Etymology
Since the time of the Spanish conquest of Peru, these types of pieces have been found in pre-Columbian sites like temples, graves and burials, as well as other kinds of ruins. These sites, especially if they are of a sacred meaning, are called generic huaca or waqa in native Quechua, where it is likely that the figurines take their name. In Peru, a huaquero is a person that digs in ancient pre-Columbian ruins illegally in order to get valuable pieces of artwork, usually destroying the structure.
Read more about this topic: Huaco (pottery)
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)