Aymara language
Linguistic evidence suggests that the word “singani” arises from the native Aymara language word “siwingani”. Because the Latin-alphabet representation of Aymara sounds is approximate, this word is alternatively spelled as “sivingani”, “siwinkani”, and similar variants. Sivinga or siwinga is the word for “sedge” (family Cyperaceae), a riparian plant found in Andean valleys protected from weather extremes. The suffix “ni” means “the place of”, which thereby becomes “the place where sedges grow”. With the advent of European settlement, the native word was reduced through syncope (phonetics) to “singani”.