Panzaleo (''Pansaleo, Quito, Latacunga'') is a poorly attested and
unclassified indigenous American language that was spoken in the region of
Quito
Quito (; ), officially San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city, capital and second-largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its metropolitan area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha Province, P ...
until the 17th century.
Attestation
Much of the information on Panzaleo comes from
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...
s of central and northern Ecuador. Typical are:
:''-(h)aló'': Pilaló, Mulahaló
:''-leo'': Tisaleo,
Pelileo
:''-lagua / -ragua'': Cutuglagua,
Tungurahua
Tungurahua (; from Quichua ''tunguri'' (throat) and ''rahua'' (fire), "Throat of Fire")) is an active stratovolcano located in the Cordillera Oriental of Ecuador. The volcano gives its name to the province of Tungurahua. Volcanic activity re ...
Classification
Loukotka (1968) suggested that Panzaleo might be related to
Paez.
(See
Paezan languages.) One of his sources for this proposal was Jijón y Caamaño (1940), who admit that the evidence is weak and may have been due to
language contact
Language contact occurs when speakers of two or more languages or varieties interact with and influence each other. The study of language contact is called contact linguistics. Language contact can occur at language borders, between adstratum ...
.
References
Sources
* Jijón y Caamaño, Jacinto (1936–8): ''Sebastián de Benalcázar'', vol. 1 (1936) Quito: Imprenta del Clero; vol. 2 (1938) Quito: Editorial Ecuatoriana.
* Jijón y Caamaño, Jacinto (1940–5): ''El Ecuador interandino y occidental antes de la conquista castellana'', vol. 1 (1940), vol. 2 (1941), vol. 3 (1943), vol. 4 (1945). Quito: Editorial Ecuatoriana (1998 edition, Quito: Abya-Yala).
* Jiménez de la Espada, Marcos, ed. (1965
586: ''Relaciones geográficas de Indias: Perú'', 3 vols. Biblioteca de Autores Españoles 183–5. Madrid: Atlas.
{{South American languages
Indigenous languages of South America
Unclassified languages of South America
Macro-Paesan languages