U'wa Language
/ˈuː.wə ˈlæŋ.ɡwɪdʒ/noun
A Chibchan language spoken by the U'wa people, primarily in northeastern Colombia and nearby regions.
Did you know?U’wa belongs to the Chibchan language family, a linguistic network connecting Indigenous languages across parts of Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*dn̥ǵʰwéh₂
“Tongue or speech organ; the deep ancestral source of English tongue and Latin lingua.”
Classical Latin
Latin
lingua
“Tongue; language; speech.”
Old French
Old French
langage
“Speech or language, formed from the Latin family of lingua.”
Middle English
Middle English
langage
“Human speech or a particular language.”
Modern English
English
language
“A structured system of communication used by a community.”
Modern usage
English
U'wa language
“The English designation for the Chibchan language of the U'wa people; the internal etymology of U'wa itself is not securely established in standard English etymological sources.”
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