The Arawack Language of Guiana in its Linguistic and Ethnological Relations

Hamaca, a bed, hammock. Ar. hamaha, a bed, hammock.

Hico, a rope, ropes (Oviedo, Hist. Gen. lib. V, cap. 2).

Hobin, gold, brass, any reddish metal. (Navarrete Viages, I, p. 134, Pet. Martyr, Dec. p. 303). Ar. hobin, red.

Huiho, height. (Pet. Martyr, p. 304). Ar. aijumün, above, high up.

Huracan, a hurricane. From this Sp. huracan, Fr. ouragan, German Orkan, Eng. hurricane. This word is given in the Livre Sacré des Quichès as the name of their highest divinity, but the resemblance may be accidental. Father Ximenes, who translated the Livre Sacrè, derives the name from the Quiché hu rakan, one foot. Father Thomas Coto, in his Cakchiquel Dictionary, (MS. in the library of the Am. Phil. Soc.) translates diablo by hurakan, but as the equivalent of the Spanish huracan, he gives ratinchet.

Hyen, a poisonous liquor expressed from the cassava root. (Las Casas, Hist. Apol. cap. 2).

Itabo, a lagoon, pond. (Richardo).

Juanna, a serpent. (Pet. Martyr, p. 63). Ar. joanna, a lizard; jawanaria, a serpent.

Macana, a war club. (Navarrete, Viages. I, p. 135).

Magua, a plain. (Las Casas, Breviss. Relat. p. 7).

Maguey, a native drum. (Pet. Martyr, p. 280).

Maisi, maize. From this Eng. maize, Sp. mais, Ar. marisi, maize.

Matum, liberal, noble. (Pet. Martyr, p. 292).

Matunheri, a title applied to the highest chiefs. (Las Casas, Hist. Apol. cap. 197).

Mayani, of no value, (“nihili,” Pet. Martyr, p. 9). Ar. ma, no, not.

Naborias, servants. (Las Casas, Hist. Gen. lib. III, cap. 32).

Nacan, middle, center. Ar. annakan, center.

Nagua, or enagua, the breech cloth made of cotton and worn around the middle. Ar. annaka, the middle.

Nitainos, the title applied to the petty chiefs, (regillos ò guiallos, Las Casas, Hist. Apol. cap, 197); tayno vir bonus, taynos nobiles, says Pet. Martyr, (Decad. p. 25). The latter truncated form of the word was adopted by Rafinesque and others, as a general name for the people and language of Hayti. There is not the slightest authority for this, nor for supposing, with Von Martius, that the first syllable is a pronominal prefix. The derivation is undoubtedly Ar. nüddan to look well, to stand firm, to do anything well or skilfully.

Nucay or nozay, gold, used especially in Cuba and on the Bahamas. The words caona and tuob were in vogue in Haiti (Navarrete, Viages, Tom. 1, pp. 45, 134).

Operito, dead, and

Opia, the spirit of the dead (Pane, pp. 443, 444). Ar. aparrün to kill, apparahun dead, lupparrükittoa he is dead.

Quisquéia, a native name of Haiti; “vastitas et universus ac totus. Uti Græci suum Panem,” says Pet. Martyr (Decad. p. 279). “Madre de las tierras,” Valverde translates it (Idea del valor de la Isla Espanola, Introd. p. xviii). The orthography is evidently very false.

Sabana, a plain covered with grass without trees (terrano llano, Oviedo, Hist. Gen. lib. vi. cap. 8). From this the Sp. savana, Eng. savannah. Charlevoix, on the authority of Mariana, says it is an ancient Gothic word (Histoire de l’Isle St. Domingue, i. p. 53). But it is probably from the Ar. sallaban, smooth, level.

Semi, the divinities worshipped by the natives (“Lo mismo que nosotros llamamos Diablo,” Oviedo, Hist. Gen. lib. v. cap. 1. Not evil spirits only, but all spirits). Ar. semeti sorcerers, diviners, priests.

Siba, a stone. Ar. siba, a stone.

Starei, shining, glowing (relucens, Pet. Martyr, Decad. p. 304). Ar. terén to be hot, glowing, terehü heat.

Tabaco, the pipe used in smoking the cohoba. This word has been applied in all European languages to the plant nicotiana tabacum itself.

Taita, father (Richardo). Ar. itta father, daitta or datti my father.

Taguáguas, ornaments for the ears hammered from native gold (Las Casas, Hist. Apol. cap. 199).

Tuob, gold, probably akin to hobin, q. v.

Turey, heaven. Idols were called “cosas de turey” (Navarrete, Viages, Tom. i. p. 221). Probably akin to starei, q. v.

The following numerals are given by Las Casas (Hist. Apol. cap. 204).

1 hequeti. Ar. hürketai, that is one, from hürkün to be single or alone.

2 yamosa. Ar. biama, two.

3 canocum. Ar. kannikún, many, a large number, kannikukade, he has many things.

4 yamoncobre, evidently formed from yamosa, as Ar. bibiti, four, from biama, two.

The other numerals Las Casas had unfortunately forgotten, but he says they counted by hands and feet, just as the Arawacks do to this day.

Various compound words and phrases are found in different writers, some of which are readily explained from the Arawack. Thus tureigua hobin, which Peter Martyr translates “rex resplendens uti orichalcum,”[23 - De Rebus Oceanicis, p. 303.] in Arawack means “shining like something red.” Oviedo says that at marriages in Cuba it was customary for the bride to bestow her favors on every man present of equal rank with her husband before the latter’s turn came. When all had thus enjoyed her, she ran through the crowd of guests shouting manícato, manícato, “lauding herself, meaning that she was strong, and brave, and equal to much.”[24 - Hist. de las Indias, lib. xvii. cap. 4, Las Casas denies the story, and says Oviedo told it in order to prejudice people against the natives (Hist. Gen. de las Indias, lib. iii. cap. xxiv). It is, however, probably true.] This is evidently the Ar. manikade, from mân, manin, and means I am unhurt, I am unconquered. When the natives of Haiti were angry, says Las Casas,[25 - Historia Apologetica, cap. 198.] they would not strike each other, but apply such harmless epithets as buticaco, you are blue-eyed (anda para zarco de los ojos), xeyticaco, you are black-eyed (anda para negro de los ojos), or mahite, you have lost a tooth, as the case might be. The termination aco in the first two of these expressions is clearly the Ar. acou, or akusi, eyes, and the last mentioned is not unlike the Ar. márikata, you have no teeth (ma negative, ari tooth). The same writer gives for “I do not know,” the word ita, in Ar. daitta.[26 - He compares the signification of ita in Haytian to ita in Latin, and translates the former ita by no se; this is plainly an error of the transcriber for yo se (Hist. Apologetica, cap. 241).]

Some of the words and phrases I have been unable to identify in the Arawack. They are duiheyniquen, dives fluvius, maguacochíos vestiti homines, both in Peter Martyr, and the following conversation, which he says took place between one of the Haitian chieftians and his wife.

She. Teítoca teítoca. Técheta cynáto guamechyna. Guaibbá.

He. Cynáto machabuca guamechyna.

These words he translated: teitoca be quiet, técheta much, cynato angry, guamechyna the Lord, guaibba go, machabuca what is it to me. But they are either very incorrectly spelled, or are not Arawack.

The proper names of localities in Cuba, Hayti and the Bahamas, furnish additional evidence that their original inhabitants were Arawacks. Hayti, I have already shown has now the same meaning in Arawack which Peter Martyr ascribed to it at the discovery. Cubanacan, a province in the interior of Cuba, is compounded of kuba and annakan, in the center;[27 - Kuba in Arawack is the sign of past time and is used as a prefix to nouns, as well as a suffix to verbs. Kubakanan ancestors, those passed away, those who lived in past times.] Baracoa, the name of province on the coast, is from Ar. bara sea, koan to be there, “the sea is there;” in Barajagua the bara again appears; Guaymaya is Ar. waya clay, mara there is none; Marien is from Ar. maran to be small or poor; Guaniguanico, a province on the narrow western extremity of the island, with the sea on either side, is probably Ar. wuini wuini koa, water, water is there. The names of tribes such as Siboneyes, Guantaneyes, owe their termination to the island Arawack, eyeri men, in the modern dialect hiaeru, captives, slaves. The Siboneyes are said by Las Casas, to have been the original inhabitants of Cuba.[28 - “Toda la mas de la gente de que estaba poblaba aquella isla [Cuba] era passada y natural desta ysla Espanola, puesto que la mas antigua y natural de aquella ysla era como la de los Lucayos de quien ablamos en el primero y segundo libro ser como los seres que parecia no haber pecado nuestro padre Adan en ellos, gente simplicissima, bonissima, careciente de todos vicios, y beatissima. Esta era la natural y native de aquella ysla, y llamabanse en su lengua, Ciboneyes, la penultima silaba luenga; y los desta por grado o por fuerza se apodearon de aquella ysla y gente della, y los tenian como sirvientes suyos.” (Las Casas Hist. Gen. de las Indias, MSS. lib. iii, cap. 21). Elsewhere (cap. 23) he says this occurred “mayormente” after the Spaniards had settled in Haiti.] The name is evidently from Ar. siba, rock, eyeri men, “men of the rocks.” The rocky shores of Cuba gave them this appellation. On the other hand the natives of the islets of the Bahamas were called lukku kairi, abbreviated to lukkairi, and lucayos, from lukku, man, kairi an island, “men of the islands;” and the archipelago itself was called by the first explorers “las islas de los Lucayos,” “isole delle Lucaí.”[29 - “Lucayos o por mejor decir Yucayos” says Las Casas, (Hist. Gen. lib. ii. cap. 44) and after him Herrera. But the correction which was based apparently on some supposed connection of the word with yuca, the Haitian name of an esculent plant, is superfluous, and Las Casas himself never employs it, nor a single other writer.] The province in the western angle of Haiti was styled Guacaiarima, which Peter Martyr translates “insulae podex;” dropping the article, caiarima is sufficiently like the Ar. kairuina, which signifies podex, Sp. culata, and is used geographically in the same manner as the latter word.

The word Maya frequently found in the names of places in Cuba and Haiti, as Mayaba, Mayanabo, Mayajigua, Cajimaya, Jaimayabon, is doubtless the Ar. negative ma, mân, mara. Some writers have thought it indicative of the extension of the Maya language of Yucatan over the Antilles. Prichard, Squier, Waitz, Brasseur de Bourbourg, Bastian and other ethnologists have felt no hesitation in assigning a large portion of Cuba and Haiti to the Mayas. It is true the first explorers heard in Cuba and Jamaica, vague rumors of the Yucatecan peninsula, and found wax and other products brought from there.[30 - Las Casas. Hist. Gen. de las Indias, lib. iv. cap. 48, MSS. Bees were native to Yucatan long before the discovery, but not to the north temperate zone.] This shows that there was some communication between the two races, but all authorities agree that there was but one language over the whole of Cuba. The expressions which would lead to a different opinion are found in Peter Martyr. He relates that in one place on the southern shore of Cuba, the interpreter whom Columbus had with him, a native of San Salvador, was at fault. But the account of the occurrence given by Las Casas, indicates that the native with whom the interpreter tried to converse simply refused to talk at all.[31 - “Varia enim esse idiomata in varils Cubae provinelis perpenderunt.” (Pet. Martyr, De Rebus Oceanicis, v. 42). Las Casas says that a sailor told Columbus that he saw one Indian cacique in a long white tunic who refused to speak, but stalked silently away. (Hist. de las Indias, lib. I. cap. 95). Martyr says there were several. Peschel suggests they were tall white flamingoes, that scared the adventurous tar out of his wits. (Geschichte des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen, p. 253). At any rate the story gives no foundation at all for Peter Martyr’s philogical opinion.] Again, in Martyr’s account of Grijalva’s voyage to Yucatan in 1517, he relates that this captain took with him a native to serve as an interpreter; and to explain how this could be, he adds that this interpreter was one of the Cuban natives “quorum idioma, si non idem, consanguineum tamen,” to that of Yucatan. This is a mere fabrication, as the chaplain of Grijalva on this expedition states explicitly in the narrative of it which he wrote, that the interpreter was a native of Yucatan, who had been captured a year before.[32 - Pet. Martyr, De Insulis Nuper Inventis, p. 335. “Traia consigo Grisalva un Indio per lengua de los que de aquella tierra habian llevado consigo a la ysla de Cuba Francisco Hernandez. Las Casas Hist. Gen. de las Indias, lib. III, cap. 108, MSS. See also the chaplain’s account in Terneaux Compans, Recueil de Pieces rel. a la Conquête de Mexique, p. 56.]

Not only is there a very great dissimilarity in sound, words, and structure, between the Arawack and Maya, but the nations were also far asunder in culture. The Mayas were the most civilized on the continent, while the Arawacks possessed little besides the most primitive arts, and precisely that tribe which lived on the extremity of Cuba nearest Yucatan, the Guanataneyes, were the most barbarous on the island.[33 - Bernal Dias says the vicinity of cape San Antonio was inhabited by the “Guanataneys que son unos Indias como salvages.” He expressly adds that their clothing differed from that of the Mayas, and that the Cuban natives with him could not understand the Maya language. Historia Verdadera, cap. II.]

The natives of the greater Antilles and Bahamas differed little in culture. They cultivated maize, manioc, yams, potatoes, corn, and cotton. The latter they wove into what scanty apparel they required. Their arms were bows with reed arrows, pointed with fish teeth or stones, stone axes, spears, and a war club armed with sharp stones called a macana. They were a simple hearted, peaceful, contented race, “all of one language and all friends,” says Columbus; “not given to wandering, naked, and satisfied with little,” says Peter Martyr; “a people very poor in all things,” says Las Casas.

Yet they had some arts. Statues and masks in wood and stone were found, some of them in the opinion of Bishop Las Casas, “very skilfully carved.” They hammered the native gold into ornaments, and their rude sculptures on the face of the rocks are still visible in parts of Cuba and Haiti. Their boats were formed of single trunks of trees often of large size, and they managed them adroitly; their houses were of reeds covered with palm leaves, and usually accommodated a large number of families; and in their holy places, they set up rows of large stones like the ancient cromlechs, one of which is still preserved in Hayti, and is known as la cercada de los Indios.

Physically they were undersized, less muscular than the Spaniards, light in color, with thick hair and scanty beards. Their foreheads were naturally low and retreating, and they artificially flattened the skull by pressure on the forehead or the occiput.[34 - “Presso capite, fronte lata” (Nicolaus Syllacius, De Insulis nuper Inventis, p. 86. Reprint, New York, 1859. This is the extremely rare account of Columbus’ second voyage). Six not very perfect skulls were obtained in 1860, by Col. F. S. Heneken, from a cavern 15 miles south-west from Porto Plata. They are all more or less distorted in a discoidal manner, one by pressure over the frontal sinus, reducing the calvaria to a disk. (J. Barnard Davis, Thesaurus Craniorum, p. 236, London, 1867. Mr. Davis erroneously calls them Carib skulls).]

Three social grades seem to have prevailed, the common herd, the petty chiefs who ruled villages, and the independent chiefs who governed provinces. Of the latter there were in Cuba twenty-nine; in Haiti five, as near as can be now ascertained.[35 - The provinces of Cuba are laid down on the Mapa de la Isla de Cuba segun la division de los Naturales, por D. Jose Maria de la Torre y de la Torre, in the Memorias de la Sociedad Patriotica de la Habana, 1841. See also Felipe Poey, Geografia de la Isla de Cuba, Habana, 1853. Apendice sobre la Geografia Antigua. Las Casas gives the five provinces of Hayti by the names of their chiefs, Guarinox, Guacanagari, Behechio, Caonabo and Higuey. For their relative position see the map in Charlevoix’s Histoire de l’Isle San Domingue, Paris, 1740, and in Baumgarten’s Geschichte von Amerika, B. II.] Some of those in Cuba had shortly before the arrival of the Spaniards moved there from Haiti, and at the conquest one of the principal chiefs of Haiti was a native of the Lucayos.[36 - This was Caonabo. Oviedo, and following him Charlevoix, say he was a Carib, but Las Casas, who having lived twenty years in Haiti immediately after the discovery, is infinitely the best authority, says: “Era de nacion Lucayo, natural de las islas de los Lucayos, que se pasó de ellas aca.” (Historia Apologetica, cap. 179, MSS).]