Ñusta is the Quechua word used to describe a woman of Inka (royal) ascent. Inca Garcilaso’s mother was a ñusta.

Quechua is an agglutinant language. Words and sentences are formed by adding suffixes to them. In this case, tura is the brother of a woman, lla is a suffix that means “only” and is sometimes used as emphasis, yki is the suffix that indicates the second-person possessive. Finally, the m at the end is a suffix that indicates a strong assertion. I chose not to use “definitely only” to convey the sense of lla and m because this kind of emphatic repetition, though normal and even desirable in Quechua, is not very organic to either English or Spanish.

Puñu is a clay jug, used for storing water, yki is the possessive explained in the previous note, and ta is the suffix that indicates the direct object of the action, which comes in the next verse.

This unusual form is original to the source text, the Comentarios Reales. It could be a different spelling of the verb p’akirqariy (in the Cuzco-Collao variant) or pakirqachiy (in the Ayacucho-Chanca variant). It means “to shatter”, and is conjugated in the third person present indicative. The order of object-verb is switched in the translation to make it easier to understand; in modern and premodern Quechua, much like Latin, sentences normally end on a conjugated verb. Given the language’s agglutinant nature and the presence of suffixes that demarcate the syntactical role of each word, word order is less important in Quechua than in either Spanish or English.

Hinamantara sounds like an archaic form of a consequential clause, chaymanta, meaning “from that” or “because of that.” Hina is a very interesting word, still in use in modern Quechua, which can have different meanings. It is used as a particle for comparisons between two elements; it can function as a particle to trigger the subjunctive mood, much like the phrase “as if”; and it can also simply be used to refer to something previously mentioned, which is the case here. Manta is the suffix that functions as the ablative of origin or cause in Latin, used to refer to both time and space.

Kunununuy means “making a strong sound.” See following note.

Illapay is a verb that Inca Garcilaso comments on extensively in the Comentarios Reales. He translates it as having three meanings, all referring to the phenomenon we call thunder: the thunder as a sound, the lightning bolt that appears, and the way it hits something on the ground. For Inca Garcilaso, this verb shows an important feature of the Quechua language, namely that words normally have multiple meanings. This makes translating from Quechua particularly challenging for historians and scholars of Andean culture.

Rí in modern Quechua means “and,” in a vocative context. It is normally used in conversation to turn the focus to the other person, as in “I am well, and you?” In this case, however, rí seems to both turn attention to the ñusta to whom the poem is addressed and also to create a sense of contrast between her benevolent role in generating natural phenomena (like rain or snow) and her brother’s violent one, which brings about storms.

Unu means water. Modern Quechua speakers could also say yaku. Yki is the possessive, again, explained in the first note, and ta is the suffix that indicates a direct object to the following three verbs: paramunki, chichimunki, and ritimunki.

Today paray means “to rain”, chikchiy means “to hail” and ritiy “to snow”. However, Inca Garcilaso’s transcription says chichimunki, from the verb chichiy, which means to germinate. As the poem is about different forms of water that fall from the sky, I chose to correct the verb to chikchiy, using the modern spelling. The suffix mu indicates the direction of an action. It is often accompanied, in modern Quechua, by another suffix (wa), and it means in the direction of the speaker.

Pacha is a complex word in Quechua, with many different meanings, including: earth, Earth, the world, time, clothes. In this case, it probably means “the world,” as it refers to the deity that made the world. Ruwaq comes from the verb ruway, to make. The q is a suffix added to verbs to turn them into an adjective, in this case, “the one who makes,” or “maker, creator.” Although the original says ruraq, I have chosen to modernize the spelling of the verb.

Pachakamaq is one of the Quechua names for the deity who created the world. For Christian Quechua speakers, it means the Christian God. Inca Garcilaso dedicates a whole chapter of the Comentarios Reales to this word. Kamay means “to create, to invent, to discover.”

Wiraqucha or, in Spanish, Viracocha, is the name of a specific Inca deity, who is sometimes described as a historical character. There are extensive commentaries on Viracocha in the Comentarios Reales. In modern Quechua, wiraqucha is used to describe someone who has attained distinction through their actions or leadership.

Hina is explained in a previous note. Here, as in the previous case, it refers to something that was previously mentioned (like the particle chay in modern Quechua). Paq is the suffix that indicates purpose, meaning “because of that” or “for the benefit of,” somewhat equivalent to the dative case in Latin.

These two last verbs, churay and kamay, are in the third-person future form but have the suffix ki added to them to indicate that, though the action is carried out by the third person, it impacts the second person. Future conjugation in Quechua is relatively complex when it includes, as it does here, directional particles that include the other persons within the scope of the action. It is interesting that Inca Garcilaso’s Spanish translation of the last two lines of the poem gives both these verbs in the past not the future: “Ya te colocaron / Y te dieron alma” (“Have already put you there / And have given you a soul”). To reflect the insight that Inca Garcilaso may have had into this grammatical form, I have chosen to use the future participle; in this way, I have sought to convey the future tense present in the original while also giving the impression that there is something already consummated about the action (churay, which means to put, and kamay, which means to create).