Chimila (Shimizya) is a

Chibchan language The Chibchan languages (also Chibchan, Chibchano) make up a language family indigenous to the Isthmo-Colombian Area, which extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia and includes populations of these countries as well as Nicaragua, Costa ...

of Colombia, spoken by the

Chimila people The Chimilas or ''Ette Ennaka'' are an indigenous people in the Andes of north-eastern Colombia. Their Chimila language is part of the Chibcha language family, of which there were estimated to be around 1000 speakers in 1998. At the time of the S ...

. At one time Chimila was grouped with the

Malibu languages The Malibu languages are a poorly attested group of dead languages once spoken along the Magdalena River in Colombia. Material exists only for two of the numerous languages mentioned in the literature: Malibú and Mocana. Classification The Mal ...

, but then Chimila became classified as a Chibchan language.

Julian Steward Julian Haynes Steward (January 31, 1902 – February 6, 1972) was an American anthropologist known best for his role in developing "the concept and method" of cultural ecology, as well as a scientific theory of culture change. Early life and edu ...

, in the 1950 ''Handbook of South American Indians'', reports a communication from

Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff (6 March 1912 – 17 May 1994) was an Austrian anthropologist and archaeologist. He is known for his fieldwork among many different Amerindian cultures such as in the Amazonian tropical rainforests (e.g. Desana Tucano) ...

that he considered Chimila to be one of the

Arawakan languages Arawakan (''Arahuacan, Maipuran Arawakan, "mainstream" Arawakan, Arawakan proper''), also known as Maipurean (also ''Maipuran, Maipureano, Maipúre''), is a language family that developed among ancient indigenous peoples in South America. Branc ...

, and would thus be expected to be like Tairona, one of the Chibchan languages.

Chimila-derived names

"Cesar", the name of both the

Cesar River The Cesar River ( es, Río Cesar) is a river in northern Colombia which is a part of the Magdalena Basin. It flows through the Cesar-Ranchería Basin and separates the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta from the mountain ranges of the Serranía del Pe ...

and the

Cesar Department Caesar Department ( es, Departamento del Cesar, links=no) or simply Caesar () is a department of Colombia located in the north of the country in the Caribbean region, bordering to the north with the Department of La Guajira, to the west with th ...

, is an adaptation from the Chimila word ''Chet-tzar'' or ''Zazare'' ("calm water") into

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

. ''Guatapurí'' derives from the Chimila for "cold water", and provides the name of the

Guatapurí River The Guatapurí River, or Rio Guatapurí in Spanish, is a river that flows from the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta into the Cesar River in northern Colombia by the city of Valledupar. In the indigenous Chimila language Chimila ( ...

. Marcos Fidel Vega Seña (2005),
Vallenato: Cultura y sentimiento
', U. Cooperativa de Colombia. p14.

References

Languages of Colombia Chibchan languages {{indigenousAmerican-lang-stub