Note, if following old Spanish orthography one could simply spell vicuna with a double “n” as in “vicunna” and remain accurate. The thing above the n in the Spanish spelling of vicuna is actually a miniature “n”. So it’s a sort of stacked n digraph.
Look at us arguing over English transliterated spelling rules again, as though it actually cared how much of another language's blood it spills as it hacks the raw, pulsing vocabulary out of their dictionary.
English will spell it as vicuna, vicuña, vicugna (like lasagna), vicunia, and vicunya, all at the same time, and Español will sit down and enjoy it, if it doesn't want its vowels mispronounced in an entirely new way.
> The thing above the n in the Spanish spelling of vicuna is actually a miniature “n”.
“originated as” is vastly more accurate than “is”; you wouldn't say that thing between the numbers in “1 + 2” is a ligature for the letter pair “et”, would you?