Huetar (Güetar) is an extinct

Chibchan language The Chibchan languages (also known as Chibchano) make up a language family indigenous to the Isthmo-Colombian Area, which extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia and includes populations of these countries as well as Nicaragua, Costa ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

that was spoken by the

Huetar people The Huetares are an important indigenous group of Costa Rica, who in the mid-16th century lived in the center of what is now the country. They are also mentioned with the name of güetares or pacacuas. Huetares were the most powerful and best-org ...

. It served as the ''

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

'' for precolonial peoples in central Costa Rica, and went extinct in the 17th century. Only a few words in the language are currently known, preserved mainly in the names of various Costa Rican places, such as Aserrí, Barva,

Curridabat Curridabat is a district of the Curridabat canton, in the San José province of Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the nor ...

Turrialba Turrialba may refer to: Places * Turrialba Volcano * Turrialba Volcano National Park, created around Turrialba Volcano. * Turrialba (canton), located in Cartago Province Cartago (), which means Carthage in Spanish, is a Provinces of Costa Ri ...

, Tucurrique, and

Ujarrás Ujarrás is a village and historical site in the Orosí Valley of Cartago Province in central Costa Rica, southeast of the provincial capital of Cartago. It lies near the northeastern bank of the man-made Lake Cachí, created by the damming o ...

. The main source of studies regarding the language is the Costa Rican linguist

Miguel Ángel Quesada Pacheco Miguel Ángel Quesada Pacheco ( San José, 6 May 1955) is a Costa Rican linguist and professor. His areas of research include the dialectology of Central American Spanish, the history of the Spanish language in Costa Rica and the documentation of ...

Bibliography

* Chibchan languages Extinct languages of North America {{IndigenousAmerican-lang-stub