Editing Lima (section)

==Etymology==
According to early Spanish articles, the Lima area was once called ''Itchyma'',{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} after its original inhabitants. However, even before the [[Inca]] occupation of the area in the 15th century, a famous oracle in the [[Rímac Valley]] had come to be known by visitors as ''Limaq'' ('''Limaq''', pronounced {{IPA|qu|ˈli.mɑq|}}, which means "talker" or "speaker" in the [[Quechua II|coastal Quechua]] that was the area's primary language before the Spanish arrival). This oracle was eventually destroyed by the Spanish and replaced with a church, but the name persisted: the chronicles show "Límac" replacing "Ychma" as the common name for the area.<ref name="Limaq">{{cite web |url=http://aymara.org/biblio/lima_etimologia.pdf |title=Limaq |access-date=10 October 2009 |language=es}}</ref>

Modern scholars speculate that the word "Lima" originated as the Spanish pronunciation of the native name Limaq. Linguistic evidence seems to support this theory, as spoken Spanish consistently rejects [[stop consonant]]s at the ends of words.{{citation needed|date = May 2025}}

The city was founded in 1535 under the name City of [[Biblical Magi|Kings]] ({{Langx|es|link=no|Ciudad de los Reyes}}), because its foundation was decided on January 
6, date of the feast of the [[Epiphany (holiday)|Epiphany]]. This name quickly fell into disuse, and ''Lima'' became the city's name of choice; on the oldest Spanish maps of Peru, both ''Lima'' and ''Ciudad de los Reyes'' can be seen together. After [[José de San Martín]] reached Lima in 1821 during the [[Peruvian War of Independence]], the city was granted the title of ''Heroica y Esforzada Ciudad de los Libres'' ("Heroic and Corageous City of the Free") in September of the same year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ciudad de los libres |url=https://www.elperuano.pe/noticia/57140-ciudad-de-los-libres |date=2017-06-29 |website=[[El Peruano]]}}</ref>

The river that feeds Lima is called ''[[Rímac River|Rímac]]'', and many people erroneously assume that this is because its original Inca name is "Talking River" (the Incas spoke a highland variety of Quechua, in which the word for "talker" was pronounced {{IPA|qu|ˈrimɑq|}}).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://blog.pucp.edu.pe/blog/blogderedaccion/2012/04/22/el-origen-del-nombre-de-nuestra-capital/ |title=El origen del nombre de nuestra capital |trans-title=The origin of the name of our capital |publisher=Pontifical Catholic University of Peru |date=22 April 2012 |access-date=18 June 2020 |language=es}}</ref> However, the original inhabitants of the valley were not Incas. This name is an innovation arising from an effort by the [[Cusco|Cuzco]] nobility in colonial times to standardize the toponym so that it would conform to the phonology of [[Cusco Quechua|Cuzco Quechua]].

Later, as the original inhabitants died out and the local [[Quechuan languages|Quechua]] became extinct, the Cuzco pronunciation prevailed. Nowadays, Spanish-speaking locals do not see the connection between the name of their city and the name of the river that runs through it. They often assume that the valley is named after the river; however, Spanish documents from the colonial period show the opposite to be true.<ref name="Limaq" />