Caxcan language

{{Short description|Extinct language of Mexico}} {{Infobox language | name = Caxcan | nativename = | states = Mexico | region = Zacatecas | ethnicity = Caxcan | date = | familycolor = Uto-Aztecan | fam1 = Uto-Aztecan | fam2 = Corachol?<br>Nahuan? | iso3 = none | linglist = 0w2 | glotto = none | map = File:ChichimecNations.png | mapcaption = {{legend|#67c787|Caxcan}} | era = attested 16th-17th centuries | altname = Cazcan }}

'''Caxcan''' or '''Cazcan''' (Kaskán) was the language of the Caxcan, one of the Chichimeca peoples of Mexico. It is known only from a few word lists recorded in the 16th and 17th centuries.{{Citation needed|date=March 2026}} The language was definitely part of the Uto-Aztecan family, perhaps most closely related to Huichol or Southern Tepehuan. Other hypotheses include a close relationship with Nahuan, and according to {{ill|José Ignacio Dávila Garibi|es|José Ignacio Dávila Garibi}}, the Caxcan language was mutually intelligible with Classical Nahuatl.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ocampo |first=Daisy |url=https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ekq8EAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=caxcan+language&ots=H3pkMieKl3&sig=eEukD3Bhjwk4pzNNBFyVOj0mi3Q&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=caxcan%20language&f=false |title=Where we belong: Chemehuevi and Caxcan preservation of sacred mountains |date=2023 |publisher=The University of Arizona Press |isbn=978-0-8165-4181-2 |location=Tucson}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=96}} There appear to have been dialectal differences between the major Caxcan valleys, and it is likely that several other languages were spoken in Caxcan territory.<ref>Frank Gille, 1974. ''Encyclopedia of Indians of the Americas'', volume 2</ref>

== Lexicon == Among the few words attested are ''cazcan'' "there isn't any" (the response to the first Spanish demand for food), {{lang|mis|yecotl}} "quemedor", and ''aguano'' "war chief".<ref>Robert Barlow & George Smisor, eds. (1943), Faustino Galicia Chimalpopoca, ''Nombre de Dios, Durango: Two Documents in Náhuatl Concerning Its Foundation: Memorial of the Indians Concerning Their Services, C. 1563; Agreement of the Mexicans and Michoacanos, 1585''</ref>

== See also ==

* List of extinct Uto-Aztecan languages

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Extinct languages of North America Category:Indigenous languages of Mexico Category:Languages attested from the 16th century Category:Languages extinct in the 17th century Category:Caxcan