recco in 1341, with a list of the numbers 1–19, possibly from [[Earth:Fuerteventura|Fuerteventura]]. Recco's account reveals a base-10 counting system with strong similarities to Berber numbers.

Silbo, originally a whistled form of Guanche speech used for communicating over long distances, was used on [[Earth:La Gomera|La Gomera]], El Hierro, [[Earth:Tenerife|Tenerife]], and [[Earth:Gran Canaria|Gran Canaria]]. As the Guanche language became extinct, a [[Social:Spanish language|Spanish]] version of Silbo was adopted by some inhabitants of the Canary Islands.

==Numerals==
Guanche numerals are attested from several sources, not always in good agreement (Barrios 1997). Some of the discrepancies may be due to copy errors, some to [[Biology:Gender|gender]] distinctions, and others to [[Social:Arabic|Arabic]] borrowings in later elicitations. Recco's early 1341 record notably uses Italian-influenced spelling.

{|class=wikitable
|-
![[Number]]!!Recco<br>(1341)!!Cairasco<br>(song, 1582)!!Cedeño<br>(c. 1685)!!Marín de Cubas<br>(1687, 1694)!!Sosa<br>(copy of 1678)!!Abreu<br>(attrib. to 1632)!!Reyes<br>(1995 reconstruction)!![[Social:Proto-Berber|Proto-Berber]]
|-
![[1|1]]
|vait*
|*be
|ben, ven-ir-
|becen~been, ben-ir-
|ben, ben-ir-
|been (ben?), ben-i-
|*wên
|*yiwan
|-
![[2|2]]
|smetti, smatta-
|*smi
|liin, lin-ir-
|liin, sin-ir-~lin-ir-
|lini (sijn)
|lini, lini-
|*sîn
|*sin
|-
![[3|3]]
|amelotti, amierat-
|*amat
|amiet
|amiet~amiat, am-ir-
|amiat (amiet)
|amiat
|*amiat
|*karaḍ
|-
![[4|4]]
|acodetti, acodat-
|*aco
|arba
|arba
|arba
|arba
|*akod
|*hakkuẓ
|-
![[5|5]]
|simusetti, simusat-
|*somus
|canza~canse
|canza
|cansa
|canza
|*sumus
|*sammus
|-
![[6|6]]
|sesetti, sesatti-
|?
|sumus
|sumui~sumus
|sumus
|smmous
|*sed
|*saḍis
|-
![[7|7]]
|satti
|*set
|sat
|sat
|sat (sá)
|sat
|*sa
|*sah
|-
![[8|8]]
|tamatti
|*tamo
|set
|set
|set
|set
|*tam
|*tam
|-
![[9|9]]
|alda-marava,
nait
|?
|acet~acot
|acot
|acot
|acot
|*aldamoraw
|*tiẓ(ẓ)ah~tuẓah
|-
![[10|10]]
|marava
|*marago
|marago
|marago
|marago
|marago
|*maraw~maragʷ
|*maraw
|}
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Also {{transliteration|gnc|nait}},' an apparent copy error. Similarly with {{transliteration|gnc|alda-morana}} for expected *{{transliteration|gnc|italic=no|alda-marava}}.

Later attestations of 11–19 were formed by linking the digit and ten with ''-ir'': {{transliteration|gnc|benirmarago, linirmarago,}} etc. 20–90 were similar, but contracted: {{transliteration|gnc|linago, amiago,}} etc. [[100|100]] was {{transliteration|gnc|maraguin}}, apparently 10 with the Berber plural ''-en''. Recco only recorded [[1|1]]–16; the combining forms for 11–16, which did not have this ''-ir-'', are included as the hyphenated forms in the table above.

[[Social:Spanish language|Spanish]] does not distinguish {{IPA|[b]}} and {{IPA|[v]}}, so ''been'' is consistent with *veen. The Berber feminine ends in ''-t'', as in Shilha [[1|1]]: ''yan'' (m), ''yat'' (f); [[2|2]]: ''sin'' (m), ''snat'' (f), and this may explain discrepancies such as ''been'' and ''vait'' for 'one'.

Cairasco is a misparsed counting song, {{transliteration|gnc|besmia mat acosomuset tamobenir marago}}. ''Ses'' '[[6|6]]' may have got lost in the middle of {{transliteration|gnc|somuset}} ( ← *{{transliteration|gnc|italic=no|somussesset}}).

Starting with Cedeño, new roots for '[[2|2]]' and '[[9|9]]' appear ('9' perhaps the old root for '[[4|4]]'), new roots for '[[4|4]]' and '[[5|5]]' (''arba, kansa'') appear to be Arabic borrowings, and old '[[5|5]]', '[[6|6]]', '[[7|7]]' offset to '[[6|6]]', '[[7|7]]', '[[8|8]]'.

==Vocabulary==
Below are selected Guanche vocabulary items from a 16th-century list by Alonso de Espinosa, as edited and translated by Clements Robert Markham (1907):<ref>{{citation-attribution|1=Espinosa, Alonso de; Markham, Clements Robert (ed.). 1907. ''[https://archive.org/details/guanchesofteneri00espirich The Guanches of Tenerife, the holy image of Our Lady of Candelaria, and the Spanish conquest and settlement]''. (Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, second series, 21.) London: [[Organization:Hakluyt Society|Hakluyt Society]]. 229pp. }}</ref>{{rp|xx-xxiv}}

:{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Guanche !! English gloss
|-
| adara || lake 
|-
| afaro || grain
|-
| aguere || lake
|-
| ahof, aho || milk
|-
| ahoren || barley meal roasted with butter
|-
| amen || sun
|-
| ana || sheep
|-
| ara || goat
|-
| aran || farm
|-
| xaxo || deceased; mummy
|-
| banot || spear
|-
| cancha || dog
|-
| cel || moon
|-
| chafa || lofty mountain ridge
|-
| chafaña || toasted grain
|-
| chamato || woman
|-
| coran || man
|-
| coraja || red owl
|-
| e-c, e-g || I (1st person)
|-
| era, iera || your
|-
| guan; ben || son (in reality "one of")<ref>{{Cite web|last=Reyes |first=Ignacio |date=2017-09-14 |title=Guan |url=https://imeslan.com/2017/09/14/guan/ |access-date=2021-11-26|website=DICCIONARIO ÍNSULOAMAZIQ |language=es}}</ref>
|-
| guañac || people; state
|-
| guaya || spirit, life
|-
| guijon, guyon || ships (-''n'' ‘plural’)
|-
| guirre || vulture (''Neophron percnopterus'')
|-
| hacichei || beans, vetches
|-
| hari || multitude, people
|-
| jarco || mummy
|-
| manse || shore
|-
| mayec || mother
|-
| n-amet || bone
|-
| o-che || melted butter
|-
| petut || father?
|-
| t || thou, thy
|-
| th || they
|-
| tabayba || ''[[Biology:Euphorbia|Euphorbia]]''
|-
| tabona || obsidian knife
|-
| tagasaste || ''[[Biology:Cytisus proliferus|Cytisus proliferus]]'' (var.)
|-
| taginaste || ''[[Biology:Echium|Echium]] strictum''
|-
| tamarco || coat of skins
|-
| tara || barley
|-
| taraire, tagaire || alternative name for Mt. Teid
|-
| xerco || shoe
|-
| xerax || sky
|-
| zonfa || navel
|}

Below are some additional basic vocabulary words in various Guanche dialects, from Wölfel (1965):<ref>Wölfel, Dominik Josef. 1965. ''Monumenta linguae Canariae: Die kanarischen Sprachdenkmäler''. Graz, Austria: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt.</ref>

:{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Guanche !! gloss !! dialect (island)
|-
| guan, cotan || man || 
|-
| chamato || woman || 
|-
| hari || people, multitude || [[Earth:Tenerife|Tenerife]]
|-
| doramas || nostrils || [[Earth:Gran Canaria|Gran Canaria]]
|-
| adargoma || shoulder || Gran Canaria
|-
| atacaicate || heart || Gran Canaria
|-
| garuaic || fist || 
|-
| zonfa || navel || Tenerife
|-
| agoñe || bone || Tenerife
|-
| taber || good || La [[Earth:La Palma|Palma]]
|-
| tigotan || sky || La Palma
|-
| [[Religion:Achamán|Achamán]] || sky, God || Tenerife
|-
| magec || sun || Tenerife, Gran Canaria?
|-
| ahemon || water || Hierro
|-
| aala(mon) || water || [[Earth:La Gomera|Gomera]], Hierro
|-
| ade || water || La Palma
|-
| ide || fire || Tenerife
|-
| tacande || volcanic field || La Palma
|-
| cancha || dog || Gran Canaria, Tenerife
|-
| garehagua || dog || La Palma
|}

==References==
<references />

==Further reading==
*Osorio Acevedo, Francisco. 2003. ''Gran diccionario guanche: el diccionario de la lengua de los aborígenes canarios''. Tenerife: CajaCanarias. {{ISBN|9788479264253}}
*Villarroya, José Luis de Pando. 1996. ''Diccionario de voces guanches''. Toledo: Pando Ediciones.
*Villarroya, José Luis de Pando. 1987. ''Diccionario de la lengua Guanche''. Madrid: Pando Ediciones.
*Zyhlarz, Ernst. 1950. Das kanarische Berberisch in seinem sprachgeschichtlichen Milieu. ''Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft'' 100: 403-460.
*Esteban, José M. 2003. [https://www.acta.es/recursos/revista-digital-manuales-formativos/316-030 Vocabulario canario guanche]. ''Autores científico-técnicos y académicos'' 30:119-129.

==External links==
{{EB1911 Poster|Guanches}}
*[http://tesis.bbtk.ull.es/ccssyhum/cs159.pdf José Barrios: Sistemas de numeración y calendarios de las poblaciones bereberes de Gran Canaria y Tenerife en los siglos XIV-XV] (PhD Dissertation, 1997)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140303004248/http://afrika.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/i_afrikawissenschaften/occasional_papers/paper_04_boehm.pdf Gerhard Böhm: Monumentos de la Lengua Canaria e Inscripciones Líbicas] (Department of African Studies, University of Vienna - Occasional Paper No. 4 / February 2006)



{{DEFAULTSORT:Guanche Language}}
[[Category:Medieval languages]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of Africa]]

{{Sourceattribution|Guanche language}}