Chatino
/tʃəˈtiːnoʊ/noun
Chatino is a member of an Indigenous Oto-Manguean language family spoken primarily in Oaxaca, Mexico, or a person belonging to the Chatino people.
Did you know?Chatino speakers traditionally use Indigenous names for their languages, while “Chatino” is an outside label whose precise origin remains debated.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Columbian period
Proto-Oto-Manguean
Unattested ancestor
“Reconstructed ancestral language from which Chatino and other Oto-Manguean languages developed; no securely reconstructed form for “Chatino” is known.”
Pre-Hispanic period
Chatino languages
Kitse Cha'tnya
“A traditional Chatino self-designation, commonly interpreted in connection with speech or language; exact translations vary by community and dialect.”
16th Century
Spanish
Chatino
“Spanish colonial records began using Chatino as a name for the Indigenous people and languages of Oaxaca.”
19th–20th Century
English
Chatino
“English-language ethnographic and linguistic works adopted Chatino as the standard name for the language group.”
Modern English
English
Chatino
“A collective name for several closely related Indigenous languages of Oaxaca, Mexico, and for their speakers.”
Explore more surprising origins