Quingnam language

Quingnam
Native to	Peru
Extinct	16th century?
Language family	unclassified
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	quig1235
220px Extent of Quingnam/Pescadora before replacement by Spanish

The Quingnam language is a pre-Columbian language that was spoken by ethnic Chimú, who lived in the former territories of the Mochicas: an area north of the Chicama Chao River Valley. At the height of Chimú conquests, the language was spoken extensively from the Jequetepeque River in the north, to the Carabayllo (near present-day Lima) in the south.

Fishermen along the Chimú coast spoke a language called Lengua Pescadora (fisherman language) by Spanish missionaries, and disambiguated as Yunga Pescadora by linguists; this may be the same as Quingnam. A letter found during excavations at Magdalena de Cao Viejo in the El Brujo Archaeological Complex includes a list of decimal numerals which may be Quingnam or Pescadora, but they are not Mochica.

The Quingnam language became extinct shortly after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. The core Chimú city, Chan Chan, was in the vicinity of the new Spanish city of Trujillo and became overwhelmed by it, with people needing to pick up the language of the conquerors for trade and survival.

See also

• Chimú culture