Muisca
/ˈmwis.kə/noun
A member of an Indigenous people of the Colombian Andes, or the language they speak.
Did you know?The Muisca were famous to the Spanish for their goldwork and sacred ceremonies, and their name is preserved today as both an ethnic and linguistic label.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Columbian era
Muisca
muisca
“An ethnonym used for the Indigenous people of the central Colombian highlands.”
16th Century
Spanish
muisca
“Recorded by Spanish chroniclers as the name of the people encountered in the Bogotá region.”
Colonial period
Spanish
Muisca
“Used in colonial sources for the people and their language in the New Kingdom of Granada.”
Modern English
English
Muisca
“The standard English ethnonym for the Indigenous people and their language of central Colombia.”
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