Chorti

/tʃɔːˈriː/ noun

Definition

A member of an indigenous Maya people living in Guatemala and Honduras, or their Mayan language.

Etymology

From the Chorti Mayan people's own ethnonym, ultimately derived from Maya language roots. The Spanish recorded this name during the colonial period, and it remains the standard anthropological term for this cultural group.

Kelly Says

The Chorti people are direct descendants of the ancient Maya civilization, and amazingly, they still speak a Mayan language that linguists say is one of the most conservative Mayan languages—meaning it retains features that reveal what ancient Mayan speech might have sounded like over 2,000 years ago.

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