The Indigenous History of El Salvador

Tracing America's Indigenous Languages to El Salvador

I just received a copy of Language in the Americas by Joseph H. Greenberg. Greenberg maintains that aside from the Eskimo-Aleut and Na-Dene language families, all other indigenous American languages fit into the Amerind family. Greenberg states that all Amerind languages have a common root that is about 10,000 to 11,500 years old. Several other linguists have criticized both Greenberg's methodology and conclusions.

Greenberg discusses 11 language sub-families in Amerind group, including three in Mesoamerica: the Chibchan family which includes most of the Nicaraguan, Costa Rican, and Panamanian languages, as well as Cuitlatec in Mexico; the Penutian family which includes the Mayan, Mixe-Zoque, and Totonac languages; and the Central Amerind family, which includes the Oto-Mangue (Zapotec) and Uto-Aztecan (Nahuatl) languages.

I do disagree with some of his placements, including Lenca which he places in the Chibchan family. It seems clear to me that Lenca should be in the Penutian family as it is closest to Mixe-Zoque and Totonac. I also think that the Penutian and Central Amerind families should be combined.

Greenberg's conclusions are consistent with the history of Mesoamerica as presented in this blog. I believe that the Xibalbans arrived first to the Americas, either across the Atlantic ice-sheet or across the more common Pacific Bering ice-sheet. Quite quickly the Xibalbans established themselves at the Gruta del Espíritu Santo cave near Corinto, El Salvador. From there they could not only survive the cold of the end of the Ice Age but also control virtually all human traffic coming down the Central American isthmus toward South America.

A few people made it to South American past the Xibalbans or perhaps before the Xibalbans set up in the cave, given the Clovis points located in South America. But it would appear that they did not survive. In addition, people crossing the Bering Strait did not venture into any part of North America, but rather all traveled down the coast toward Central America and nearly all were captured by the Xibalbans.

I have found that six families escaped from the Gruta del Espíritu Santo in about 8800 BCE, as determined by the Mars long-count calendar. At that time all people in the cave spoke the same language. Four of the families became the great Mesoamerican people. As their language diverged on Isla Tigre in the Gulfo de Fonseca, it became the proto-Penutian language family, which includes Maya. The other two families became the peoples associated with the Chibchan-Paezan language family. Eventually they left the Gulfo de Fonseca, with most migrating south.

Nearly all of North America, except for the Eskimo-Aleut in the far north and the Na-Dene in the northwest and southwest, was populated from the south, by the Mayan, Lenca, and Chibchan peoples. Likewise they are the root of all or nearly all of the indigenous people of South America.

Greenberg lists etymologies (cognates) that are shared by two or more of the 11 language families. By counting the number of times a language family shares a cognate, one can get an idea which language families are the oldest and may serve as the core or proto-Amerind language(s). The results of this exercise are consistent with the narrative of this blog. The Penutian family, which includes Maya, has the most shared etymologies out of the 329 that are listed, while Chibchan-Paezan has the third most. Of the 11 language families, Central Amerind has the least shared cognates. This family includes Nahuatl, which shows how young a language it is.

Language Family Penutian Macro-Ge Chibchan-Paezan Hokan Equatorial

Number of Shared Etymologies 129 124 117 116 110

I believe that nearly 90 percent of the indigenous languages in the Americas can be traced to the Gruta del Espíritu Santo and the islands in the Gulfo de Fonseca. The Mesoamerican people were not only a civilizing people but were critical to the peopling of the hemisphere.

Teosinte - This is no Fantasy Island

Lago Coatepeque in El Salvador is a very special place, where one seems suspended from time and space. And when studying indigenous history, any place called Serpent Hill is a subject of interest, given that the Chorti are the serpent people. The name was obviously nahuatalized by the Pipiles, but it is likely that the original meaning in Chorti was also Serpent Hill, or something similar. It is clearly in Chorti country, being so close to both Chalchuapa and San Andres. And this was one of the very first centers of Mayan civilization.

So glancing at the lake’s entry on wikipedia, something caught my eye – 'Isla Teopan' - on the map it said Isla del Cerro. The prefix ‘teo’ is extremely rare in El Salvador – there is the municipality of Teotepeque in La Libertad, but this was the only other example I had seen, other than ‘Teosinte’.

Let’s see – lakes … Lago Güija, 25 kilometers north, on the border with Guatemala. It also has an island – Isla Tipa. A little internet searching and this confirmed it! The key to so many riddles. Isla Tipa was also known as Isla Teotipa. Güija, like Coatapeque is in the mera-mera Chorti country, this was no nahuatalization like Teotepeque might be.

Teo means ‘island’ in Chorti' Maya. There it is. It wasn't in the Chorti' dictionary because there are no islands in the highland region where the Chorti's now live. So, Teotihuacán, means 'Island of Tihuacán' and was founded by people who spoke, or at least knew, some Chorti’ Maya. Wow!

Before getting too far ahead, let’s back up to Teosinte. Si’in means ‘many; extended in a series or row’ in Chorti'. The ending of teosinte was always the easiest – te is the generic word for plant in Chorti. So teosinte means “plants in rows on an island" or “island of cultivated plants”. Was this word describing an experimental biological station where the Chorti’s could perfect their hybridization of corn, beans, squash, tobacco, cacao, etc., in isolation from wild animals that would want to eat the plants? Also in isolation of pollens of other plant varieties, if they were aware of that.

That would mean that one of these islands in Lago Coatepeque or Lago Güija may have been the very center, the very first location of Mayan civilization. Or perhaps both. Isla Teopan means “Sprouting Island” or “Breaking Open Island” and that definitely fits the description. There are also an old Mayan temple and monolith on the island. The first Mayan temple and monolith?

But a case can be made for Isla Teotipa in Lago Güija as well. Ti is a conjunction meaning 'on' or 'within'. Today pa is usually the word for tortilla but originally was a generic term for 'food'. So Teotipa is “Food Island.” That couldn’t be any clearer. And then there are the other two islands on Lago Güija: Iguatepec and Cerro Tule. Perhaps teosinte means 'plants on islands in a row' and 'tule' does sound an awful lot like ... well, that will have to wait for another day. For now, I can say that all the 'teosinte' place names that I found were markers for the sources of wild teosinte that was used continuously to rehybridize with the emergent corn on one of more islands in western El Salvador.

Corn itself, we know, originated in Mexico from Balsas teosinte, so there will be a need to revisit corn in 6700 BC or before. Then we can move on to Teotihuacán. But before that will be a stop on the northwest coast of Mexico.

Transforming the Gods

The beginnings of the Mayan religion were tumultuous. As the Chortis, the Mayans along the Pacific Coast, became more adept at agriculture - hybridizing corn, beans, and squash, and introducing yuca (manioc), peanuts, and cacao from areas to the south - adoration was given to Mother Earth, ix, who provided all good things. The Chortis named corn, ixim, which means something similar to 'fruit of Mother Earth'. Corn came from teosinte, ixim ka, 'wild fruit of Mother Earth'. 

But as people ate more corn, a disease appeared (pellegra - a niacin deficiency) and destroyed entire villages. Leaders became lesioned, weak, demented, and died. After many deaths, much sacrifice, the gods seemed to reveal a solution to help the Mayans overcome the awful disease - soaking corn in ash. A new creation narrative was developed to explain how this happened, gods were transformed, and new language was created.

While still female, Ix was transformed from mother earth to jaguar god, the spotted (lesioned) god that came from the underworld, the land of death. This was done through creating the legend of Ixbalanque - the spotted (lesioned) jaguar hero twin. Balan means jaguar - clearly the linking of ix and balan in this hero twin was a way of transforming this god from the generous and beneficent Mother Earth to the clever and death-dealing jaguar. Likewise, it is likely that at this time Ixbalba, also written Xibalba, came to mean 'the underworld'. The new theology and philosophy was carried with the Mayans to help convince neighboring peoples to trust their new discovery of the cure for the diseased corn. And it clearly worked, as civilization spread at a tremendous pace from 1500 to 1300 BC.

Everyday language was transformed as well. A new word was created for corn, nar, to differentiate it from the diseased corn, ixim, the corn of the jaguar god. The term nixtamal, the process of soaking corn in ash or lime, was created and means "to cure the corn of the disease ix." Ix refers to pellegra, the disease of spots, the disease of the lesioned jaguar god of death. Nir means 'to cure' in Chorti and nian means 'none' or 'not any'.

From the Maya, the Beginnings of the Olmecs and Zapotecs

Between 6700 BC and 1600 BC, corn was increasing used as a staple in the Mesoamerican diet, but it actually produced more malnutrition as it became more popular. Diets were improved through more efficient coastal fishing by the peoples of the origin of the Mayan philosophy along the Pacific Coast of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Chiapas, when they discovered the 13-day tidal calendar. But that only helped to spread higher culture along the coast itself.

It wasn't until they discovered the 'magic' of soaking corn kernels in ashes (nixtamalization) that civilization spread to the inland areas. At first, this practice was done as a way to soften up the hard encasing of the kernels, but soon the health benefits of the practice were noted. The health of entire communities soon improved dramatically as they overcame the niacin deficiency, known as pellegra, that is common to using corn as a staple food. Later soaking corn in lime was found to be even better than in ashes and it became the norm throughout Mesoamerica.

From Chalchuapa, Monte Alto, and La Blanca, these first Mayans brought this discovery to other peoples. In some cases it may have been a migration, as to El Mirador and Chiapa de Corzo. Other Mayan migrations were made from the Pacific Coast to the Yucatan and the Chiapas highlands, demonstrated by the splitting of the Mayan language groups, Yucateca Maya and Huasteca, respectively, at this time.

In other cases, with the central Mexican valley, the Zapotecs in the Oaxacan valley, and the Olmecs along the Veracruz Gulf Coast, it was an exchange of knowledge and culture, with the Mayans sharing their calendar and the 'nixtamal' discovery. The Olmecs then spread this information and other art and science to areas of present day Morelos and Guerrero.

These same early Mayan leaders had been spreading new hybrid varieties of corn to the same regions, but it only produced more disease and malnutrition. Why and how should they be believed now? The Mayan sacred text, the Popol Vuh, helps to answer that question. Next time we will explore the Popol Vuh, pellegra, and the crisis of leadership in early Mesoamerican cultures.

Put the Lime in the Coco

Something revolutionary happened 3,500 years ago in the Americas. It led to an ALBA of sorts - a giant fair trade alliance. And it spread civilization quicker than almost any other event in human history.

In Mesoamerica 1500 BC there was only one location with village life with any signs toward civilization, along the Pacific Coast of Chiapas, Guatemala, and El Salvador, due to developing a counting and calendar system to track the high tides and allow for much greater fishing production. This advanced knowledge of the tides did little to grow a civilization since it was irrelevant to inland peoples and the tides along other parts of the coast did not follow the same pattern.

Yet, by 1400 BC, there were populated villages moving very quickly toward civilization in at least seven locations, in addition to the Pacific coast: northern Peten of Guatemala (Mirador), central Chiapas (Chiapa de Corzo), Olmec Gulf coast of Veracruz (San Lorenzo and Laguna de los Cerros), Oaxacan valley (San Jose Mogote), central Mexican valley (Tlapacoya and Tlatilco), Morelos Valley (Chalcatzingo), and northern Guerrero (Teopantecuanitlan).

This is also about the time that the Huastecan Mayan and Yucatecan Mayan language groups split off from the main line of Mayan languages. Another sign of quick dispersion of culture.

By 1500 BC, the peoples of Mexico and Central America had been growing squash for at least 5,500 years, corn for 5,000 years, and beans for 2,000 years. Corn was slowly evolving as it was continually hybridized to select the biggest cobs. But most people were still living in isolated groups, gaining much of their limited protein from fishing or hunting and gathering.

Scientists now know that corn produces a condition called 'pellegra', a type of malnutrition when people use corn as a staple crop. Pellegra was a major health concern in places like northern Italy in the 18th and 19th centuries and in the American south - over 1,300 pellegra deaths were counted in South Carolina as recently as 1915. That is because unsoaked corn, by itself, has a noted lack of the B vitamin niacin and amino acids lysine and tryptophan. Pellegra causes confusion, weakness, dermatitis and skin lesions, insomnia, dementia, and death. All things that could keep a civilization from forming. Beans also have lysine and tryptophan and together with corn makes a complete protein, but this wasn't enough to overcome the niacin deficiency of corn.

Soaking corn in ashes or in lime slake (calcium oxide) before cooking the corn releases the niacin when consumed and increases the lysine and tryptophan. How did the early Mesoamericans discover this? The very early corn had an extremely hard encasing, just like the grass it was hybridized from, teosinte. It could only be consumed by popping it or roasting it. In addition to releasing important nutritious elements, soaking corn in ashes or lime also breaks down the hard encasing of the corn kernels, making it possible to mash the corn to make it into masa, which could then be used to make atol, tamals, tortillas, and pupusas. One day, some uncooked corn kernels must have been left out in a gourd or ceramic container, some ashes accidently placed on top, and then it rained. In the morning, the family noticed very soft corn, perfect for mashing. Something that doesn't happen just with water soaking. And the tradition was born. Within a generation or two, the health benefits of the soaking would have also been noticed. Yes, tortillas are linked to higher civilization.

In the Nahuat language, this is called nixtamal, leading to the English word nixtamalization. Nixtamal probably comes from the Mayan - ix or ixim is corn in Mayan, and in Ch'orti Maya, grinding the soft corn is called muxi uixim. Corn mash, which is much easier after the nixtamal process, is a shared root word in all Mayan languages that separated at about 1500 BC. In addition, there are early Olmec drawings of tamals, which would be much easier to make after soaking the corn in ash- or lime-water. While the exact date is not known, I believe that it is such an important discovery that it would lead to a huge expansion in village life and population density. This leaves the most probable date of 1500 BC.

So What Exactly were they Speaking at Tikal?

In the last ten years, linguists have been able to decipher much of the writing on the Mayan monuments and stella in the central lowlands, including Tikal, and were quite surprised to find that it is closest to the language of the Chorti Maya, perhaps a now-extinct variant called Cholti. The exception are the sites in Yucatan where mainly Yucatecan Mayan was spoken. Chorti Maya originated along the coast of El Salvador and later moved inland, occupying a region from Chalatenango up past Copan to eastern Guatemala.

There are about 28 Mayan languages (as opposed to dialects). There are three main groups, the Huasteca, the Yucatecan, and the remainder (central lowlands to highlands). These three groups split apart as languages between 2000 and 1000 B.C. according to linguists. The Huastecas are located in Verapaz, Tamaulipas, and San Luis Potosí, Mexico, more than 600 miles from the next closest Mayans. Being isolated from the remainder of the Mayans, the Huastecas are very intriguing. But more on that later. The Yucatecas live throughout Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Belize, el Peten and northeast Chiapas (Lacandon).

The central lowland to highland Maya includes four major groups that split apart between 1000 B.C. and 0 A.D. according the linguists: the Greater Quichean, the Mamean, the Greater Kanjobalan, and the Tzeltalan-Cholan. The Greater Quichean primarily consist of language groups in western and central Guatemala with some moving into Peten and eastern Guatemala more recently. The Popomams of far western El Salvador belong to the Quichean group. The Mamean tend to live just west of the Quichean in western Guatemala and eastern Chiapas. In turn, the Greater Kanjobalan tend to live north and west of the Mamean, mainly in Chiapas.

The Tzeltalan-Cholan groups live in two separate groups – the main group in the far west of the Mayan region, in northwest Chiapas and Tabasco, and the Chortis in eastern Gautemala and western Honduras. Anthropologists have determined that the greater-Cholan people previously lived throughout the central lowlands, including el Peten. When the ceremonial centers disbanded due to warfare and environmental degradation they moved in all directions. The few Cholans who remained in el Peten were forcibly removed by the Spanish in the early colonial times.

But it is Chorti (or the now-extinct Cholti) that was spoken at Copan, Tikal, Palenque, and most of the central lowland sites and highlands, during the Classical period. The Chorti came from El Salvador. This provides a clue that the beginning of the Mayan culture originated along the Pacific Coast from Izapa in the north to Quelepa in the south in eastern El Salvador. A distant migration occurred between 2000 and 1000 BC to Potosí and the Yucatan, while between 1000 BC and 0 AD other groups migrated from the Guatemalan coast north into the highlands and began forming distinct Mayan languages.

It is not clear if Lenca of El Salvador and Honduras is also a Mayan language. Most linguists don’t think so. But the Lencas themselves believe they are. If so, they would form a 4th major language group that split off at least 3000 years ago.