Tunebo
/tuːˈneɪboʊ/noun
A member of the U’wa Indigenous people of northeastern Colombia and adjacent Venezuela, or their Chibchan language.
Did you know?“Tunebo” is largely an exonym: the U’wa people generally use U’wa for themselves, while Tunebo became common in Spanish and English ethnographic writing.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Colonial Period
U’wa
U’wa
“The Indigenous self-name associated with the people commonly called Tunebo.”
16th Century
Spanish
Tunebo
“A Spanish ethnonym for the Indigenous people encountered in the eastern Colombian Andes; the word’s deeper source is uncertain.”
19th Century
English
Tunebo
“An ethnographic name for the people and their language.”
20th Century
English
Tunebo
“A standard anthropological and linguistic term, alongside the increasingly preferred name U’wa.”
Modern English
English
Tunebo
“A historical or alternate English name for the U’wa people or their Chibchan language.”