Classical Quechua

Classical Quechua or lengua general del inga is either of two historical forms of Quechua, the exact relationship and degree of closeness between which is controversial, and which have sometimes been identified with each other. These are:

1. the variety of Quechua that was used as a lingua franca and administrative language in the Inca Empire (1438–1533) (henceforward Inca lingua franca). Since the Incas didn't have writing, the evidence about the characteristics of this variety is scant and they have been a subject of significant disagreements.
2. the variety of Quechua that was used in writing for religious and administrative purposes in the Andean territories of the Spanish Empire, mostly in the late 16th century and the first half of the 17th century and has sometimes been referred to, both historically and in academia, as lengua general 'common language' (henceforward Standard Colonial Quechua). It is Standard Colonial Quechua in this second sense that is abundantly attested in writing, notably in the famous Huarochirí Manuscript, and that this article primarily describes.

There are also some less common and typical uses of the term "classical" in reference to other Quechua varieties, whose relationship to the abovementioned ones is also controversial, namely:

1. In reference to all use of Quechua as a literary medium until a cut-off point in the 18th century, which saw a ban on literature in Quechua after the Túpac Amaru rebellion of 1780–1782, although the language of most of the "Classical Quechua literature" written after the mid-17th century is more commonly seen as early Cuzco Quechua;
2. As "Classic Inca", in reference to the reconstructed ancestor of all Southern Quechua varieties ("Common southern Peruvian Quechua").