Mapudungun (from 'earth, land' and 'speak, speech') is a
language isolate spoken in south-central
Chile and west central
Argentina by the
Mapuche people (from
mapu 'earth' and
che 'people'). It is also spelled
Mapuzugun and
Mapudungu, and was formerly known as
Araucanian. The latter was the name given to the Mapuche by the Spaniards. Today the Mapuche avoid this exonym as a remnant of
Spanish colonialism, and it is considered offensive.