Classical Wechua
| Ñawpa Simi | |
| Qhapaq Simi | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈɲawpa ˈsimi] |
|---|---|
| Spoken natively in |
 Nouvelle Alexandrie |
| Region | Central Keltia, primarily around Mount Lacara |
| Ethnicity | Wechua |
| Number of speakers | None native |
| Language family |
Wechu language family
|
| Writing system |
Quipu (traditional) Wechua alphabet (transcription) |
| Regulated by |
Royal Academy of the Wechua Language Tribunal of Traditional Claims |
Classical Wechua (Wechua: Ñawpa Simi), "ancient tongue"; also Qhapaq Simi, "noble tongue"} is an archaic register of the Wechua language that served as the administrative, religious, and legal language of pre-Atteran Wechua civilization. Though no longer spoken as a living language, Classical Wechua retains legal force in Nouvelle Alexandrie for certain categories of property rights, noble succession, and religious matters. The language is preserved primarily through quipu records and oral traditions maintained by the Faith of Inti.
Classical Wechua differs from modern Wechua in vocabulary, grammar, and phonology. Native speakers of contemporary Wechua dialects cannot understand Classical Wechua without formal training. This linguistic distance, combined with the specialized knowledge required to interpret quipu records, has created a narrow class of legal and religious specialists who mediate between ancient documentation and modern institutions.
History
Classical Wechua developed as a prestige register among the priestly and administrative classes of early Wechua civilization, centered on Mount Lacara and the Rodinia river valleys. The language was used for religious ceremonies, royal proclamations, land allocations, and the encoding of quipu records. Distinct from the vernacular speech of common people, Classical Wechua employed an expanded vocabulary for legal, astronomical, and theological concepts, as well as more complex grammatical structures suited to formal discourse.
The quipucamayoc (quipu keepers) of this era developed standardized conventions for encoding Classical Wechua in knotted strings. These records documented land boundaries, tribute obligations, genealogies, and religious calendars. The precision required for quipu encoding helped preserve Classical Wechua in a relatively stable form even as spoken Wechua continued to evolve.
Atteran disruption
The conquest of Wechua lands by the Atteran Empire severely disrupted the transmission of Classical Wechua. Atteran policies deliberately targeted the quipucamayoc class, viewing their knowledge as a potential source of resistance. Many quipu records were destroyed, and the forced relocation of Wechua populations to western Keltia separated communities from their ancestral documentation.
Some quipucamayoc preserved their knowledge in secret, passing it through family lineages or within the priesthood of what would become the Faith of Inti. Temple communities around Mount Lacara maintained the largest surviving collections of ancient quipu, hidden from Atteran authorities. This clandestine preservation meant that Classical Wechua survived primarily in religious contexts, further distinguishing it from the evolving vernacular.
Modern revival
The establishment of the first Wechua state in 1657 AN prompted renewed interest in Classical Wechua as a symbol of cultural continuity. Sapa Wechua Manco Cápac commissioned scholars to catalog surviving quipu records and standardize the interpretation of Classical Wechua texts. This work was interrupted by the Wechua Sorrow following the state's collapse in 1668 AN, though the government-in-exile in Nivardom managed to evacuate significant portions of the royal archives.
The Great Restoration beginning in 1673 AN saw systematic efforts to reconstruct Classical Wechua scholarship. The Royal Academy of the Wechua Language (Qhapaq Runasimi Yachay Wasi) established a dedicated division for classical studies. When the Wechua Nation joined Alduria to form the Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie in 1685 AN, the legal status of Classical Wechua documents was explicitly preserved in the transitional arrangements.
Legal status
Constitutional framework
The Proclamation of Punta Santiago recognizes the continued validity of "traditional forms of documentation" for matters predating the federation's establishment. Subsequent legislation, particularly the Regional and Local Government Organization Act, 1699, established procedures for adjudicating claims based on pre-federation records, including those in Classical Wechua.
The Judiciary Organization Act, 1695 authorized regional courts in the Wechua Nation to maintain specialized chambers for cases involving traditional documentation. In 1703 AN, the High Court of Justice ruled in Ayllu Qollana v. Regional Ministry of Lands that quipu records constitute admissible evidence when authenticated by certified quipucamayoc, establishing the modern framework for Classical Wechua jurisprudence.
Categories of application
Classical Wechua and quipu documentation retain legal force in several specific domains:
- Ancestral land claims (waki allpa): Communal land trusts established before 1500 AN and never converted to modern registry systems remain governed by their original quipu documentation. Disputes over boundaries, water rights, or usage permissions require interpretation of these ancient records. An estimated 340,000 hectares of land in the Wechua Nation fall under this category, primarily in the highlands around Mount Lacara.
- Noble succession: The Wechua nobility (qhapaq ayllu) includes ancient titles whose succession is documented exclusively in quipu records. Claimants to these titles must demonstrate their lineage through quipu interpretation. The Department of Interior maintains a registry of authenticated noble quipu, though the original records remain with family custodians or temple archives.
- Religious endowments: Properties belonging to the Faith of Inti, including temple lands, sacred sites, and water sources for ritual purposes, are often documented in Classical Wechua. The faith's hierarchy maintains its own quipucamayoc for internal administration, though civil disputes require state-certified interpreters.
- Royal domain: Certain crown lands held directly by the King of Nouvelle Alexandrie in his capacity as Sapa Wechua have never been transferred to modern cadastral systems. Administration of these properties involves Classical Wechua documentation managed by the Royal Household.
Quipucamayoc
The interpretation of Classical Wechua, particularly in its quipu-encoded form, requires specialized training available only through a limited number of institutions. As of 1750 AN, the Federation recognizes 47 certified quipucamayoc authorized to provide legally binding interpretations. This small number reflects both the difficulty of the training and the declining demand for classical specialists as more records are converted to modern formats.
Certification requires completion of a seven-year program at the Royal Academy of the Wechua Language or apprenticeship under an existing certified quipucamayoc, followed by examination before a panel of the Tribunal of Traditional Claims. The curriculum includes Classical Wechua grammar and vocabulary, quipu encoding systems, paleography of early Wechua alphabet transcriptions, and comparative study of regional quipu conventions.
The scarcity of qualified interpreters has created significant backlogs in cases requiring Classical Wechua expertise. The Tribunal of Traditional Claims reported an average wait time of 14 months for quipu authentication in 1749 AN. Wealthy families and the Faith of Inti often retain private quipucamayoc, while poorer communities must rely on the limited pool of court-appointed specialists.
Linguistic features
Classical Wechua differs from modern Wechua in several respects. Its vocabulary includes numerous terms for administrative, astronomical, and theological concepts that have fallen out of use or been replaced by Alexandrian or Martino loanwords in contemporary speech. The grammar employs evidentiality markers, honorific registers, and complex sentence structures that have simplified in modern dialects.
The phonology preserves distinctions lost in contemporary Wechua, including a three-way contrast between plain, aspirated, and ejective stops that has collapsed to a two-way distinction in most modern varieties. This phonological conservatism aids in the interpretation of quipu records, where knot positions correspond to specific phonemes.
Scholars at the Royal Academy have identified significant vocabulary divergence between Classical Wechua and modern dialects. A native speaker of Lacara Wechu encountering Classical Wechua texts would recognize perhaps 60-70% of the vocabulary, with the remainder requiring specialized knowledge.
Contemporary debates
The continued legal force of Classical Wechua documentation has generated ongoing controversy. Critics argue that the system privileges those with resources to hire private quipucamayoc and perpetuates inequalities rooted in pre-modern social hierarchies. Reformers have proposed mandatory conversion of all remaining quipu records to modern documentation, which would eliminate the need for classical interpretation.
Defenders of the current system emphasize the cultural significance of maintaining continuity with ancestral practices. The Faith of Inti has been particularly vocal in opposing conversion proposals, arguing that the sacred character of certain records would be compromised by translation into secular formats. Wechua advocates note that communal land trusts documented in quipu have proven more resistant to encroachment than lands held under modern titles.
A middle position, advocated by some legal scholars, would create parallel documentation while preserving the original quipu as the authoritative source. This approach has been adopted for some noble succession records but faces practical challenges when applied to land claims, where the physical quipu may be damaged, disputed, or held by multiple parties.
See also
- Wechua language
- Wechua people
- Quipucamayoc
- Tribunal of Traditional Claims
- Faith of Inti
- Nobility of Nouvelle Alexandrie
- Royal Academy of the Wechua Language
