Duit language

Duit is an extinct Chibcha language, which had been spoken by the Muisca of present-day Boyacá, Colombia. The language appears in the modern name of the pre-Columbian settlement and last ruler Tundama; Duitama.^[1]

Duit
Native to	Boyacá, Colombia
Region	Altiplano Cundiboyacense
Ethnicity	Muisca
Extinct	(date missing)
Language family	Chibcha Kuna-Colombian Muysccubun Duit
Writing system	Only numerals
Official status
Official language in	Muisca Confederation
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Linguist List	qrx (also used for the unrelated Mittlere Neu-Hebriden)
Glottolog	duit1239
The second-most southern yellow dot indicates roughly the area where Duit was spoken

Description

The language is only known from one fragment analysed by scholar Ezequiel Uricoechea in 1871. The linguist mentioned that the analysed text was part of a larger work that hitherto has not been found. From the short text it was clear that the Duit language differed slightly from the main version of Chibcha, Muysccubun, spoken by the Muisca on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense.^[2]

As the Muisca did not have a script, only for their numerals, written Duit language texts do not exist.^[3]

Comparison to Muysccubun and numerals

English	Duit	Muysccubun	Numerals as noted by Acosta, Humboldt and Zerda
one	atia	ata
two	bocha	bosa
three	meia	mica
Sun	sa	súa
Moon	tia	chía
star	cúrcha	fagua[4]
Territory	coga	quyca

See also

• Comparison of Muysccubun with other Chibchan languages