{{Short description|Extinct unclassified language of Peru}} {{Redirect|Sek language|the Tai language spoken in Laos and Thailand|Saek language}} {{Infobox language | name = Sechura | altname = Sec | states = Peru | region = Department of Piura | extinct = late 19th century? | ref = <ref name="Andean"/> | familycolor = American | fam1 = Sechura–Catacao? | iso3 = none | glotto = sech1236 | glottorefname = Sechuran | map = File:Sechura.svg | mapcaption = {{legend|#ef9c6a|Sechura}} | dia1 = Sec | dia2 = ?Olmos }}
The '''Sechura language''', also known as '''Sec''', is an extinct language spoken in the Department of Piura of Peru, near the port of Sechura. It appears to have become extinct by the beginning of the 20th century.<ref name="Andean">{{cite book |last=Adelaar |first=Willem F. H. |author2=Pieter C. Muysken |title=The Languages of the Andes |year=2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-36275-X |pages=398–401 }}</ref> The only documentation is that of an 1863 word list by Richard Spruce,<ref>Campbell, Lyle. 2018. ''Language Isolates''. New York: Routledge.</ref> as well as a word list by Bishop Martínez Compañón (1782–1790).<ref name="Martinez">Martínez Compañón, Baltasar Jaime. 1985 [1782-1790]. ''Trujillo del Perú en el siglo XVIII'', vol. 2. Madrid: Ediciones Cultura Hispánica.</ref>
== Classification == Sechura is typically considered a language isolate.<ref>{{Citation |last=Campbell |first=Lyle |title=Indigenous Languages of South America |date=2024-06-25 |work=The Indigenous Languages of the Americas |pages=182–279 |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197673461.003.0004 |access-date=2026-02-03 |publisher=Oxford University PressNew York |doi=10.1093/oso/9780197673461.003.0004 |isbn=0-19-767346-5|url-access=subscription }}</ref> However, it shows similarities with neighboring Tallán. This was recognized as early in 1924 by Paul Rivet,<ref>{{cite journal | last = Rivet | first = Paul | year = 1949 | title = Les langues de l'ancien diocèse de Trujillo | journal = Journal de la Société des Américanistes de Paris | volume = 38 | pages = 1–51 | location = Paris | language = French}}</ref> and also considered by others such as Čestmír Loukotka<ref>{{Citation |last=Urban |first=Matthias |title=Small and extinct languages of Northern Peru |date=2024-12-31 |work=The Oxford Guide to the Languages of the Central Andes |pages=419–437 |editor-last=Urban |editor-first=Matthias |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/59575/chapter/503209836 |access-date=2026-02-02 |edition=1 |publisher=Oxford University PressOxford |language=en |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198849926.003.0014 |isbn=978-0-19-884992-6|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and Terrence Kaufman.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Kaufman | first =Terrence | year = 1990 | contribution = Language history in South America: What we know and how to know more | editor-last = Payne | editor-first = D.L. | title = Amazonian linguistics: Studies in lowland South American languages | place = Austin | publisher = University of Texas Press | pages = 13–67 | isbn = 0-292-70414-3 }}</ref> In comparing word lists from Sechura and Tallán, Torero finds six likely cognates between the two:<ref>{{cite journal | last = Torero Fernández de Córdova | first = Alfredo A. | year = 1986 | title = Deslindes lingüísticos en la costa norte peruana | journal = Revista Andina | volume = 4 | pages = 523–48 | publisher = Centro Bartolomé de Las Casas | location = Cuzco | language = Spanish}}</ref>
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size: 85%" |- !colspan="2"|Tallán !colspan="2"|Sechura |- |''water'' |xoto |tujut |''river'' |- |''son/daughter'' |ños-ma |ños-ñi |''son/daughter'' |- |''light'' |yura |yoro |''sun'' |- |''beach'' |coyu roro |roro |''sea'' |- |''woman'' |cucatama |cuctum |''woman'' |- |''fish'' |xuma |jum |''fish'' |}
However, ''Glottolog'' says the data is not compelling.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Glottolog 5.3 - Sechuran |url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/sech1236 |access-date=2026-04-09 |website=glottolog.org}}</ref> ==Vocabulary==
=== The "plan" of Martínez Compañón === Sechura is primarily known from a 43-word list in a document referred to as the "plan" collected by Martínez Compañón between 1782 and 1785. The "plan" is part of a larger work, known as the Codex Martínez Compañón, detailing life in colonial Peru.<ref name="Martinez"/> Notably, the work also contains a number of watercolors, which were captioned by Martínez Compañón's personal secretary Pedro Agustín de Echevarri, who presumably also wrote down the "plan".
There are two copies of the "plan", one held in Bogotá and the other in Madrid. Both copies include 43-word lists for the Quechua, Mochica (Yunga), Sechura, Colán, Catacaos, Culli, Hibito and Cholón languages, as well as Spanish. The Colán and Catacaos languages are generally subsumed under the name ''Tallán'', and they are closely related, probably dialects of a single language. The two versions of the "plan" have certain differences from each other, particularly in the spelling of the transcriptions.
A number of diacritics are employed in the vocabularies. Their meaning is not elaborated upon in the "plan", although certain diacritics are employed in only some of the languages, and are apparently not merely decorative in purpose.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Urban |first=Matthias |url=https://files01.core.ac.uk/download/pdf/304709916.pdf |title=Lost languages of the Peruvian north coast |date=2019 |publisher=Gebr. Mann Verlag |isbn=978-3-7861-2826-7 |series=Estudios Indiana |location=Berlin |pages=73–96 |chapter=Sechura |oclc=on1090545680}}</ref>
==== Wordlist ==== (M) indicates a reading of the Madrid list, and (B) indicates the Bogotá list. {| class="wikitable" |+Sechura wordlist<ref name=":0" /> !gloss !Sechura |- |god |{{lang|mis|dioós}} |- |man |{{lang|mis|su(-)cda}} (M) / {{lang|mis|suc(-)cla}} (B) |- |woman |{{lang|mis|cuctum}} |- |soul |{{lang|mis|alma-cchi}} |- |body |{{lang|mis|cuerpo-cchi}} |- |heart |{{lang|mis|chusiopun(-)ma}} (M) / {{lang|mis|chusiopun(-)mo}} (B) (?) |- |meat/flesh |{{lang|mis|colt}} |- |bone |{{lang|mis|ruño}} |- |father |{{lang|mis|jàchi}} (M) / {{lang|mis|jáchi}} (B) |- |mother |{{lang|mis|ñiña}} |- |son | rowspan="2" |{{lang|mis|ños-ñi}} |- |daughter |- |brother |{{lang|mis|sican-ñi}} |- |sister |{{lang|mis|bapue-ñi}} (M) / {{lang|mis|bapuẽ-ni}} (B) |- |eat |{{lang|mis|un-uc}} |- |drink |{{lang|mis|tut-uc}} |- |laugh |{{lang|mis|bus-uc}} |- |cry |{{lang|mis|nic}} |- |die |{{lang|mis|lact-uc}} |- |joy |{{lang|mis|otm-uc}} |- |pain |{{lang|mis|pun-uc}} |- |death |{{lang|mis|lact-uc-no}} |- |sky |{{lang|mis|cuchuc-yor}} |- |sun |{{lang|mis|yò(-)ro}} |- |moon |{{lang|mis|ñang(-)ru}} (M) / {{lang|mis|ñanoru}} (B) (?) |- |stars |{{lang|mis|chùpchùp}} |- |fire |{{lang|mis|morot}} |- |wind |{{lang|mis|fic}} |- |bird |{{lang|mis|yaibab}} |- |earth |{{lang|mis|loct}} |- |animal |{{lang|mis|animblà}} |- |tree |{{lang|mis|nusuchu}} |- |trunk |{{lang|mis|fucù}} (M) / {{lang|mis|pucù}} (B) (?) |- |branch |{{lang|mis|rama}} |- |flower |{{lang|mis|flor-ac}} |- |fruit |{{lang|mis|fruto}} |- |grass |{{lang|mis|un(-)ñiò-còl}} (M) / {{lang|mis|unĩuò-còl}} (B) |- |water |{{lang|mis|tutù}} |- |sea |{{lang|mis|roro}} |- |river |{{lang|mis|tufut}} |- |waves |{{lang|mis|caph}} |- |rain |{{lang|mis|purir}} (M) / {{lang|mis|putir}} (B) (?) |- |fish |{{lang|mis|jum}} |}
===Spruce's 1863 wordlist=== British botanist Richard Spruce collected a wordlist of Sechura in 1863. It was identified as Sechura from comparison with the "plan" of Martínez Compañón.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Adelaar |first=Willem F. H. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9780511486852/type/book |title=The Languages of the Andes |last2=Muysken |first2=Pieter C. |date=2004-06-10 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-36275-7 |edition=1 |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511486852.005}}</ref>
==== Wordlist ==== Below is Spruce's 1863 word list as transcribed by Matthias Urban (2015).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Urban |first=Matthias |date=2015-12-23 |title=El vocabulario sechurano de Richard Spruce |url=https://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/lexis/article/view/14606 |journal=Lexis |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=395–413 |doi=10.18800/lexis.201502.005 |issn=0254-9239|doi-access=free }}</ref> Some transcriptions are uncertain, with alternative transcriptions following semicolons.<ref>{{Citation |last=Urban |first=Matthias |title=Small and extinct languages of Northern Peru |date=2024-12-31 |work=The Oxford Guide to the Languages of the Central Andes |pages=419–437 |editor-last=Urban |editor-first=Matthias |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/59575/chapter/503209836 |access-date=2026-02-02 |edition=1 |publisher=Oxford University PressOxford |language=en |doi=10.1093/oso/9780198849926.003.0014 |isbn=978-0-19-884992-6|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
:{| class="wikitable sortable" ! gloss !! Sechura |- | man || {{lang|mis|recla}}; {{lang|mis|reda}} |- | woman || {{lang|mis|cucatama}} |- | son or daughter || {{lang|mis|ñosma}} |- | dog || {{lang|mis|tono}} |- | hawk || {{lang|mis|kilkil}} |- | serpent || {{lang|mis|kon’mpar}} |- | lizard || {{lang|mis|ludac}}; {{lang|mis|luctac}} |- | fish || {{lang|mis|xuma}} |- | head || {{lang|mis|teuma}} |- | stomach || {{lang|mis|puesa}} |- | foot || {{lang|mis|lava}} |- | eye || {{lang|mis|uchi}} |- | nose || {{lang|mis|chuna}} |- | mouth || {{lang|mis|collo}} |- | hearing || {{lang|mis|tapa}}; {{lang|mis|fapa}} |- | water || {{lang|mis|xoto}} |- | light || {{lang|mis|yura}} |- | maize || {{lang|mis|llumash}} |- | sweet potato || {{lang|mis|chapru}} |- | road || {{lang|mis|yuvirma}} |- | come here! || {{lang|mis|xoroc tima}}; {{lang|mis|xoroc tema}} |- | be quiet! || {{lang|mis|neshi}} |- | come along || {{lang|mis|uchan}}; {{lang|mis|uchau}} |- | no || {{lang|mis|shushca}} |- | yes || {{lang|mis|yé}} |- | turkey, buzzard || {{lang|mis|roncho}} |- | beach || {{lang|mis|coyu roro}} |- | cotton || {{lang|mis|sono}}; {{lang|mis|suno}} |- | devil || {{lang|mis|ñash}} |- | good day || {{lang|mis|amatioo}} |- | how are you? || {{lang|mis|ubrun Cuma}} |- | face || {{lang|mis|re}} |- | sea || {{lang|mis|taholma}} |- | pot || {{lang|mis|pillacala}} |- | father in law || {{lang|mis|ratichma}}; {{lang|mis|rutichma}} |- | mother in law || {{lang|mis|naminma}} |- | where is your husband? || {{lang|mis|xamanmi recla}} |- | here it is || {{lang|mis|cha}} |}
==References== {{sister project |project=wiktionary |text=Wiktionary has word lists at '''''Appendix:Sechura word lists'''''}} {{Reflist}}{{Languages of Peru}}{{South American languages}} Category:Languages of Peru Category:Language isolates of South America