Editing Chan Chan (section)

== Etymology ==
The original meaning and the language of origin of the place name ''Chan Chan'' remain unresolved issues among specialists. Among others, scholars such as [[Ernst Middendorf]], Jorge Zevallos Quiñones, Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino and Matthias Urban have dealt with the question. The puzzle is made difficult by the erratic nature of its written record in colonial documents and by the linguistic situation of the pre-Hispanic North Peruvian coast. As is known, the [[Trujillo (Peru)|Trujillo]] region presented the [[Mochica language|Mochica]], [[Quingnam language|Quingnam]], [[Culli language|Culli]] and [[Quechua language|Quechua]] languages, among others, of which only Mochica and Quechua are sufficiently documented. 
Currently, there are two linguists (Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino and Matthias Urban) who have done an etymological analysis, one more than the other, but both rule out a [[Mochica language|Mochica]] origin.

=== Etymological analysis by Matthias Urban ===
Regarding the variation in its written record, the toponym appears for the first time in documentation written as 'Cauchan' in the foundation act of the Trujillo town council of 1536.<ref>Urban, M. (2017), Observaciones etimológicas acerca del nombre de la ciudad antigua de Chan Chan y sus estructuras arquitectónicas. ''Letras, 88(''128), 126-148, p. 130. https://doi.org/10.30920/letras.88.128.6.</ref> It has also been proposed that the name 'Canda' offered by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo to refer to Trujillo is another written variant of the modern ''Chan Chan''.<ref>Cerrón-Palomino, R. (2020). <Chanchán> y su trampa ortográfica: ni mochica ni quingnam sino quechumara. ''Lexis, 44(''1), 301-316, p. 308. https://doi.org/10.18800/lexis.202001.010.</ref> The form 'Chanchan' only appears in documentation in a stable manner from the mid-17th century onwards.

According to the review of antecedents offered by Urban, there have been three previous etymological proposals for the toponym, two of which can be considered completely fanciful and unmotivated. The etymologies of H. Bauman as 'city of snakes', who unmotivatedly appeals to Mesoamerican languages, and that of J. Kimmich as 'city of the moon', who unmotivatedly appeals to a [[Cariban languages|Cariban]] word for 'moon', deserve the latter qualification. The third etymological hypothesis was postulated by German scholar Ernst Middendorf, who offers the [[Mochica language|Mochica]] noun ''xllang'' 'sun' as etym and finds in the toponym a reduplication of that root.<ref>Urban, M. (2017), Observaciones etimológicas acerca del nombre de la ciudad antigua de Chan Chan y sus estructuras arquitectónicas. ''Letras, 88(''128), 126-148, pp. 133-5. https://doi.org/10.30920/letras.88.128.6.</ref> Without being convinced by any of these previous proposals, Urban is inclined to the tentative attribution of the toponym to the extinct [[Quingnam language]] already proposed by Zevallos Quiñones in the XXth century. According to these authors, although it is not possible to offer an etym nor a primary meaning for the place name, the quingnam attribution is justified by the fact that this was the language of the [[kingdom of Chimor]] and by the similarity in its apparent structure with other regional toponyms and anthroponyms also apparently constituted by the reduplication of two monosyllabic roots.<ref>Such as ''Concon, Chichi, Choc Choc, Llac LLac, Niquenique, Pur Pur, Sac Sac, Cin Cin, Con Con Con, Cot Cot, Cuy Cuy, Muy Muy, Nono, Ñoño, Paspas, Pay Pay, Poc Poc, Qui Qui, Quin Quin, Sin Sin, Sol Sol, Suy Suy'', etc. Cfr.  Urban, M. (2022). <Chan Chan> y su trampa etimológica: respuesta a Cerrón-Palomino. ''Lexis, 46(''1), 103-123, pp. 116-7. https://doi.org/10.18800/lexis.202201.003.</ref> Urban concludes that

{{blockquote|[...]for the moment there is no other solution than to conclude with Zevallos Quiñones ([1995] 2010, p. 11): "As long as there are no grammatical findings about Chimo's own language, Quingnam, in any American or European archive containing sermons, vocabularies, etc., we will remain without knowing the term Chan Chan, since there is no possible scientific help".|Urban (2017, p. 135)}}

=== Etymological analysis by Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino ===
More recently, linguist [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] [[Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino]] a [[Quechumaran languages|Quechumaran]] etymology for the toponym. According to his hypothesis, both the form 'Chanchan' and the variants 'Cauchan' and 'Canda' may well be explained by a Quechua etym ''*kanĉa'' 'corral, fence, fenced place' and the [[Quechumaran languages|Quechumaran]] toponymic morpheme ''*-n'' (of probable [[Aymara language|Aymara]] etymology). Thus, the current pronunciation would be the product of an "orthographic trap", since originally the <ch> would have been used to represent the sound of a [[voiceless velar stop]] [k] at the beginning of the word. Originally, the toponym would have been *''kanĉa-n(i)'' ''''(place) where fences/ corrals abound'''', whose Quechualization results in phonetic /'''kantʃáŋ'''/ in <Chanchán>. According to this proposal, the toponym would be neither Mochica nor Quingnam, nor would it be so ancient in time.<ref>Cerrón-Palomino, R. (2020). <Chanchán> y su trampa ortográfica: ni mochica ni quingnam sino quechumara. ''Lexis, 44(''1), 301-316. https://doi.org/10.18800/lexis.202001.010.</ref> However, Urban has rejected Cerrón-Palomino's hypothesis as implausible and ratified his previous conclusions.<ref>Urban, M. (2022). <Chan Chan> y su trampa etimológica: respuesta a Cerrón-Palomino. ''Lexis, 46(''1), 103-123. https://doi.org/10.18800/lexis.202201.003.</ref> In response to this, [[Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino]] dismisses Urban's observations and reaffirms his proposed etymology, which he finds sufficiently explicit and rigorous, concluding that it is definitely [[Quechumaran languages|Quechumaran]].<ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.30920/letras.95.142.8| issn = 2071-5072| volume = 95| issue = 142| pages = 101-117| last = Cerrón-Palomino| first = Rodolfo| title = < Canchan > y no < Chan chan >: definitivamente quechumara y no quingnam| journal = Letras (Lima)|date = 2024-12-27| url = http://revista.letras.unmsm.edu.pe/index.php/le/article/view/2591|language = es}}</ref>
<gallery mode="packed" perrow="4" heights="240">
File:Chanchan-reconstruccion-fonetica.jpg|Reconstruction of the phonetics of ''Chanchán'' in /'''kantʃáŋ'''/, based on the etymology of [[Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino]].
File:Comparativa-chanchan.jpg|The toponym ''Chanchán'' is shown related to other toponyms with the same [[Quechumaran languages|Quechumaran]] root.
</gallery>