Cacán

The name Diaguita is from Cacán tiac-y-ta 'village inhabitant'.^[3] The language was originally called Caca according to the Jesuit Alonso de Bárcena, but was modified to its current form.^[4]

In the 16th century, the Cacán-speaking Diaguita people, who were "subdivided into numerous subtribes", such as the Calchaquí, Capayán, Hualfín, Pazioca, Pular and Quilme, lived in a vast territory encompassing modern-day Catamarca, La Rioja, and parts of Salta and San Juan provinces, and shared Tucumán and Santiago del Estero provinces with the Tonocoté. They notably resided in the Calchaquí Valley, crossing areas of Catamarca, Tucumán, and Salta. Around this time, the name Diaguita referred only to the Indigenous peoples of Catamarca and La Rioja, excluding those in the Calchaquí Valley. Following their defeat in the Calchaquí Wars, the Diaguitas were deported to other areas, entirely depopulating the Calchaquí Valley. Among the deported were the Quilmes, who were moved to what is now Quilmes, located in the Greater Buenos Aires area.^[5][4]

Genetic affiliation of the language remains unclear, and it has not been conclusively linked to any existing language family,^[6] though past proposals have included a link with Kunza and the essentially unknown Humahuaca.^[7]

According to Willem Adelaar (2004), some varieties, such as Capayana, required interpreters for the Spaniards to comprehend, indicating its status as a distinct language.^[4]

Cacán vocabulary possibly exists today in toponyms and local surnames, but the etymologies are often dubious. The Jesuit missionary Father Pedro Lozano recorded a few words of the language, listed in Nardi (1977)^[9] and Piispanen (2021).^[3]

A phrase in Cacán and five other Indigenous languages of southern South America was recorded by Alonzo de Barcena in a 1594 letter, being Tius costa huma 'God regards you'.^[10]