Note 51 — Chapter IX

The original word is Huanu, which is a term in the Quichua dialect meaning "animal dung;" for example, Huanacuhuanu (excrement of the Huanacu). As the word is now generally used it is an abbreviation of Pishu Huanu—Bird-dung. The Spaniards have converted the final syllable nu into no, as they do in all the words adopted from the Quichua which have the like termination. The European orthography Guano, which is also followed in Spanish America, is quite erroneous, for the Quichua language is deficient in the letter G, as it is in several other consonants. The H, in the commencement of the word, is strongly aspirated, whence the error in the orthography of the Spaniards, who have sadly corrupted the language of the Autochthones of Peru.