I am writing this post to present a theory I’ve come up with regarding the name “Andes.” It is a wild theory, yet an instructive one. I believe it stems from the Spanish word andén. “Andes” as a shortened form of the plural of andén—andenes.
It is unlikely to come from the Inca word inti; we wouldn’t have softened it.
An andén is for example a railway station platform; the word, medieval in origin referred to the section of a city wall or castle rampart where soldiers would make their rounds.
When we—the Spanish conquistadors—arrived in what is now Peru and Chile, we would see people up in the distant mountains, hurrying along while carrying goods. We were witnessing the trade routes of the Inca Empire.
Thus, I propose the theory that these mountains were named “the Andes”—mountains along which people walk.