Note 162 — Chapter XXXIV
Clements R. (Clements Robert) Markham translation
The language was first called Quichua by Friar Domingo de Santo Tomas, in his grammar printed at Valladolid in 1560. Quehani is “I twist”, and the participle quehuasca means twisted. Ychu is “straw”—together, Quehuasca-ychu, “twisted straw”, corrupted and abbreviated into Quichua. A Quichua is properly an Indian who inhabits the temperate slopes, so called from the abundance of straw in that region. According to Garcilasso de la Vega the name of Quechua was applied to the basin of the river Abancay (i, p. 243).