Vicugna Vicugna
/vɪˈkuːnjə vɪˈkuːnjə/noun
The scientific name for the vicuña, a slender wild camelid native to the high Andes.
Did you know?The name ultimately comes from Quechua wik’uña, showing how Indigenous Andean knowledge entered global scientific language through Spanish and Latinized taxonomy.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Colonial Andes
Quechua
wik’uña
“The Indigenous Quechua name for the vicuña.”
16th Century
Spanish
vicuña
“Spanish adoption of the Andean animal’s name during the colonial period.”
18th Century
Neo-Latin
vicugna
“A Latinized scientific form of Spanish vicuña, with the ñ represented by gn.”
1758
Neo-Latin
Camelus vicugna
“Linnaeus’s original binomial placement of the species among the camels.”
Modern English
English
vicuna / vicuña
“The common English name for the wild Andean camelid.”
Modern Zoology
Neo-Latin
Vicugna vicugna
“The currently used scientific binomial; the repeated name reflects the genus and species epithet.”