The word hirka ‘hill’ and its archaic form *sirka in Peruvian toponymy

Abstract

Hirka is a Quechua word from central Peru that means ‘hill, mountain’ and is also used to evoke the spirit of the mountain. According to Quechua scholars, it had an archaic form, *sirka, with an initial */s/, whose lexical reproductions can now be traced thanks to the digitalization of landscape elements. This paper explores the spatial distribution of toponyms formed from hirka and sirka and attempts to reconstruct the historical relationship between the two words. The findings reveal a veiled layer of *sirka throughout the Peruvian Andes, which coincides with the hypothetical expansion of the Quechua family into the Middle Horizon. Then, in a second layer, the southern word urqu ‘hill’ intervenes. From a diachronic perspective, therefore, *sirka (> hirka) is not of central lineage.