Famous in Andes

[beamjockey]

Turns out that, while I was writing about Hiram Bingham III a week or more ago, whthorse was actually visiting the Lost City of The Incas.

Which led me to wonder (since I had a bit of trouble the first time I posted): How do you spell the Inca city?

Googlefight doesn't usually let me down this badly:

machu picchu: 1,840,000 hits
machhu pichu: 1,940,000 hits

I call that a draw.

Wait-- let's try enclosing the phrases in quotes.

"machu picchu" gives 1,820,000 results, while "machhu pichu" gives only 46,400.

Much more satisfying. "Machu Picchu" is probably correct, or is believed to be correct by the good people of the Internet, anyway.

Comments

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

machu pichu gives 2,030,000 hits, but I think is clearly wrong
Wikipedia says Machu Picchu

[lutzethesweeper.livejournal.com]

I think it would come down to the Incan language and if we can reliably say that there were two different "ch" sounds in Incan which aren't readily distinguishable by modern ears. The doubling of a consonant in a Roman alphabet, if done in a consistent manner, generally indicates a pause before the consonant is voiced.

So I guess we have to ask an Incan language scholar...

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I'd look on a travel books web site for further opinions. I might even go downstairs and look in the travel books section of our local library, but in fact I think the Peru volume was becoming dated and so was sent to a new home in Thrift Store Land.

K.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

There is a Pokemon named Pichu, which is probably the confounding influence.

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

...hmm, maybe not, since just typing nonsense instead of "machhu" gets you no hits. The Pokemon may have influenced some of the misspellings.

I have nothing to contribute, but I will anyway

[gomeza.livejournal.com]

Every time I hear someone say, "Machu Picchu" I am tempted to respond with, "gesundheit!"