Timote language
Encyclopedia
Timote, also known as Cuica or Timote–Cuica, was the language of the Timote–Cuica state in the Venezuelan Andes, around the present city of Mérida and south of Lake Maracaibo
Lake Maracaibo
Lake Maracaibo is a large brackish bay in Venezuela at . It is connected to the Gulf of Venezuela by Tablazo Strait at the northern end, and fed by numerous rivers, the largest being the Catatumbo. It is commonly considered a lake rather than a bay or lagoon, and at 13,210 km² it would be the...

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The language is reported to have gone extinct in the early to mid 20th century. However, in 1977 it was reported that the indigenous village of Mutús, in the heart of the old Timote state, still spoke an indigenous language, which would presumably be Timote. The name is apparently Timote, as 'Timote' itself derives from ti-motɨ 'Mutú speakers', and mutú or mukú is a common toponym in the region. This lead had not been followed up as of Adelaar (2004).

Dialects

The Timote and Cuica peoples apparently spoke dialects of a single language; some of the last reports of Cuica claim it was nothing other than Timote. Data is limited, but the connection is clear in the numerals:
Gloss Timote Cuica
1 karí
2 xem, xen
3 šut, sut,
hisxut
šuent
4 pit pití
5 kabó,
kabok
kamó
6 kasum, kaksúm,
kapsún
katseunt
7 mai-xem,
mai-xén
ma-en
8 mai-xut,
mai-sxut
mabi-šuent
9 mai-pit mabi-pita 
10 tabís

Consonant clusters, somewhat unusual for the area, are found, especially in Cuica: kču 'bird', stots 'blood', Timote klef 'rainy season', hutn 'dog'.

External links

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